anybody have any info on this fish i have one that one ince he almost totally fearless toward bigger fish but he wont eat whats there deit waht should i feed juve fish on??
blkeekeri large spot
- Thread starter palehorse78
- Start date
I just got 2 myself the other day. Very outgoing. I feed mine flakes and sliced meats such as beef and turkey at the moment. Here is an article about them.
http://www.cichlidae.com/articles/a117.html
http://www.cichlidae.com/articles/a117.html
how big is your mines just about an inch can! belive his bravery! i hope it dont get him killed.he in my aggrsive tank and every time i try to catch him to put him in the grow out he runs to the rock structure.i think iam just going to dismantle it. but he will not run from 3-4 inch ob pecocks!
Hey folks........
Having kept a 6-7 of these guys, including a few currently I wanted to give some feedback.
First, realize there are 2 varieties of this fish - Paratilapia Bleekeri (large spot) and Paratilapia Polleni (small spot). Temperament-wise, IME, the Bleekeri are considerably more agressive toward tankmates and get larger. Sexing them is difficult. In my experience I saw one male about 9" at a LFS. Otherwise I have never seen a specimen larger than 7".
Tankmate-wise, they mix better with moderately agressive New World cichlids. For ex: I wouldn't put them in with Rift Lake fish.
Both Polleni/Bleekeri are beautiful open-water swimmers from Madagascar that tend to patrol the mid to top regions of tanks. And they need large tanks. My larger specimens were kept in a 125. When happy, these fish are jet black with gorgeous turquoise and white spots. When stressed or unhappy, they turn grayish brown.
Their diet seems to include everything: Pellets, flakes, krill, worms..etc..etc...mine ate everything...HTH....
Having kept a 6-7 of these guys, including a few currently I wanted to give some feedback.
First, realize there are 2 varieties of this fish - Paratilapia Bleekeri (large spot) and Paratilapia Polleni (small spot). Temperament-wise, IME, the Bleekeri are considerably more agressive toward tankmates and get larger. Sexing them is difficult. In my experience I saw one male about 9" at a LFS. Otherwise I have never seen a specimen larger than 7".
Tankmate-wise, they mix better with moderately agressive New World cichlids. For ex: I wouldn't put them in with Rift Lake fish.
Both Polleni/Bleekeri are beautiful open-water swimmers from Madagascar that tend to patrol the mid to top regions of tanks. And they need large tanks. My larger specimens were kept in a 125. When happy, these fish are jet black with gorgeous turquoise and white spots. When stressed or unhappy, they turn grayish brown.
Their diet seems to include everything: Pellets, flakes, krill, worms..etc..etc...mine ate everything...HTH....
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I think that it does have some fat, being meat and all, but its form of fat would be more digestible to fish than that of red meat. However, fish meat or shellfish meat would be a better bet for your fish unless they eat birds in the wild, in which case I would still hesitate to choose the avian meat over its piscine counterpart.