Maylandia callainos

The Maylandia callainos lives naturally among the rocks in the northern part of Lake Nyasa (Malawi), located in Africa. The fish are attractively coloured and have an interesting behaviour. They are recommended for trained aquarists.
Maylandia callainos is bluish in colour. Throughout the body are slightly contrasting dark transverse bands. Males are considerably brighter colored than females. In addition, they are slightly larger and their foreheads are more developed. The maximum size of the fish is 13.5 cm.
It is advisable to keep blue zebras in a small group of 5 - 6 animals. For such a number of fish needed aquarium of 150 liters. need to keep in mind that these fish have an aggressive disposition, so the joint content of more than one male is unacceptable. The aquarium should be only 1 male and several females. If the aquarium is large enough, you can share the content with a zebra blue cichlids commensurate in size, representatives Mbuna.
At the bottom of the aquarium should be placed various sized stones in the corners, preferably set the grottoes. Plants and snags are completely unnecessary in aquariums with these fish, so you can do without them. The substrate is best used coarse river sand or a mixture of sand and gravel.
Water parameters: temperature 24-28° C, hardness dH 8-25°, pH 7,6-8,8. Requires filtration, aeration and weekly replacement of up to ½ of the aquarium water with fresh.
Lighting is moderate, lasting 9-10 hours per day.
The Maylandia callainos fish are herbivorous and in the wild feed on algae that grow on the surface of rocks, as well as small aquatic insects that live on them. Under aquarium conditions, the fish will eat most foods offered, among which foods with a plant component, such as flakes containing spirulina, blanched spinach and lettuce, should predominate. Live and frozen bloodworms and artemia nauplii can be used as supplementary food. Feed the fish once or twice a day.
Reproduction
Under suitable keeping conditions, Maylandia callainos fish can give birth.
For breeding fish 1 male and 3-4 females placed in a separate aquarium, where the bottom are large flat stones and there are plenty of open spaces for spawning.
Spawning stimulate a variety of food and maintenance of water parameters in the following range: temperature 25-27° C, pH acidity of 8,2-8,5.
The male picks a spawning spot, which is usually the surface of a large flat rock, and cleans it of dirt and algae. He then tries to attract the female to the spawning spot. When one of the females will show attention to him, she swims up to the spawning area and hatch there her eggs, after which fertilized by the male, the female collects all the eggs in her mouth, where the eggs are incubated for 3-4 weeks. During this time, the female does not eat anything and should not be disturbed, as she may swallow the eggs or spit them out if frightened.
The hatched fry are large enough to feed on artemia nauplii from the first days of their lives.