CATS DOWN LOW and FEATHERS IN THE AIR
By Ralph Bahrke, M.A.S.

After a major downsizing (67 tanks down to 5) I moved to a new apartment. It was rumored that I was asked to move, but that’s another story. Well, my new place was just ideal! I had a private basement room of reasonable size. What better place to put a fish room!

I managed to get my 5 tanks up and running with no loss of fish. I proceeded to refill some of my larger tanks ( a 55, a 38, a 30, and 2- 20 long). Thinks are going good! Time to get new fish! Here’s where I was thrown a curve. My buddy Dan Cram sold his house and was moving to Princeton, WI. He had gotten rid of most of his fish, but still had several plecostomus and a boatload of fry. Could I fish sit while his house was being built? Of course I could. Just what I was looking for – four tanks of plecos! The little buggers kept me busy. They preferred romaine lettuce with supplements of zucchini. Bring on the veggies! Tank temperature was a balmy 79 degrees, and filtration was supplied by three #3 hydro sponges. Weekly 30% water changes were done (when I remembered!).

One day as I was watching the plecos devour some green stuff, I hit on an idea. Why not find some type of fish to co-exist with the little guys, and use some of the upper areas of the 38-gallon tank? I decided it was time to try some "feather fins". I obtain two trios of Cyprichromis leptosoma and put one trio into the 38 with the plecos. They are supposed to be a "mid-water" fish, but mine spent most of their time near the surface and thrived on flake food and live brine shrimp while the cats fed on zucchini and lettuce.

After several weeks, I noticed an obvious bulge in one of the females. She was holding! Cyprichromis are "mid-water" spawning, female mouth brooders. I didn’t observe the actual spawning sequence, but I understand they do a "headstand" type of thing, release the eggs and catch them before they hit the bottom. Seems pretty hit-and-miss to me. I waited 20 days, and then stripped the female. There were nine eggs with little tails and eyeballs. I aerated them in a specimen container with small holes drilled into it, and hung in the same tank as the parents. They grew rapidly on baby brine, and I was able to feed them easier because of the small container they were in. No problem doing water changes on the babies- just lift the container let most of the water come out of the holes, then put the container down into the water Presto!

If you are looking for a way to use that extra tank space, I recommend looking into a mid-water fish like Cyprichromus. They can be a rewarding addition to your tank.