Cynotilapia pulpican
Cynotilapia pulpican inhabits Lake Malawi in Africa. The fish was discovered in 2002 and named in honor of the ancient French tribe Pulpicans, which in ancient times led a brigand life holding in fear all the people living near them. These fish also have a similar temperament, constantly keeping all fish living with them in the same aquarium.
Cynotilapia pulpican has a bluish body coloration with transverse stripes that continue even on the dorsal plumage. The main coloration of the dorsal fin is blue with a contrasting luminous edge. Caudal fin with dark stripes. The anal fin of males is black with so-called release spots. Abdominal plumage is black. The coloration of females is light brown with pale yellow fins. Transverse stripes on the body of females are blurred, weakly contrasting. Females are smaller in size than males. The maximum size of the fish is 10 cm.
Cynotilapia pulpican fish restless, bully. Especially bad character in the males, who will not miss a moment and necessarily pinch swim past their hiding place fish. In this regard, in one aquarium with cynotilyapii pulpikan desirable to contain fish large in size. In this case, it will be possible to avoid serious conflicts between the fish.
Keep Cynotilapia pulpican need a small harem consisting of 1 male and 2-4 females.
For this number of fish requires an aquarium volume of 150 liters. In the aquarium you need to create a stony landscape with many hiding places in the form of large stones, grottoes and caves, which is desirable to place along the back wall.
Water parameters: temperature 26-28° C, hardness dH 9-15°, acidity pH 7,2-8,5. Need highly effective filtration, increased aeration and weekly replacement of 1/3 of the aquarium water fresh.
Lighting is not strong, the intensity of about 0.3 W / L. The duration of the daylight hours 9-10 hours a day.
Various animal and plant foods make up the fish menu, and their proportion should be equal. Fish eat cyclops, daphnia, artemia, and chopped seafood. Also fish are given slices of green cucumbers, spinach and lettuce leaves. They do not refuse and dry food in the form of flakes and pellets.
Reproduction
With the reproduction of Cynotilapia pulpican in aquarium conditions is usually not a problem.
The male prepares in advance a spawning site among large rocks, and then attracts a female to it. The female lays eggs and after fertilization by the male collects it all to his mouth, where it is actually incubated for 3 weeks. All this time the female does not eat at all. After that, the mouth of their mother leaves the fully formed fry (about 30 fry). The female takes care of the fry for the first 2-3 weeks, but after this time, the fry begin to separate from the pack, which makes caring for them problematic. To preserve the stock of fry at this time, it is advisable to transfer them to another aquarium.
Life expectancy of Cynotilapia pulpican in aquarium conditions is about 5-6 years.
