December - Hill Country Cichlid Club

The
Lateral Line
Volume 5, Issue 4 December, 2012
Inside this Issue:
Keeping Cichlids Outside Year Round—Ghetto Style!
Iranocichla hormuzensis, Coad, 1982
C.A.R.E.S. Yssichromis piceatus
Spawning Corydoras Axelrodi...Sort of!

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The HCCC is a proud member of the
Federation of Texas
Aquarium Societies.
The HCCC is a proud member of the
Federation
of American Aquarium
Societies.
On the Cover - Alcolapia alcalicus
Editorial 3
Keeping Cichlids Outside Year Round—Ghetto Style! 8
- Greg Steeves
Iranocichla hormuzensis, Coad, 1982 12
- Dave Hansen
C.A.R.E.S. Yssichromis piceatus 18
Spawning Corydoras axelrodi...Sort of! 19
- Keith Arnold
http://www.hillcountrycichlidclub.com/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/hillcountrycichlidclub

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Editorial
First off, to all HCCC members and other clubs that
we exchange publications with, let me apologize for
the lengthy lapse between Lateral Line issues. 2012
has seen some changes in the club and 2013 is going
to see even more. I feel the time of growing is
fantastic for the longevity of our organization and
I’m very confident that the future will bring only
better changes to the Hill Country Cichlid Club.
While from the outside looking in it might seem as
though 2012 was not an active year for us and for
some that might be true. For others, it was more
than busy enough with club business. We held
three successful auctions with a ton of new faces
attending. We have actually changed some aspects
of the auction including the methods of payment
and greatly shortened the time that sellers receive
payment. Diane Tennison has almost solely been
responsible for revamping the system and deserves
all the credit for our success in this area.
Another hugely active area of involvement within
our club has been the HCCC Facebook site. Our
presence here has allowed us to reach a much larger
audience as well as publicizing our existence to local
hobbyists who had no idea there was a cichlid
club here. If there is a dark side to the Facebook
site is that it has become so active that it has actually
taken away some of the activity that we traditionally
seen on the HCCC message board. What I
would like to see is someone step up and publicize
informative posts received on Facebook to our
HCCC forum and vice versa.
I would like to recognize one of the pillars of our
group, Dave Schumacher of Dave’s Rare Aquarium
Fish for what he does. Dave borrowed a great idea
that the East Coast Cichlid bunch do at their auctions.
This was the catfish raffle. I was told this
was well received and is something we want to incorporate
into future auctions as well. Dave provided
the fish for the raffle and together with his
wife Amanda, secured our permanent location for
club auctions. Starting in 2013 we will be holding
our first ever Swap Meet here as well. I will make
the information on this available just as soon as I
can.
Dave and Amanda have been searching for a location
where we will permanently move our meetings
to. The plan is to have an HCCC meeting every
second month at the same day and time (ex. every
second Saturday at 6pm). The meeting will include
a BAP and members auction, a speaker that will
present on a subject relevant to our members interest,
and snacks for all. The plan is to turn our
meetings into an event that anyone with even a
passing interest in cichlids that lives in the area,
would not want to miss. We were hoping to have a
location locked in by now but we are still searching.
Ideally we would like to find something on the
Northside of San Antonio, Shertz, New Braunfels
or San Marcos…..or anywhere in between. If you
have an idea for a location or know of someplace
we could frequent, please let us know. I fully expect
that we will eventually need meeting space for
100 people. The club is willing to pay for a location
willing to house us but it must be reasonable.
In speaking with Dan Schacht, our BAP Chairman,
BAP entries have been slow in coming this year. I
know by seeing some of the species that people
have breeding on our Facebook site, that next year
could be a record breaker.
Troy Veltrop is not only our club CARES Chairman,
but also the CARES Preservation website
master. He has asked, told, beg and asked me again
to update my CARES species and I am yet to do
that. Some shining example I turned out to be! I
will be doing that and sending my information in to
him and I would urge those of you already registered
to do that same. Those of you with CARES
species that have not registered them should do so.
You can reach Troy on the HCCC website. A listing
of CARES fish can be found at http://
www.carespreservation.com.
On the CARES bandwagon, three HCCC members
recently appeared on the Under The Sea Radio
Show. These shows are all archived and can be listened
to at your leisure anytime. All had both CA-
RES and HCCC content. Artist/ Paleontologist/
Aquarist Ken McKeighen painted three works and
donated them to the CARES program. These beautiful
paintings are in my procession right now. One
will be auctioned at the North East Council of
Aquarium Societies Convention in Cromwell CT.

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April 5th-7th.
http://convention.northeastcouncil.org/
The second will be auctioned off at the Greater Chicago
Cichlid Classic on Memorial Day Weekend in
Chicago. http://www.gcca.net/.
The third will be auctioned off at the HCCC Spring
Auction and stay tuned to the website
http://www.hillcountrycichlidclub.com for information
as soon as it is available. Here are the paintings
generously donated by the artist. Each is
signed and dated by Ken McKeighen.
The organization responsible for commissioning
Ken to do these amazing paintings was Mary and
William Forrest of the Under the Sea Radio Show.
Ken McKeighen

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September 28, 2012.
Mr. Greg Steeves has been scheduled to be on the Under The Sea Radio Show to discuss
the C.A.R.E.S. Preservation Program and what aquarium hobbyists should know about every
species at risk that are involved in the aquarium hobby.
http://underthesearadioprogram.yolasite.com/the-fine-art-of-cares-lake-victoria.php
November 16, 2012.
Caroline Estes will be by to talk about the Tropical Fish Industry and about the Cichlid Hobby. Caroline
Estes is the former owner of Amazonia Aquariums from Austin Texas and will provide a unique
view on the hobby today. Including raising money for projects that are related to the tropical fish
keeping hobby.
http://underthesearadioprogram.yolasite.com/cichlidae-discussion-caroline-estes.php
November 30, 2012.
The Under The Sea Radio Show is pleased to have Mr. Troy Veltrop be a guest on the show to discuss
some of the very interesting species that hobbyists can help out in keeping with the C.A.R.E.S.
Preservation Program while learning about the behavior of these wonderful cichlids of Lake Victoria.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/wm-aquaculture/2012/12/01/the-fine-art-of-breeding-lake-victoriacichlids
January 11, 2013.
C.A.R.E.S. Preservation Program generally is a program designed for aquarists to aid in the conservation
of endangered and extinct species in the wild that usually can be kept in a home aquarium.
The Under The Sea Radio Show and Mr. Ken McKeighen are pleased to be working with this organization
and Mr. Klaus Steinhaus who is scheduled to be on this show is the C.A.R.E.S. club representative.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/wm-aquaculture/2013/01/12/cares-preservation-program--klaussteinhaus
.

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5514 IH 35 S, New Braunfels, TX.
This past year was full of great fish events for those
of you so inclined to attend. Our sister clubs the
Houston Aquarium Society and the Texas Cichlid
Association both held numerous auctions throughout
the year. Also the TCA held a Swap that Lee
Ann and I attended. It was a lot of fun and I can’t
wait for the next one.
The annual American Cichlid Association convention
was in Indianapolis Indiana and by all accounts
was a very good gathering. This year the ACA is in
Denver Colorado. That’s driving distance! It is sure
to be a great time. Bob Grauer is one of my best
friends and also the convention chair. I know this
will be a show you won’t want to miss.
The TCA went way over the top with the FOTAS
convention this year. What a great time! Next year
we are all flocking to Houston, the sight of FOTAS
2013.
I want to remind everyone that a club is only as
good as its membership. If you would like an active
club, you have to be an active member. There are
several of us who have been doing the same jobs in
the HCCC for several years. There is always room
for someone that wants to take a role in the operation
and future of our club to do so. Don’t be afraid
to ask.
As we get ready to close the door on 2012 and jump
head first into 2013, I encourage everyone to share
your fish experiences with the rest of us. Write an
article, tell a story, share some photo’s attend a
show and auction. The only things fish people love
more than their fish, is other fish people!

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Retail Store Hours: Tues-Sat 10am-7pm Sun 12pm-5pm CLOSED MONDAYS
12315 Wetmore Rd. San Antonio, TX 78247
(210)653-8880
Leadership Group
Evan Bowers
Diane Tennison
Greg Steeves
Dave Schumacher
Dan Schacht
JB Edmundson
Robert DeLeon
Finances - Diane Tennison
BAP - Dan Schacht
CARES - Troy Veltrop
Events - Dave Schumacher
Lateral Line - Greg Steeves
Membership - Diane Tennison
Publication Exchange - Greg Steeves
Raleigh Aquarium Society
Brazos Valley Aquarium Society
Chatham Kent Aquarium Society
Houston Aquarium Society
Texas Cichlid Association
Oklahoma Aquarium Association
Aquarium Club of Lancaster County
Durham Region Aquarium Society
North Jersey Aquarium Society
Any clubs interested in exchanging with the Hill
Country Cichlid Club, contact Greg at
gasteeves@gmail.com.

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Keeping Cichlids Outside Year Round—Ghetto Style! - Greg Steeves
After many years of fishkeeping, there comes a time
when adding another tank is just not enough. For
most serious hobbyists I know, the next step is generally
a trip to see and/or collect fish in their natural
habitat. We are truly fortunate here in South Texas
to be able to easily do both. Many of my friends
have gone to Mexico for cichlids and livebearers or
on the Amazon for some exotics. There are even
several friends that have gone to Africa to collect on
the Great Lakes. I have not made those trips yet but
they are in my bucket list. I always admired the
large tank full of Malawians at the San Antonio Zoo
and figured it it could be done there, why couldn’t I
figure out how to keep these fish outside as well.
After a little research it became apparent that the
Zoo had access to better funding than I had. Still,
where there’s a will there’s a way.
The cichlid pond in all its glory.
Now I have to admit that keeping tropical's out of
doors was not a revolutionary idea in any way. My
friend Jeff Johnson had been doing it for years. The
difference is that Jeff had been using the vats he
kept out of doors for growing fish in the warm
weather. When the water turned cooler he either
sold his stock or brought them inside. Jeff had
given me great advice on a number of questions I
had including the “growing” season. He, quite correctly,
advised me that fish could be maintained outside
safely from April 15th to October15th. During
this time there are other potential problems to deal
with such as oak and cedar pollen and animals.
Geographically I had figured that we were close in
latitude to Florida. This is where the majority of
North American tropical fish farms are. There are
only two big differences that we have to be con-

9
cerned with. That is heat and cold. It gets way hotter
and much cooler here than the subtropical climate
of the Miami area. This however, I considered
a drawback, not a game stopper.
For the last six years we have kept fish in containers
of some sort outside in the yearly time period Jeff
had suggested. These containers amounted to old
plexi-glass vats at first and then into kiddie pools. I
had experimented with some home made filtration
systems, some effective, some not so much. Three
years ago my buddy JB gave me
a large above ground pool. Immediately
I realized that this was
the going to be the framework
for my conquering the year
round outdoor cichlidarium!
Thinking that I had pretty much everything figured
out, we went on to have the hottest summer on record.
If I remember it was nearly 100 days in a row
of temperatures in excess of 100F. The pool water
heated to a point that I could not cool it or turn it
enough to keep a descent oxygen content in it. The
fish did not do very well. I decided that the next
piece of equipment that would be necessary was a
pump capable of turning the water better than what I
had set up. While searching for an additional pump
I happened on a sand filter unit that had what I
thought would be needed and extra filtration! This
was external item number three.
Initially I set the big 5500 gallon
pool up, added the stock filter
that came with it and let it run.
Within a week the water was so
green that I could not see anything.
Extra piece of equipment
number one, UV sterilizer to
handle the green water. A small
power hear ran water through the
sterilizer rather than hooking it
inline with the filter. I wasn’t
sure the high water flow would
be as effective as a slower flow
through the UV. It took about
two weeks but the UV Sterilizer
did the trick and kept the water
crystal clear.
It was now time to add some fish. I can’t remember
what species I added first but I do remember that
shortly after the fish went in, the oak trees that surround
our property, started shedding oak pollen
pods. When they inevitably hit the pond, the water
immediately turned a crappy tea colored and again I
could not see what was in the water. After the pollen
fall had ended, I was able to drain the pond and
basically start over. Needed item number two:
some sort of cover to keep the pollen pods from the
water.
The sand filter unit replaced the original stock pump and filter unit.
One other design flaw was that in the summer heat,
the sides of the pond generated a great deal of heat
and in the winter, there was nothing to insulate the
water from the chill of the air. We added silver insulation
commonly found in fish crates and used in
shipping as well. We pieced these together with
duct tape. While not ascetically pleasing, it turned
out to be very effective for both purposes.
We ordered a “solar blanket” to keep foreign objects
out of the water and as an added bonus, it converts
the suns rays into heat. It is very noticeable
when the weather is cooler. The top comes off after
the April pollen fall and will go on with the onset of
cooler weather around November. On warmer winter
days I don’t remove it but I do peel it back.

10
The fourth and final piece of equipment was a pond
heater that I found by accident. It only engages on
very cool nights. Since installing all the extras, and
despite a continued night time temperature in the
20’sF the lowest the water temperature has gotten
is 66F; quite acceptable for the fish I keep. Even in
the heat of summer, the fish have done just fine.
This floater supports the heating unit and keeps it
off of the bottom. You can see the underside of the
solar blanket that has been peeled away to show a
large group of Pseudotropheus saulosi.
Equipment list: Intex Above ground pool. 16’
diamenter, roughly 5500 gallons.
Speciality Pool Products So
lar Blanket. Free floating
cover.
25 Watt UV Sterilizer com
bined with a 500 gph power
head.
Clepco 1500 w pond heater.
The thermostat and pond heating unit.
We added several trays containing pool filter sand
and planted with a native species collected locally.
These plants have absolutely exploded! They look
lush and green. As an added bonus, the mbuna
don’t bother them at all.
In the very middle of the pond is a reef built up
mostly of holey rock that I have bought at club auctions
and were too large for my tanks. The fish love
this and this area is always full of newborn fry who
use the holes in the rock as a refuge. I should mention
that I added slate tiles to the middle portion of
the pond so that the holey rock would not puncture
the lining.
The inhabitants of the pond are all cichlids from
Lake Malawi and haplochromines from the Lake
Victoria region. There are also several paradise fish
(Macropodus opercularis) that were popped in there
after spawning in one of our smaller ponds. These
fish were either housed here previously, picked up
at auction or given to me (primarily from Troy Veltrop,
Nick Andreola and Dave Schumacher). All
the fish have grown with most now reproducing. I
had a lot of help from Dave Schumacher assisting
with adding species that were not likely to hybridize.
The fish both act differently than behaviors I
have observed in the aquarium. Aggressive species
coexist with other more docile species in the larger
body of water.

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Perhaps the most enjoyable part of our pond experiment
is being able to jump in and snorkel with the
fish. It’s a lot of fun to hand feed them however, as
they have gotten use to Lee Ann and I in the water
and associate us with feeding, they have lost their
fear of people. This has resulted in us being bitten.
The two species that are the worst are Psuedotropheus
saulosi and Astatotilapia latisfasciata. Feed
in excess before jumping in the water!
Species list:
Astatotilapia latisfasciata
Cynotilapia aurifrons
Cyrtocara moorii
Gephyrochromis moorii
Labidochromis caeruleus
Macropodus opercularis
Paralabidochromis chromogynos
Paralabidochromis sauvagei
Pseudotropheus acei “white tail”
Pseudotropheus flavus
Pseudotropheus lombaordi
Pseudotropheus saulosi
Pundamilia nyererei
Pundamilia sp. “red head”
Copadichromis sp. "Kawanga no
spot"
Metriaclima sp. “elongates Chailosi”

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Iranocichla hormuzensis, Coad, 1982 - Dave Hansen
Many aquatic hobbyists pursue rare fish. Scarcity
in the hobby however, does not necessarily translate
into a species being difficult or interesting to maintain.
I am fortunate to possess a group of the uncommon
and fascinating cichlid Iranocichla hormuzensis.
The first challenge is undoubtedly locating
this fish. Once you have found I. hormuzensis,
breeding can be a daunting chore. I will explain the
obstacles I have encountered during this article.
Iranocichla hormuzensis is the only cichlid found in
Iran and is the lone member of the genus
(monotypical). It is a maternal mouthbrooder with
an extremely limited range along the southern coast
of Iran being restricted to rivers draining into the
Strait of Hormuz. The word “river” can be misleading
as I have seen pictures of this species being collected
in ankle deep water flowing at a snail’s pace.
Every waterway seems to be slightly different, ranging
in width from 1-50 meters. Often the streams
will experience diminished flow rates and will settle
into pools. Some years the pools may have fish
and others they do not. The parameters of the water
of its habitat vary wildly in regards to both salinity
and temperature. This is a large portion of the challenge
in keeping these animals. Normally when I
learn a fish comes from a system of fluctuating
measurements, I associate it with a species that is
easy to keep and a little bit more tolerant of the wa-

13
ter when what we put into their tanks isn't perfect.
The challenge is not in the daily maintenance of I.
hormuzensis , but in matching those conditions
when trying to induce spawning. These waterways
have not been studied as extensively as most leaving
many gaps in regards to addressing their water
quality needs. A large portion of the terrain in
close proximity to these rivers, consist of salt
domes. This can cause to the water to be highly saline.
Consequently, any influx of freshwater into
the system will cause the salinity level to fluctuate.
These are mostly small bodies of water and I would
consider the conditions to be anything but stable. In
addition, the water found in several oasis where this
fish is found, consists of pure fresh water.
If challenging water conditions were not enough,
the area is exposed to extreme temperature changes.
Winter temperatures range from 12-30 C while in
summer this environment can swell up to 44+ C.
Unlike many of the waterways associated with other
cichlids, there is very little vegetation along the
banks to provide any shade. This combined with
the reduced water levels in the summer make for
tough living.
I have had discussions concerning the state of the
fish in its native waterways with several people, including
several prominent ichthyologists. Some
think the fish is in serious peril because farmers are
using the water for irrigation and industrialization of
the region. The other camp maintains that the fish
is not at any greater risk than they previously faced
based on limited distribution and tough environmental
conditions. The thought process is that the
region is so undesirable and desolate that it has escaped
the industrialization found elsewhere. Without
treatment, the water is too salty to be used for
farming. I have not heard much middle ground and
the opinions seem to be far apart.
This is an absolutely stunning fish when it matures.
I. hormuzensis is relatively small at a maximum
length of about 4”. While somewhat undersized, it
processes a very stout body. Juveniles are slightly
elongated and one can clearly see the convex shape
of the head developing early on. At this point, any
hints of future coloration are non existent. The
young maintain a silver-green coloration with no
pigmentation in the fins. The body exhibits 7- 11
vertical bars that become less obvious as the fish
matures. The dorsal fin contains an easily recognizable
tilapia spot. In the description of the species, it
is stated that males can be differentiated from females
by a greater head length, larger pelvic fins,
and greater interorbital width, but frankly I was unable
to accurately sex these fish until they began to
display certain behavior and color changes. When
looking closely, you begin to notice white spots on
the silver fish. Slowly the male begins to exhibit
darkening shades of gray until it appears as a light
black. When in breeding dress, the male is intensely
black with white and turquoise iridescent
spots scattered throughout the body and caudal fin.
There are no spots on either the anal or pelvic fins.
The dorsal contains some spots, and has white banding
that occurs in the otherwise black fin. The
speckling on the body begins behind the gill plate
while the cranial region is black. If you look at
other images and read through the limited material
available, you will find that males also appear with
a black body and a brick-red lower side along with
the bottom portion of the jaw. The species description
mentions both of these variants without further
elaboration on potential reasons for the differences.
It could be diet, water condition, or locale variants,
but all of this is simply speculation on my part.
Hopefully as additional taxonomic work is done
with this cichlid we can fill some of the gaps in our
knowledge. The females maintain the silver coloration
and vertical barring. I have seen them darken
up a little bit, but it is just very light gray without all
the spotting. Unlike the males, the tilapia spot is
easily seen in the females. The differentiation in
hues of the females to a strutting male makes for a
stunning display.

14
I acquired my “group” of fish in November 2007. I
say group, but it was only four individuals. This is
a species I had been chasing for a number of years
and was always near the top of my “must have” list.
I was appreciative to obtain them, but will admit
only having four individuals made me feel a little
nervous. I was unsure of how to maintain them so
this really didn’t give me very much room for error.
The fish had just been released from the mother
about 7 days previous to them coming into my possession
and were extremely tiny. When I first gazed
into the bag I couldn’t even see the fry at all. I
poured the contents of the bag into a coffee cup
hoping it would be easier to see them. I made out 4
sets of tiny black eyes and breathed a sigh of relief.
I am not a scientist and the idea of playing chemist
with water parameters had me a bit anxious. The
key factor I was trying to determine was the salt
content of the water. I had a couple of weeks to
prep and enrolled the help of my fellow fish geek,
Nick Andreola, to figure out how I was going to set
the tank up. The actual physical setup was easy. I
prepared a 113 liter long as I would for any other
cichlid I had maintained. I used a slightly oversized
hang on the back filter and because I knew the fish
were small I used a sponge over the intake tube to
keep from siphoning them up into it. I employed
pool filter sand as the substrate and dotted it with
several medium size pieces of holey rock and tied in
some artificial silk plants. These fish are accustomed
to warm water, so I submerged a heater into
the tank and set the thermostat for 23C. I filled the
tank with water and looked at the volume of water
and said to myself, “now what?” I had done as
much research as possible on the specific waterways
these fish were found and as I mentioned earlier it
varies wildly. Even if I had exact readings, I had no
idea how that would actually be executed in the
tank. Nick was on the case though. I had total confidence
he would figure this out for me. He called
me to discuss and after listening to him explain in
great detail; I had no idea what he was talking
about. I don’t think Stephen Hawking would know
what he was talking about! He had a mouthful of
equations and numbers and you need this measuring
device and oh by the way do you have access to an
electron smasher? Maybe I added the last part, but
this was giving me a headache. If these fish can’t
survive in my tank how in the heck will they avoid
disappearing in the wild? I hung up with Nick and
told him I would call him later after I absorbed his
information. Hopefully he isn’t still sitting by the
phone. It took a little longer than it should have, but
I decided to reach out to the few other hobbyists I
knew of, who had kept them to uncover their maintenance
secretes. I asked three people and got three
different answers. One of them kept them in pure
freshwater, another said a large soup spoon of salt
per gallon, and the other said a small palm worth
per gallon. Great, what are your local tap water
conditions, what size are the soup spoons in Europe,
and how big are your hands? After fretting over
this for a couple of weeks I decide I will use a soup
spoon worth of salt per gallon. I went to grab a
spoon from the drawer and my wife asked what I
was doing. I went into great detail to demonstrate
how smart I was and I was using this spoon to salt
the tank. “You are not using one of my nice spoons
for your tanks” was her reply. She handed me a tablespoon
from an old cutlery set and said I could
have that one. So after weeks of research and discussion
I am using a tablespoon per gallon of salt.

15
I had the tank prepared for a week before I received
the fish. Once they were in my hands I slowly acclimated
them to their home. I was in my constantly,
checking on, and trying to count the four of
them. I was never able to get above three and lost
the one very early on. This kicked my stress level
up a notch.
The fish has an elongated intestinal tract consistence
with an algae based diet (Lamboj, pers
comm.). I fed crushed spirulina flake for quite
sometime. Growth was slow, but they were growing.
This was a positive sign. Of course during this
point it came time to do my first water change. I
drained about 30% of the tank into a bucket and
then poured the bucket into a gallon milk jug to precisely
measure how much water I had taken out of
the tank. I was determined to replace the salt content
grain for grain. Half the water ended up on the
floor as I was pouring it into the milk jugs. I. hormuzensis
was my first foray into any type of fishkeeping
involving salt and it wasn’t going well. I
have had prouder moments in the hobby than this
disaster in the making. Water was seeping all over
the floor and I had no idea how much salt to replenish.
Keep in mind how difficult the conditions are
that these fish exist in the wild and this makes all of
this obsessing bordering on silly. I was living in the
moment though and determined to do this right. In
hindsight I am sure a little less/more salt wouldn’t
have bothered them much. I now use guesstimation
and mix some salt and water into a bucket to fill the
tank back up. I mixed it well and proceeded to siphon
the water into the tank from the bucket. The
bucket was empty. I looked in the pail and 90% of
the salt had stayed in the bottom of the bucket. I
walked over and shut the door to the fishroom. I
didn’t need my family witnessing this spectacle. I
grabbed the hose and went about filling the tank
back up. I reached for the spoon, estimated what I
needed to get close, and called it good. I attentively
watched the fish for the next couple of hours
waiting for them to keel over from the shock to their
system they must surly have been experiencing.
Amazingly they survived their first water change.
Subsequent water changes went much smoother. I
operated under the motto, “What doesn’t kill them
only makes them stronger”. I drained the water,
added dechlor, and slowly filled the water up and
added salt as I was filling and it worked fine. As I
discovered while tinkering with water parameters,
these fish are extremely hardy.
I had no false illusions that this trio would be breeding
anytime soon. The dialogue I had developed
with the other hobbyists, keeping I. hormuzensis
was a wonderful source of information. It would be
around 24 months before I could expect them to
breed. I was concentrating on maintaining healthy
fish while focused on water changes and feeding.
Three fish in a 113 liter tank was not taxing the filtration
system at all, but I performed a rigorous
schedule of 30% weekly water changes. In addition
to the spirulina flake I introduced algae tabs and the
occasional protein flake which were greedily consumed.
The fish were putting on size and aggression
was not yet an issue. Despite no dithers or target
fish in the aquarium they were not a shy species
Fish Hobby Supply
http://africancichlids.net/fhs/

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at all. I enjoyed watching them slowly develop.
After a year, one of the individuals began transforming
from silver to a light gray. Over a few
months the coloration became a darker and darker
gray until eventually the body was light black. The
speckling became a bit more prominent during this
time frame as well. There were still no signs of real
aggression but this developing male had one side of
the tank to himself and the other two tended to keep
to the other side. All three would move freely without
any aggression issues, but the tendency of the
group was to stay on their own sides. The male was
really coming into his own in regards to his coloration
and was now in full bloom. This did not translate
into any courting behavior though. Several
months went by and the other two fish were starting
to spar somewhat. As time drew on, a full out battle
between the two females ensued. The two females
spent several weeks rushing at each other and jaw
locking. I was observing this closely as I could not
afford to lose any of the fish. Despite the battle
royal no visible damage was being done to either
fish. Eventually this activity subsided and one of
the females was now hanging out with the male in
his rock pile. By no means were they exhibiting
pairing behavior, but were definitely getting along
enough to allow each other in the same area. The
other fish stayed in her half of the tank. I have not
seen any fighting between those two since that one
frenzied period. The male was now in breeding coloration
at all times and could be seen displaying to
the female often. He would sashay across the tank
and court the other female as well. This went on for
several weeks before I actually witnessed a female
with buccal cavity full of eggs. Over several
months I had a female holding three times and never
more than a week. The next time it happened I decided
I would strip the eggs and tumble them. Unfortunately
there has not been a next time. While
the male has maintained his vibrant hues and occasionally
shimmies up to a female, there has been
almost zero courting behavior.
More time passes I determine it is time to start tinkering
with some water parameters to see if I can
trigger a spawning. The nervousness I exhibited a
couple of years ago is now gone and I am not too
concerned about playing mad scientist. Many fish
will spawn during a rainy season because they have
learned that along with the rain come enhanced food
sources. The first thing I do is to slowly lower the
salt content in the tank. Once lowered, I would
maintain it for at least a month. By the time I have
tweaked it down as far as I felt comfortable with;
the salt levels were about 25% of the original quantity.
This wasn’t working. Next I varied the diet
and begin feeding mosquito larvae I was collecting
in a bucket outside. I also increased the frequency
of the protein flake. With little effect, I tried a different
brand of food, again, with no luck. The next
factor to alter was temperature. I began by lowering
the temperature of the heater and eventually turned
it off. The lowest temperature the water reached
was about 18C. I also proceeded to alter the salt
content again as I was experimenting with the temperature.
Once this failed to trigger any responses I
began to crank the temperature up and had the
heater up to 31C before deciding not to go any
higher. I will admit while I was frustrated it was an
enjoyable challenge as well. These fish were making
me work to entice a spawning and I was having
fun trying to outsmart them. After many months of
this I still had nothing as far as spawns, but still had
3 healthy fish that appeared no worse for wear.
I reached out to a friend who wasn’t having any
luck and he was able to pass along 4 females from
his group all in the name of getting this species to
breed. While there has been increased courting behavior
only one spawn has been witnessed and it

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was aborted several days later. The shifting of parameters
has resumed and different variations are
being attempted. I have a friend who has proven he
can spawn almost anything. He lives close by and
we have moved the fish over to his house so he is
working with them as well. It is more important to
me to achieve a spawn and be able to share these
fish than it is to keep them in my fishroom just for
the sake of having them.
The slightly alarming sequel to my story is that
most of the other known groups in captivity have
stopped spawning and no one is producing any fry.
Iranocichla hormuzensis has been the most challenging
fish I have kept to date and I am as enthusiastic
today about them as I was when I was lucky
enough to obtain them. It is an absolutely stunning
fish that would be the highlight of any collection. I
hope the attempts to spawn this fish are successful
and more people will get the opportunity to enjoy
them. This will only lead to more awareness of a
beautiful cichlid and assist in expanding our knowledge
base.

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Spawning Corydoras Axelrodi….Sort Of! - Keith Arnold
Over a decade ago, I purchased two groups of corys.
One was sold to me as Corydoras axelrodi, while
the second group was sold as C. “deckeri”. I later
learned that “deckeri” is a nomen nudum used for
loxozonus. [The term, nomen nudum, refers to a
scientific name which has never been formally described,
hence has no standing]. I could not distinguish
between the two groups, so I wrote to a wellknown
catfish expert for his input: he never replied.
Since I couldn’t tell the two groups apart, I decided
they were the same species and placed them in a 10-
gallon tank, where they have been ever since.
According to David Sands (1983. Catfishes of the
World, Vol. 1, p. 88a. Dunure Enterprises, Dunure,
Scotland) C. axelrodi lacks the lateral body coloration
of C. loxozons. However, Burgess (1992. Colored
Atlas of Miniature Catfish. T.F.H. Publications,
Inc., Neptune, New Jersey) notes that C. loxozons
has an anterior dark bar on the dorsal fin which
joins the strong lateral line; the latter runs onto the
lower portion of the caudal fin. C. axelrodi lacks
both of these characters as do my fish. Both species
come from the Meta district of Colombia. Sands
(op. cit) cites Rio Meta as the origin of C. axelrodi,
and the Rio Ariari, a tributary of the Rio Guaviare,
as the source of C. loxozonus. It may be that both
occur in the same river drainages, thus leading to
the high similarity in color pattern or the two species
may have evolved from the same ancestor in
which different populations were “captured” with
separation of river drainages. Sands (1984. Supplement
1, p.48b) lists 20 species of Corydoras which
have either a mimic or species with a similar color
pattern; mimics usually occur in the same rivers,
those with similar patterns may or may not inhabit
the same river.
Despite heavy water changes, rich foods and strong
aeration, I never saw any spawning activity. In the

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meantime, Java moss in the tank prospered as did a
type of slimy alga.
On November 3rd, in preparation for the 2011 FO-
TAS convention, I removed about one-half of the
Java moss, intending to place this in the FOTAS
auction. On November 7th, while feeding my fish, I
thought I saw a small cory in the axelrodi tank, but I
couldn’t be sure. The next day I saw at least two
small corys around an inch in length. So, on November
19th, I removed all of the Java moss,
drained about 60 per cent of the water and replaced
it, and placed a HOT magnum on the tank. After
about 30 minutes, as the water cleared, I began to
see three, four, six. young corys one inch in length
or less. At this time I have conservatively estimated
12-15 young corys, probably from two or more
spawnings, based on size differences.
In seems obvious to me, that as these corys spawned
– probably IN the Java moss – the dense nature of
the Java moss served both as a refuge for the fry as
well as an excellent source of food. Now, I am anxious
to discern just how many young C. axelrodi are
in the tank.
The great items up for grabs at the HCCC Fall Auction Catfish Raffle.

The Lateral Line is the official publication of the Hill
Country Cichlid Club. Reprinting freely permitted to
non commercial organizations.
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