neverendingninja

Does anyone else keep Keyhole Cichlids? I've noticed there is not much information on them on the web, but had gotten one when I originally stocked my tank. He's very entertaining, and extremely peaceful. His coloration is somewhat drab, but interesting none-the-less. Tonight, I went and picked up a little lady friend for him.

Anyway, just wondering if anyone else had any.

Chief_waterchanger

We had 2 pair in seperate tanks. We have 1 pair and half of another pair now. But both pair was breeding quite well for a while. (If stressed when the eggs are laid they are prone to eatting the eggs) I theorize that the female we had got aggressive towards the male and he died from his wounds, but I am unsure. They are good fish, beautiful fish, and beautiful fry too. Make sure to provide enough line-of-sight breakers for those high-hormone times for the girls when they're laying the eggs. I think the females are more likely to bully the males in that species.

Our keyhole fry are a month or so old and at first looked solid black, but as they grow it is shrinking into gray with black stripes that continue to grow much slower than the gray coloration. They are kinda cool, because from just a week or so old they look like fish, rather than the fry from some species that look like little heads swimming around.

neverendingninja

Awesome. I had a hard time sexing the rams at the store, and it didn't help that when the girl was trying to catch them, they all got mixed up. I'm pretty sure what I have is a female, but if it turns out different, I can take it back for half credit and get another one. They're cheap anyway, only $3 each.

If I can find some batteries for my camera, I'll post a picture of it and maybe you can help me. My definite males dorsal fin extends to the tip of his caudal fin, and the same with his anal fin. The prospective female's is much shorter, but she is also a bit younger, so it could have just not developed all the way yet.

Allie

That's weird that you say that yours is peaceful. A friend of our has one and it rules his tank. Aggressive. I think they are nice looking fish either way.

Chief_waterchanger

That's the amazing thing with fish, they have personalities. Like there are peaceful people out there, then there are bullies. But I think we all agree that Keyholes are cool fish. Ours seem to be a decently smart fish (for fish standards), they watch us as we work in the fishhouse and pay special attention to us when we are near their tank, but not the scared for their life attention other fish sometimes show.

neverendingninja

Sorry about putting this in misc. I didn't realize you could post under just Cichlids.

Anyway, yeah, the keyholes are very docile. He holds his ground, but never starts anything. All my fish eat out of my fingers, but he's the most vigorous about it. I swear, he almost tears the blood worms right out of my hand every time. I'm hoping they'll breed, as I'd like to have a species tank of them if it would be possible. I find them to be just absolutely gorgeous, even though the only non-brown color they have on them is yellow on their pect. fins, and even that is kind of drab.