Laetacara Curviceps

[Aqualung]

Commonly called flag cichlids, or "curviceps cichlid".

Does anyone else keep these fish or have experience with them?

I have a possible m/f pair (they are still young) in my 40 gallon community. I like them, and they fit in well with my other fish. The larger one, which I'm 99% positive is a male can change his color. I was quite surprised the first time I saw this....he was flaring at his reflection, and then he would darken up to a blackish color before my eyes. I have only seen him do this twice so far, and it was amazing to see.

I have seen pictures of these fish, and the photos I saw showed impressive coloration. I am wondering if these colors show up with age, only during spawning, or if the fish can seemingly change color at will, like a chameleon. Mine are fairly dull colored compared to the pics I have seen, although the larger one is developing a greenish-blue irredescence.

 

[Harry Tolen]

Many years ago (10+), I kept a closely related species, Laetacara dorsigerus. Had to trade them in when I moved, and never found them again. But if I come across them, they are on the short list of species to make room for somewhere.

I remember them as being not too fussy, not too aggressive, and very attractive, especially when in breeding colors.

If you get a chance, post pictures. I'm sure we'd all like to see them.

 

[Karnaaj]

Curviceps are a great little fish. Very peaceful (almost bordering on timid) and easy to care for. My experience is that they tend to be fairly dull in color unless they are breeding or there is more than one male in the tank.

 

[Aqualung]

Thanks for the replies. I'm hoping mine will color up some when they mature (and possibly spawn?). If they do happen to spawn in my community tank, I may take them out and try to raise some fry. But that's getting ahead of myself - I'm not even sure if I have a pair or not yet.

I don't have a very good camera, but I'll see if I can get any decent pics.

 

[Aqualung]

These pics aren't very good, but they're the best I could do out of 100+ tries. Cheap cameras and bad photographers make for blurry pics!

The male

The pair

 

[davethefishboy]

laetacara curviceps.

having just registered to this forum, i was amaized that laetacara curviceps where infact a topic. having sold many of these to customers i found that they are indeed very beautiful in both breeding and courting. however, you can bring the basic colours out in these beauteous cichlids with four things . . . a decent flourescent light, correct water chemistry, a good and well balanced diet and most importantly a good hiding space for them. seeing as they grow moderatley large, it is important to change the layout of your tank every now and then to ensure they will be kept excited, this will also brighten them up. yes laetacara curviceps do change coulour infront of your eyes. i use this as a sale technique . . . they do it either when they fell threatend ( to warn you off ) or when they are extremely happy, i usually feed them brine shrimp while showing customers their colour . . . If you want to know anything else about these superb tank mates, im always happy to help.

dave . . .

 

[Aqualung]

Hi Dave, welcome to the forums and thanks for the info. Mine has been doing his color change routine more often lately. Every time I drop in an algae wafer (meant for the clown plec and otos), he will guard it from other fish and start showing off his colors. I was surprised that he likes the wafers so much. The fish all get a variety of foods, various live, frozen, and freeze dried as well as some flake food. His overall color does seem to be improving, and when he darkens up it's quite an impressive sight. I'm still not sure if I will end up with a pair or not - the smaller one certainly seems to be a female, but the male doesn't want anything to do with her. Time will tell anyway, as they still have some growing to do.

I deleted a couple of the bad pics, since they weren't much to look at. This one is at least decent, and is the best I have taken so far:

 

[peifc]

They are fairly easy to keep and breed.
Here was mine...male guarding eggs.

Male and female with fry

Male with flash

Female

 

[Aqualung]

peifc - Wow, those are great pics. I can't wait until mine color up like that. I especially like the pic of the male w/flash, it came out beautiful! Did you successfully raise the fry from that spawn?

 

[peifc]

No...I didn't keep any of the fry. Too much work to raise fry.