"Pull’em! "Pull’em!" I woke with a start. His edict was haunting my dreams!

It had been only hours since I’d read TW’s* e-mail. He was responding to my news of an impending spawn. I had questioned the parental behavior of Nanochromis transvestitus and whether I should pull the eggs. He had apparently had a terrible experience and was trying to spare me the anguish. The next day I spent time on the Internet continuing my education. Nanochromis transvestitus was discovered in Lake Mai-ndombe , known in earlier publications as Lake Leopold II, during an expedition through the Zaire river basin in 1973. The lake water is almost black with established pH levels of 4.0. This had already proved to be important in the care of this dwarf. I lost the first spawn to poor egg development in almost neutral water kept too cool. Visually, you’re struck by the belly color and caudal fin stripe pattern on the female. HER dominant color and pattern is atypical in dwarf West African Cichlids. The name; transvestitus is derived therefore from this role reversal, switch, transposition. The female was an inch and three-quarters; The male almost 2 inches. I’m guessing they were about 9 months old. There had been two pair and a second male was still living a shadow’s life in the upper corners of the 30 gallon long (you do not need a tank this big). You can only keep one sexually active pair at a time…apparently. The "hidden one" eventually jumped ship and was proudly recovered by one of my cats. The tank also housed some Parotocinclus maculicauda and a few Corydoras. The water temperature never dropped below 77, the pH dropped after water changes to 5.5 and less. I kept the water soft and acidic with an almost 5 to 1 mix of R/O to tap water. The gravel was simple flint and the decorations were sparse. A bent 6" long PVC tube of 1" diameter was half buried and partially covered with petrified wood chunks. To reduce lighting I replaced the standard 36" fixture with a 20" single fluorescent bulb. I fed them twice daily with a full variety of foods. Both adults were industrious as they prepared. They had apparently heard the adage, "Excavation means Procreation". She flashed and flared her now bulbous maroon belly in his direction all the while they re-landscaped the area around the PVC tube. Beware tank mates that dared too close! I thought of moving the Cories. She was relentless! Directly after a water change (of course), her breeding tube descended and they disappeared into the tube before the lights clicked off. I could see little sesame seed shaped eggs in the tube the next morning...but it was another 12 hours before I decided, in a flash, to "Pull’em!" I was just smart enough to know that freshly laid eggs are sticky, yet ignorant of how long they stay that way. I reached for the PVC tube with one hand and lifted straight up. Got a visual? I can see the next 30 seconds as a slow motion movie of eggs slowly rolling out the tube and scattering in the flow of the power filter discharge. Words similar to, "Oh my goodness" were spit from my lips as I dropped the tube in the tank and ran for my small sieve net. Sometimes it pays to be anal. I knew exactly where that net was, but by the time I returned there was only one small cluster of eggs in plain view. I recovered 6 eggs. I siphoned off 5 gallons from the 30 and set up an "outpost camp". I went to bed that night rather discouraged by my fortune and frankly, rather angry with myself for not following my gut feeling. I quietly vowed that night to let the parents have the first spawn from now on. My greed for BAP points (another subject for another time) nearly cost me the wonderful experience that followed. In the next few days I witnessed what I thought to be rare behavior. It was to me anyway. The female transvestitus scoured that tank from end to end to recover 5 eggs. She not only recovered them (any fish can FIND egg-food) she brought them back "home" to the PVC tube. This so encouraged me that I poured my 6 eggs in to see if she’d collect those too. She did! Now, this is why I love this hobby. It takes about 9 days, under good conditions, for Mom to allow field trips. Once they’re out; Mom, Dad, sometimes Mom and Dad both guide and guard them. In extreme moments, they’ll even hustle them back "home" when the big bad HAND got too close. I fed them baby brine shrimp and finely ground flake twice a day. I only kept the family together 18 days. By then, Mom was swelling up again and I knew there would be no warning bell at the moment her attention switched from THESE to THOSE. They spawn about every 28 days now (averaging over 2 dozen eggs) and the LUCKY 11 ended up as a group of 3 males and 8 females. The exact reason for this ratio may be linked to pH levels or it may not. It has been studied in the Nanochromis cousin, Pelvicachromis; that a lower pH produces a higher percentage of females...so, in this scenario, the "glove" fits the wrong hand...backwards, transposed; just like the name: transvestitus.