Lamprologus speciosus
Lamprologus speciosus inhabits the southwestern part of Lake Tanganyika in the wild. The fish are found in sandy areas along the shoreline where the substrate is strewn with empty snail shells.
Lamprologus speciosus has a generally unassuming dark brown body coloration, shimmering in the reflected light in blue-violet colours. the ends of the dorsal and ventral plumage are black with small dots. The fins are yellowish, translucent. The coloration of fish, depending on their emotional state can vary greatly. Males reach a size of 6.5 cm and females 4 cm.
The volume of the aquarium should be about 50 liters per fish pair. It should have open areas for the fish to swim freely. As the ground should be used coarse-grained river sand, poured a layer of at least 2 cm. At the bottom should be placed empty shells grape snails, whose number should exceed the number of fish in the aquarium.
Lamprologus speciosus are territorial fish, which furiously defend their shell and the surrounding area from other fish. Keep lamprolologusov can be a colony of 6-8 fish, dominated by females and make sure that each fish got your own sink. Can be kept in the same tank with other fish commensurate in size, such as Burundi princesses (Neolamprologus brichardi).
Water parameters: temperature 23-27° C, hardness dH 8-25°, pH 7,5-9,0. Requires aeration, filtration and a weekly change of ¼ of the aquarium water with fresh water.
Live and frozen food represents the bulk of the fish diet (Artemia, Cyclops, Daphnia, chaff, Coretra). Various dry foodstuffs can be used as additional feed, but they should not be used continuously. Feed the fish 2 times a day.
Reproduction
Under suitable conditions, Lamprologus speciosus spawn almost every month.
Before spawning, the female in every way to attract the male to his shell, which she almost buried in the sand, leaving outside only the entrance. When the male shows interest in the female, he swims up to her shell, while the female swims into it and spawns. In total, the female hatches up to 40 eggs. Once the female has spawned, she leaves the shell, and the male swims up to her entrance and emits a cloud of milk, thus fertilizing the eggs. In some cases, the male swims into the shell and fertilises the eggs while in it. The male does not take care of the eggs and future offspring. The female is above the entrance to the shell, spreading out all her fins.
The eggs incubate for 3 days and on day 10 the fry begin to swim and feed. The fry are fed with artemia at least 4 times a day. As soon as it is noticed that the female has lost interest in her offspring, it is best to transfer them to another aquarium to maintain the stock of fry.
