Pseudotropheus blue. Pseudotropheus

Pseudotropheus Sokolova(Pseudotropheus socolofi) - aquarium fish of the familycichlids or cichlids (Cichlidae). It is also called Pseudotropheus Pindani, Blue Pindani.

Habitat

Pseudotropheus Sokolov or Pseudotropheus Pindani live in Lake Malawi, which is located on East Africa. Can be found on rocky and stony lake reefs overgrown with thickets aquatic plants. They belong to the group "Mbuna", which means "dweller of the rocks." This name accurately describes the lifestyle of these cichlids living in shallow water among underwater rocks.

Appearance and gender differences

Among aquarists Pseudotropheus Sokolova quite popular for their "intelligent" behavior and bright colors. Males are territorial. Basically, they protect the territory between the ledges of rocks and stones. Adolescents and females, depending on the number of individuals in the population, live in small groups or singly. Usually, females do not defend the territory. At Pseudotropheus Sokolov elongated, slightly valky body. Coloring these aquarium fish both females and males have the same - pale blue body color, in some cases with a purple tint. Juveniles have the same coloration as in adult fish. Rays of the caudal, first rays of the pectoral and extreme rays of the dorsal fins are colored dark blue. Blue anal fin with resinous spreading base. On the body of these cichlids with a strong fright, purple spots begin to appear. Females and males differ only in that males have more developed fins, and in addition, males are more massive and larger, they have more developed ventral, dorsal and anal fins. As a rule, on the anal fin of males there are yellow spots that resemble caviar. Males of pseudotropheus Sokolov reach a length of up to 12 centimeters, females - up to 10 centimeters.

Conditions of detention

Pseudotropheus Pindani it is desirable to contain in with a large number of shelters. It is better to decorate the aquarium with stones, creating rocky reefs and shelters among the stones. Basically, it is important to keep in the aquarium high level populations for the distribution of fish aggression. It is best to keep them together with other African cichlids of the same size. Pseudotropheus Sokolov are polygamous fish, that is, each male needs a harem of several females. With other neighbors, these fish are accommodating. For content optimal parameters water are considered: temperature - 24-27 ° C, pH - 7.2-8.5, hardness 8-25 °. Aeration, filtration and weekly water changes up to 30 percent of the volume are required. In natural conditions Pseudotropheus Pindani feeds on algae, which cover stone placers and rocks with a luxurious carpet, in some cases plankton. Pseudotropheus Sokolov is fed in the aquarium with vegetable, combined and live food, and vegetable should be approximately 60-70 percent of the total feed. Blue Pindali live up to five years.

Breeding

sexually mature Pseudotropheus Sokolov become from 9-12 months. Like many cichlids from Lake Malawi, the eggs of the female are incubated in the mouth. During spawning, females and males begin to make circular intense movements that resemble a dance. As already mentioned, there are spots on the anal fin of males that resemble caviar, and when females spawn, they try to pick up an imitation of caviar from the male’s fin with their mouths, and males at this time secrete sperm that enters the female’s mouth, thereby fertilizing the caviar there. Females can lay 25-90 eggs. Incubation of eggs in the mouth of the female is carried out for 17-22 days, after which the fry are released. Parents take good care of their offspring, which is why they become aggressive towards other fish that are dangerous for fry. If necessary, artificial incubation can be carried out. For fry, the starting food is: Artemia nauplii, cyclops, etc.

Pindani(Pseudotropheus socolofi) is a small and very cute aquarium inhabitant. Another name for this fish, pseudotropheus Sokolof, sounds menacing, and does not at all correspond to the completely peaceful nature of this native of Africa. In nature, pindani lives in a single body of water: it is found in the shallow waters of Lake Malawi in the country of the same name on the “black continent”. In the local dialect, several types of such fish are called in one word - "mbuna", that is, "rock dweller", because usually the whole fish is life cycle spends in crevices of underwater rocks or on coastal reefs.

How do they look?

Appearance Pseudotropheus Sokolofa makes them a favorite of aquarists: bright sky-blue fish decorate any aquarium. They are also loved for very interesting behavioral features, thanks to which the activity of the fish seems meaningful and intellectual. But back to the appearance of pindani. This species does not have a clear division of color and size by gender: both males and females have a blue tint of scales, which, as they grow older and puberty, and this happens at about the age of 10 months, can also acquire purple tones.

Exactly the same violet-blue color, which is interesting, happens in very young Pindani, about two weeks old. Against this light background, the rays of the caudal, pectoral and dorsal fins stand out: some of them have a dark blue color. And the base of the anal fin of the pindani is usually dark-colored. Another feature of the color of these "Africans" is the purple spots that appear on the scales when the fish is scared, stressed or anxious. They leave only when the Pindani calms down. The average size of Sokolov's pseudotropheus ranges from 8-10 centimeters in females to 12 in especially large males, which is why it is quite difficult to distinguish the sex of the Pindani. The main differences lie only in the fact that males are often larger, their fins are better developed, and the anal fin may have yellow spots in color.

Content Features

To feel comfortable in captivity, the Pindani requires conditions close to his own. native place habitat, Lake Malawi. This means that in the aquarium it is necessary to create artificial reefs or rocks where pseudotropheus can find shelter. Underwater plants with dense leaves are also obligatory for keeping this fish, because in nature the pindani feed on both plankton and algae. By the way, you can feed them both vegetable and combined feeds and even live food. The only caveat: the diet of this fish should still consist of 60% of plant foods. Then the life of the pindani will be as long as possible, and they live up to 5 years.

For pseudotropheus falcon should be maintained in the aquarium temperature regime, at which water should always be around 24-27 degrees Celsius, with a hardness in the range of 8-25%. Be sure to aerate, filter and change the water at least once a week. Settle pindani better as a group to reduce male aggression. Although in general, these representatives of cichlids are quite peaceful and get along well with other inhabitants of Malawi and Lake Tanganyika. Optimal size aquarium for a group of pindani - 200 liters.

Breeding in captivity

The main period of puberty of blue pindani falls on 9-12 months. During this period, you can expect the first "marriage dance" - this is exactly what the process of fertilization looks like from the side of the Pindani. The fact is that females collect caviar in their mouths. In males, on the anal fin there are spots that visually resemble eggs, and the female tries to collect them, while her partner secretes sperm and fertilizes the already existing eggs. At the same time, the fish make circular movements, similar to dance steps.

Usually, females lay more than 25 eggs at a time, from which fry are hatched. They spend about 20 days in the mother's mouth, after which they are born. If necessary, pindani can be removed artificially.
Blue pindani - caring parents, well caring for offspring, because of which other inhabitants of the aquarium sometimes suffer.

The swordtail is common in fresh waters Central America (Belize, Guatemala, Honduras) and Mexico.
Description of the Swordsman
It has an elongated body and a pointed head. The color is the most diverse, but most often there is a bright orange color of the whole body with a black tail. It also has wide upper and tail fins. The average size of an adult is about 11 cm. They live from 3 to 5 years.
Breeding the Sword
The swordtail is a viviparous fish, the offspring appears immediately in the form of fry, and not eggs. The male fertilizes the eggs inside the female, where they mature within a month and are born later. The start for reproduction can be an increase in temperature to 25-27 degrees. Before the imminent appearance of fry, and this is determined by the large belly of the female, the female is placed in a separate aquarium with dense vegetation. The best food for Swordfish fry is a mixture of sprirulina and live food or egg yolk.
Contents of the Sword
The aquarium should have: A lot of free space, that is, you need an aquarium with a large volume of water, one fish of this species needs at least 35 liters of water. You also need a lot of natural shelters in the form of aquarium plants or rocks. The water temperature is 18-28 degrees. Change 20% of aquarium water to fresh water every week. The ratio is 1 male to 2-3 females.

Feeding the Swordsman
You can feed them with all types of food: live, dry and frozen, but you should pay special attention to plant foods with a high fiber content.

From

Tatia Leopardovaya (Tatia perugiae) belongs to the Occipital catfish family (Auchenipteridae).

Tatia Leopardovaya is a small catfish that lives in major rivers With warm water and fast current South America(Peru, Colombia and Ecuador). Tatiya Leopardovaya mainly spends time in coastal, shallow water areas with a sandy bottom.

Description of Tatia Leopardova

Tatia Leopardovaya has an elongated body with small fins. The head is small with protruding eyes. On the surface of the head and the back of the head there are bone plates. The rest of the body is practically not protected from external influences.

Painted Tatiya Leopardovaya in white and black. White acts as the main body color. And multiple spots on the body of the fish are painted black. It is thanks to this combination of colors and the size of the spots that Tatiya Leopardovaya got her name.

The water in the aquarium must meet the following criteria:

Temperature 25-28.
Acidity 6-8.
Hardness 8-12.

Tatiya Leopardovaya, like most catfish, is quite unpretentious to the conditions of detention. But she definitely needs to have clean water and at least a little flow.
The water in the aquarium needs to be changed every week, approximately 20-25% of the total volume.

The soil is recommended to use fine, for example, sand. Lighting should not be bright. Lamps that create soft, diffused lighting are ideal.
It is also recommended to place a variety of thickets of plants in the aquarium, in which Tatiya Leopardovaya could rest during the daytime. A variety of snags and grottoes are also suitable for this task.

Feeding Tatia Leopardova

From

Protomyzon Zebra (Protomyzon pachychilus) belongs to the Balitoridae family. A small peaceful fish native to the waters of China. It lives mainly in the middle and lower layers of water. It has become common among aquarists due to its unpretentiousness, vitality and omnivorous nature, as well as due to its interesting color. Description Protomizon Zebra
Protomizon Zebra has a long, oval, cigar-shaped body. In length, an adult individual can reach only 5-6 cm. The body is painted with vertical, alternating black and white stripes. The fins are quite small and have the same color as the body. Reproduction Protomizon Zebra
At normal conditions, with good aeration and friendly neighbors can also spawn in a community tank. To stimulate spawning, you can increase the water temperature by 1-2 degrees and focus on feeding live food. Protomizon Zebra does not eat its caviar. This makes raising offspring not such a difficult task. You can feed newly born fry with "live dust" or similar small foods. Contents of Protomizon Zebra
Protomizon Zebra is quite unpretentious to the conditions of detention. And accordingly, it does not require a lot of space for itself. But, you need to keep it exclusively in a flock of 5-6 fish. For such a flock, you will need a reservoir with a volume of about 50 liters. The water in the aquarium must meet the following criteria: Temperature 20-24 (in the natural habitats of Protomizon Zebra, water all year round constantly has a constant temperature, respectively, large and sharp temperature jumps should not be allowed); Acidity 6.5-7.5; And hardness in the range of 5-15. As an interior for an aquarium, it is best to use piles of stones and thickets of plants. Sand or fine gravel can be used as soil. You can also place various shells at the bottom. The main purpose of the interior should be to create places for the Protomizon Zebra to rest.

Protomizon Zebra is a peaceful fish, therefore, it gets along well only with the same peaceful fish. In the case of moving to aggressive or predatory individuals, Protomizon Zebra will constantly hide, experience stress, and even refuse to eat. Feeding Protomizon Zebra
You can feed it with a wide variety of foods. Protomizon Zebra will eat both live and frozen or dry food. The main thing is that the size of the food is suitable for the fish. You can also use scalded cucumbers, spinach leaves and lettuce as top dressing. Consider the fact that he will only eat food that floats in the water or has already fallen to the bottom.

Adult individuals reach a length of about 10–11 cm. blue color, the fins have a contrasting dark blue edging. Sexual dimorphism is weakly expressed, males can be distinguished from females only by characteristic yellow dots on the anal fin.

Brief information:

The volume of the aquarium - from 160 liters.
Temperature - 24–28°C
pH value - 7.6–8.8
Water hardness - medium to high hardness (10–25 dGH)
Substrate type - sandy
Lighting - moderate
Brackish water - no
Water movement is weak
The size of the fish is 10–11 cm.
Nutrition - any based on herbal ingredients
Temperament - quarrelsome, aggressive during spawning
Keeping in a harem with one male and several females

Food

In nature, they feed on algae, which are scraped off the surface of stones, and on small invertebrates that come across along with vegetation. AT home aquarium it is desirable to use specialized feed for Malawian cichlids (manufactured by many manufacturers), including all the necessary additives and trace elements.

Maintenance and care, arrangement of the aquarium

To successfully keep a small group of adult fish, you will need a tank of 160 liters or more. The design usually uses a sandy substrate and piles of stones, rock fragments, from which shelters are formed in the form of caves and crevices. The presence of living plants is not necessary, they can be eaten by fish.
water conditions have high pH and dGH values. The placement of a productive filtration system, along with a weekly replacement of part of the water with fresh water (10–15% of the volume), will help maintain hydrochemical conditions at the proper level. It is advisable to purchase filters with filter materials that increase the hardness of the water in order to avoid strong fluctuations in dGH.

Behavior and Compatibility

Compared to other cichlids, Mbuna is not an aggressive species, but in a small aquarium (up to 200 liters) it is worth keeping only one male and several females, otherwise conflicts over territory cannot be avoided between males.
With regard to fish from other families, not everything is simple either. It is advisable to select among species that have similar or big sizes than the Blue Pindani, living mainly in the upper layers of the water, and also able to live in similar water conditions.

Breeding / breeding

The appearance of offspring of Pseudotropheus Sokolov in favorable conditions is very likely. With the onset mating season the male chooses and cleans a certain area at the bottom of the aquarium from debris - the future spawning place. Then he begins active courtship, which sometimes looks very aggressive. When the female is ready, she accepts courtship and lays several dozen eggs, which she immediately takes into her mouth. At this moment, the male releases the seed and the eggs are fertilized already in the mouth.
The entire incubation period and the first weeks of life, the fry spend in the mouth of the female. At this time, she does not eat anything and can noticeably lose weight. If before spawning the food supply was not regular or the diet was poor, then the female is likely to release the fry earlier, in the worst case, she will eat them.
During spawning, it is advisable to transplant the neighbors in the aquarium into another tank in order to avoid possible attacks from the male, or vice versa, place the cichlids there, and return them back at the end of the mating season.
For the safety of fry in the future, they are kept in a separate aquarium with identical water conditions.

Fish diseases

The main cause of most diseases is unsuitable living conditions and poor quality food. If the first symptoms are detected, you should check the water parameters and the presence of high concentrations of hazardous substances (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, etc.), if necessary, bring the indicators back to normal and only then proceed with treatment. Read more about symptoms and treatments in the section "

Pseudotropheus Sokolova(Blue Pindani or Pseudotropheus Pindani) - Malawian aquarium cichlid of the group "Mbuna", whose representatives live in shallow, rocky areas of Lake Malawi. The coloration for males and females is the same: a pale blue body, during excitement with a blue or purple tint and several vertical, very blurred stripes on the sides. On the anal fins of males there are yellow round spots imitating eggs.

Latin name: Pseudotropheus socolofi
Russian name: Pseudotropheus Sokolova
Origin: oz. Malawi (Africa)
Regular sizes: up to 10 cm
Habitat layer: center/bottom
Acidity pH: 7.6-8.8
Water hardness: 10-20° dGH
Water temperature: 24-28°С

FEEDING. Pseudotropheus Sokolov are omnivorous, but should receive 60-70% of plant food and only 30-40% of the animal. To the first category includes Wolffia, mixed foods for vegetarian cichlids, scalded lettuce and zucchini. To the second - frozen food, bloodworms, cyclops, brine shrimp. Dry fish food is also quite acceptable - it can be any quality granules, flakes and sticks. With proper, varied nutrition and maintenance, the fish will live in captivity for about 5 years.

BEHAVIOR. The species is considered moderately aggressive. Without any problems, it coexists in the same aquarium with commensurate aquarium cichlids that can stand up for themselves: Sprenger's Iodotropheus, etc. It should be clarified that only males are prone to aggression - they defend the territory that they consider their own. Juveniles and females swim in groups, or (occasionally) singly. In general, Sokolov's pseudotropheus are kept in flocks with a predominance of females.

REPRODUCTION. Sexual maturity occurs at the age of 9 to 12 months. Spawning, like many Malawians, takes place in a common aquarium. Male and female clean a flat stone or dig a hole in the ground. Then the female lays eggs (from 25 to 90 pieces depending on age) and collects them in her mouth. At the same time, she takes the spots on the anal fin of the male for eggs, and tries to “collect” them too. At this moment, the male releases milk - thus fertilization occurs. Incubation lasts about two weeks (maximum three), after which the female releases strong fry that can swim and eat. Their starter food is brine shrimp nauplii.

TECHNICAL ADVICE. For a group of 4-5 these aquarium fish cichlids will need an aquarium