The snail cichlids of Lake Tanganyika continue to enjoy unbroken popularity. Their comical breeding behavior, in which they guard their spawn and young in empty snail shells, never ceases to fascinate. It is particularly interesting to observe an entire colony of these fish inhabiting what is essentially a snail shell city. In most snail cichlids, males and females are similarly small, allowing both to crawl into the snail shell.
This is not the case with Neolamprologus callipterus. Here, the males grow to a total length of 15 cm, three times the size of the females. Even very large snail shells (in the photo session we used an empty shell of the Asian Pila ampullacea, seehttps://www.aquariumglaser.de/en/31-crayfishes-shrimps-crabs-snails-mussels/pila-ampullacea-3/, with a diameter of around 6 cm) can no longer be actively occupied by fully grown males of N. callipterus. Younger animals – in the picture, the males are around 8 cm long and the females 4-5 cm – still do so, but such large snail shells do not exist in nature.
There, the males of N. callipterus gather empty snail shells to build large residential complexes. Only males with as many snail shells as possible have a chance of attracting females to move in with them. To fertilize the eggs laid inside the snail shells, the male must bring his rear end as close as possible to the mouth of the snail shell, where he releases his milk. The sperm enters the interior of the shell through the movements of the female and fertilizes the spawn there.
N. callipterus is easy to care for. Tap water is perfectly suitable in most areas. The pH value should not fall below 7.5 on a permanent basis. The water temperature can be between 24-28°C. They eat any standard ornamental fish food, although the large males also like to eat larger chunks. Roman snail shells are suitable as snail houses and can be purchased for little money in delicatessens. The best viewing opportunities are provided by a large aquarium with a sandy bottom. Scatter 20-30 snail shells in it. Now you can watch the male build his “snail shell city.”
For our customers: depending on their size, the animals have codes 543201 (2-3 cm) to 543203 (6-8 cm) on our stock list. Please note that we only supply wholesale customers.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
