Tanganyika snailfish

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tanganyika snailfish
Lamprologus ocellatus.jpg

Tanganyika snailfish ( Lamprologus ocellatus )

Systematics
Order : Cichliformes
Family : Cichlids (Cichlidae)
Subfamily : Pseudocrenilabrinae
Tribe : Lamprologini
Genre : Lamprologus
Type : Tanganyika snailfish
Scientific name
Lamprologus ocellatus
Steindachner , 1909

The Tanganyika snail perch ( Lamprologus ocellatus , Syn . : Neolamprolagus ocellatus ) is a species of fish from the cichlid family . The species occurs exclusively in the African Lake Tanganyika . It lives in places where empty snail shells of the genus Neothauma lie in the sand and has been proven at least for water depths of 2.5 to 17 meters. The diet consists of both bottom-dwelling small invertebrates and plankton. Tanganyika snailfish are popular aquarium fish because of their interesting behavior and modesty .

Appearance

Males reach a body length of almost 6 cm, females stay significantly smaller at up to 4 cm. The basic color of the body is beige-gray, with iridescent scales appearing towards the belly. On the gill covers there are black and green eye spots that gave the species its name. The sexes can be differentiated even in half-grown specimens based on the color of the dorsal fin. Females have a light-colored border in the rear part of the dorsal fin while in males the front part of the dorsal fin has an orange border.

behavior

Adults as well as young animals use empty snail shells as protection from predators, since the populated sandy areas otherwise offer no protection. Males defend territories of up to 15 m², the snail shells in this area can be colonized by females. These females then form the male's harem and defend the area around their respective snail shell against other females. With a sufficient number, an animal uses several snail shells. Surplus, unused snail shells are buried. This prevents the settlement of further snail bass, which would otherwise be food competitors and potential young fish predators.

Reproduction

Tanganyika snailfish need snail shells for reproduction. The female attaches twenty to sixty 2 mm eggs to the inner wall of a housing. While the female is still in the shell, the male inseminates the eggs. The female takes care of the clutch; it fans the eggs and the larvae hatched after three days with fresh water. Nine to ten days after laying eggs, the young can be seen for the first time at the entrance to the snail shell and begin to eat there.

After 20 to 40 days, the young leave the maternal snail shell or are driven away by the mother. They do not form swarms, but rather spread out individually on the sand, where they are well camouflaged. In case of danger, they can bury themselves in the sand, but also use the empty shells of smaller snail species such as Lavigeria grandis or Spekia zonata as hiding places. Even with a standard length of 10 mm, the juveniles behave territorially and drive away both related and unrelated juvenile fish. From a difference in size of 5 mm, cannibalism has even occurred in experiments between the boys.

Females also tolerate foreign fry in their snail shell, as long as they are not significantly larger than their own young. In field studies, almost half of all females also had strange young in their shell. Occasionally, males also grant juveniles access to their snail shells, whereby the young often do not descend from this male either.

Aquaristics

Because of their interesting reproductive behavior and their small size, the Tanganyika snailfish are often kept in aquariums and have been regularly imported to Germany since the late 1970s. They make few demands on their posture. This includes a substrate made of sand. The fish also need snail shells to hide in the aquarium, which is at least 60 cm long. Empty and cooked snail shells can be used for this. The water should be medium-hard or hard and basic and have a temperature of 23–27 ° C.

literature

Web links

Commons : Tanganyika snailfish  - Collection of images, videos and audio files