Breeding
Neolamprologus leleupi is not sexually dimorphic. It is difficult to tell the sexes of young fish. Males may grow up to twice the size of the female. Size is the only indicator that I have found reliable to sex these fish. Unfortunately, the fish need to be about a year and half old before these profound size differences become apparent.
The best way to breed this fish is to place several juvenile fish in a community tank and allow them to grow to an age of eighteen months. You will want to keep this fish with relatively non-aggressive fish. I have kept them with most Malawian mbuna with success. Provide a few caves and watch to see if a pair forms a bond. Look for a large fish (the male) and a small fish (the female) that like to hang out together.
Prepare a 20 gallon tank with a fine gravel or sand substrate and provide lots of rocky caves. Provide bright light over the tank to promote algae growth.
Transfer the probable pair to the newly prepared breeding tank and you should soon see signs of massive excavation work within a week. Let the fish go two weeks without a water change and then do a 50% water change to trigger the fish to breed.
Neolamprologus leleupi is a secretive cave spawner. You will rarely see the eggs. If you don't see the female for several days, she may be sitting on a spawn. If you do find the eggs, don't be surprised that they are nearly pure white! I thought they were fungused or infertile, but sure enough they hatched after about four days. I wonder how many other aquarists have thrown out perfectly good spawns from Neolamprologus leleupi because of this!
Once the female disappears for a while, I add small amounts of fry food to the tank. I use a small pinch of Cyclops-Eeze and Golden Pearls, a brine shrimp replacement available from Brine Shrimp Direct. Even the adults seem to enjoy this food. Live baby brine shrimp is an even better option. I feel that having some fry-appropriate food in the water encourages the parents to raise the fry.
Once the female reappears, you may see the pair alternating to care for the spawn. At this time, you may be able to observe the very small fry. I fed the above Cyclops-Eeze/Golden Pearls mixture two to three times a day and it was really neat to see the fry jumping after the food. Typical spawns are from 40 to 100 fry. The fry double in size the first two weeks, but are generally slow growers after that.
One of the satisfying things about Neolamprologus leleupi is that these fish are excellent parents. I kept the fry in with the parents until they get quite big and even had multiple spawns peacefully coexist. Be warned, however, as other aquarists have told me that the parents will attack and kill their kiddies once another spawn is on the way. To be safe, you probably should remove either the parents or fry.
One mistake I made is assuming that they would breed in a community tank with other cichlids. I waited in vain for months before moving these fish to breeding tank. I believe a sanitary tank not only isn't necessary, but may hinder the pair from raising the fry. I feel that a tank with algae and some detritus is actually helpful in providing a first food for the fry.
