Do you have an aquarium in the living room, which you do not want to be heated? Or perhaps you have a tank outside. Or even a garden pond, which can be occupied with tropical fish during the summer period. If so then Gymnogeophagus balszanii would be the ideal fish for you. This fish originates from the southern parts of South America and will tolerate low temperature and even needs these for its wellbeing. Despite an adult size of 20 cm, this cichlid is very peaceful and will accept temperatures in the range between 10 and 30 degrees Celsius, as long as the extreme temperatures are only for short times. They will accept all water conditions as long as the water is not polluted and even with their diet they are not picky, you can feed them on a diet of artificial food like flakes or pellets. Of course they prefer life or frozen food and will give the owner in return more beautiful colouration and increasing breeding behaviour. G. balzanii is a so called larphophilic mouthbreeder. The female guards the eggs between 24 and 48 hours after laying them on a pebble stone or piece of bogwood. The eggs are taken by the female before hatching and the fry are freed from the egg scale by chewing. The breeding before release takes about another 8 days. The male is not bothered anymore with the breeding. At the time of the first release by the female the baby fish are still very small and even freshly hatched artemia may be too big. This could complicate because the fry could need smallest food to survive the first days. (Text & Photo: Thomas Weidner)
| Angaben zum Tier | |
|---|---|
| Herkunft | Argentinien, Brasilien, Uruguay |