Laetacara dorsigera Red breast acara

[Guppysnail]

Roughly 3 months ago I ordered 5 Laetacara curviceps however they sent me dorsigera. 
 

I found I adored them so I kept them. They are beautiful fish. They change color and patterns quickly and often as a way to communicate with one another.  Very personable fish with the water puppy personality of rams. They recognize me and definitely know the difference between me and my husband who seldom enters the fish room.  They come running when I walk up and hide when hubby walks up.

I was just keeping them in my journal but now they are breeding so I want to keep a separate log so I can track timelines easier. 
 

They sent me only 1 female. So I kept them together until she chose a mate. 

 

Once she chose a mate I gave the other 3 to @Purple Guppy to add to her community tank where she has some of my GBR babies. These are fantastic community dwarf cichlids. One has grown so beautiful she intends to enter him next year in the Keystone Clash competition. 
 

The second batch of eggs they dug 5 holes about the tank in the sand before they hatched. They moved the new hatch fry immediately and then two or three times a day would cart the wigglers to a different hole. 

Unfortunately on the third morning dad was swimming along the front as I went to feed grindle worms. That’s what he usually does in the morning for food. When I put the grindle worms in you could almost see him choking and spitting fry Willy Nilly everywhere.  So they mixed in with grindle worms and got eaten. I had no clue he was transporting new fry. 😢

 

Yesterday their third batch hatched and they are guarding them well again. Each taking turns. Hopefully I won’t startle them this time. 
Here are some photos and videos. 

 

[Pokey]

Really nice happy fish!
 

That is so interesting that they change colors and patterns to communicate! And I love that they recognize you specifically!

Do you think they would be happy alone or with two or more females? (In a community tank.) I’m not interested in babies that I would have to find a home for, and I suppose the males would fight if there were only males.

Would you consider them a good beginner fish?

I am also considering the Bolivian Ram instead as they seem to be just fine as a single ram in a community tank.

I’m having fun doing my planning while I wait to be able to actually implement any decisions. It’s like going over and over seed catalogs and planning the spring planting. 🤪

[Guppysnail]

On 10/20/2023 at 10:52 AM, Pokey said:

That is so interesting that they change colors and patterns to communicate!

It’s wild to be staring at a fish and watch the colors change. Really fun. Here is them guarding wigglers. They turn almost black. 

 

On 10/20/2023 at 10:52 AM, Pokey said:

Do you think they would be happy alone or with two or more females?

I don’t think they would be to unhappy alone You do not want females. They risk becoming egg bound. Males will spare but the three I gave to my friend were in a 20 long for a month alone. With females being absent they only mildly bickered for territory but nothing noteworthy. 2 would have been good in a 20 long. However you will not see much color changing. They do their most color changes when breeding or courting are involved. 
 

On 10/20/2023 at 10:52 AM, Pokey said:

Would you consider them a good beginner fish?

As long as it is a mature tank that no longer risks ammonia or nitrite and parameters are kept stable. They are hardy but not for fish in cycling or new tanks that still have blips here and there. They do need food high in greens.  
 

On 10/20/2023 at 10:52 AM, Pokey said:

In a community tank.

They are fabulous community fish for a heated community. They don’t even bother the shrimp in their tank. Though two of the three I gave away did eat shrimp.

They only spar with other dorsigera and it’s not actual fighting where anyone gets hurt. 

My friend put them in her community with German blue rams and guppies. They are thriving there. 
 

 

[Guppysnail]

Second set of wigglers going strong. Mom n Dad are never happy about me being nosey when they have babies. Super short video. 

 

[anewbie]

Curious to see how they do; i picked up 4 tank raised once two weeks ago and while mine are still around 1.5 inch they are like little puppies; not sure what i'll do once they get larger - the aquarium is certainly large enough to support a pair and the other two (8ftx4ft); but we shall see. Right now not much to compete with them but when the geo get larger it might be more of an issue and i might need more structure to fence the geo towards the front.

[Guppysnail]

On 10/22/2023 at 6:43 PM, anewbie said:

Curious to see how they do; i picked up 4 tank raised once two weeks ago and while mine are still around 1.5 inch they are like little puppies; not sure what i'll do once they get larger - the aquarium is certainly large enough to support a pair and the other two (8ftx4ft); but we shall see. Right now not much to compete with them but when the geo get larger it might be more of an issue and i might need more structure to fence the geo towards the front.

My dorsigera also are like puppies. My curviceps are more aggressive. I have everything in spec only tanks save some shrimp so I don’t know how they interact with others. Good luck. I follow along with you big tank progress. 

[Guppysnail]

I got to see a few this morning hoping up off the substrate. Fed some sera micron to the tank. Tank itself is heavily seeded with ostracods an some copepods. 
 

look on the left side of the hole (fishes right)

 

[Guppysnail]

They have moved the fry twice this morning.  The fry are moving about the hole on their own. 

 

[Odd Duck]

On 10/23/2023 at 12:27 PM, Guppysnail said:

I got to see a few this morning hoping up off the substrate

It’s always so adorable when fry start popcorning off the bottom.  That was the best part about raising all those crazy Jack Dempsey fry.

[Guppysnail]

😡 They ate the fry again. 
 

I always allow the sunrise to light the room before I go in or turn on overhead emergent plant lights so I never startle fish. 8 am I went in and they were swimming about flirting like crazy instead of guarding fry. 😭

 

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/25/2023 at 5:38 PM, Guppysnail said:

😡 They ate the fry again. 
 

I always allow the sunrise to light the room before I go in or turn on overhead emergent plant lights so I never startle fish. 8 am I went in and they were swimming about flirting like crazy instead of guarding fry. 😭

 

Could you try separating them? 

[Guppysnail]

On 10/25/2023 at 12:58 PM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Could you try separating them? 

Yes but that defeats my interest. I will eventually if I must but I want to watch the parents raise babies. 

[Tropicalfishkeeping201]

On 10/20/2023 at 5:23 AM, Guppysnail said:

Roughly 3 months ago I ordered 5 Laetacara curviceps however they sent me dorsigera. 

I had one Laetacara curvicep in my community tank, he was a peaceful fish and very shy. He was one of my first Cichlids. Unfortunately, he passed away last week due to an injury and I'm devastated 😔. I miss seeing him in my tank. They are beautiful fish and good for a community tank. Wishing you luck on them giving you fry. Enjoy them! 

Edited October 26, 2023 by Tropicalfishkeeping201

[Guppysnail]

@Tropicalfishkeeping201 I also have a pair of curviceps. They are what got me started. I fell in love with one girl who lived at the LFS for 5 months. I visited her every week when I got crickets for my tree frog. Finally I brought her home. 🥰

 

Im sorry for your loss. If my curviceps stop eating their eggs I will be happy to send you some or some dorsigera if they quit eating their babies. 

[Tropicalfishkeeping201]

On 10/25/2023 at 7:08 PM, Guppysnail said:

@Tropicalfishkeeping201 I also have a pair of curviceps. They are what got me started. I fell in love with one girl who lived at the LFS for 5 months. I visited her every week when I got crickets for my tree frog. Finally I brought her home. 🥰

 

Im sorry for your loss. If my curviceps stop eating their eggs I will be happy to send you some or some dorsigera if they quit eating their babies. 

Awh that's very kind of you @Guppysnail, Thank you very much 🙂🥹. Let me know, I will buy them. They will eventually stop eating their fry, just give them time. Wishing you the best of luck on them giving you fry! 

Edited October 26, 2023 by Tropicalfishkeeping201

[Guppysnail]

Dorsigera happily had wigglers for 2 days again. All morning everything was peachy. I left the main fish room for 15 minutes. Came back to boy furiously chasing girl. She ate the wigglers again for absolutely no reason. 
They had white worms and live BBS this morning. 
 

BRATS. 

Anyway here was them yesterday happy with wigglers. 

[Guppysnail]

I love these. If I could only keep one dwarf cichlid type it would be these hands down. Even over my GBR.

It took me 1 hour 40 minutes to do a 15 minute water change on my 40b next to their tank today. 
 

Every time they court I feel like i just watched a world famous ballet and I need to give a standing ovation. 
 

It starts with her coloring up and nudging him. He colors down and glass surfs a minute and plays shy. Then you can see her changing into her sexiest high color dress. She saunters over to him and does a salsa dance which includes a half roll exposing her breeding tube to him. 
 

He sits still watching and then starts coloring up mildly. They put their lips almost touching then he flicks his head a few times and puts on his tuxedo.  
 

From there they flutter and spin about the tank and each other in a choreographed waltz.  They visit different sites and choose an egg laying spot. (Always the same one)

After they agree they go about the tank until he finds a spot to dig a hole.  He digs a hole and perks proudly over it. She inspects. If she is satisfied she finds a spot and digs a hole for him to inspect. 
If either is unsatisfied the hole digging continues. They move the wigglers about to these holes throughout the day. 

After he inspects a satisfactory hole she dug the show one another their fighting and best defense skills changing into combat gear colors.

Once good defense capabilities are proven they change color again to their sultry dirty dancing colors and tango about the tank. 
 

They then go furious clean the egg site and hide together for an hour before laying eggs. 
 

I did not video this because I turn into an open mouth ogling oaf totally mesmerized every time. 🤣 

One day I’m determined to not get so caught up in the show and go get the camera. 
 

Here is the tank instead. 
 

[Guppysnail]

At it again. He dug the hole on the left. Now it’s her turn.  When they dig the holes they show off a deeper blue/turquoise color.  He had it while digging his hole and she was the lighter sky blue he was in the video.  You see him accept her hole towards the end. You can see his deeper colors filing in as he is now helping her perfect the hole. 

 

[anewbie]

Your fishes don't look like mine. I'm not sure if it is a sex thing or a species thing; your look a tiny bit like my l. thayeri; oh wait i think i made a big boo boo; these are dorsigera; i have l. curviceps (and l. thayeri which are really pretty) and l. araguaiae; but no l. dorsigera. I bet that is why they look different !!

How did i make such a huge oops ?

 

[Guppysnail]

On 12/7/2023 at 4:26 PM, anewbie said:

Your fishes don't look like mine. I'm not sure if it is a sex thing or a species thing; your look a tiny bit like my l. thayeri; oh wait i think i made a big boo boo; these are dorsigera; i have l. curviceps (and l. thayeri which are really pretty) and l. araguaiae; but no l. dorsigera. I bet that is why they look different !!

How did i make such a huge oops ?

 

I also have L curviceps. I ordered curviceps so I could get a mate for my girl and the company in Florida sent me dorsigera. That’s how I ended with both. Honestly for personality color changes and displays to watch I like the dorsigera better. 

[anewbie]

On 12/7/2023 at 4:02 PM, Guppysnail said:

I also have L curviceps. I ordered curviceps so I could get a mate for my girl and the company in Florida sent me dorsigera. That’s how I ended with both. Honestly for personality color changes and displays to watch I like the dorsigera better. 

How do they differ personality wise and are they both tank raised or wc ?

 

Colour wise yea i have to agree so far the curviceps are kind of bleh. Seriously fish mentioned two strains of tank raised ones - the asian ones (which look an awful lot like dorsigera in colour) and the danish ones which look like mine. Oh well i only have 4; when they die in 50 years i'll put a nicer looking something in there. I would not be shocked if the asian one is a hybrid of some sort. At least one of the wc thayeri looks spectacular - i should get a picture of it - the more i want to take a picture the less it wants to be photo'ed. Hum... To be honest i haven't noticed any real personality with my curviceps other than being stand-off-ish. They don't really want to socialize with anyone include themselves.

 

 

[Guppysnail]

On 12/7/2023 at 5:52 PM, anewbie said:

How do they differ personality wise and are they both tank raised or wc ?

 

Colour wise yea i have to agree so far the curviceps are kind of bleh. Seriously fish mentioned two strains of tank raised ones - the asian ones (which look an awful lot like dorsigera in colour) and the danish ones which look like mine. Oh well i only have 4; when they die in 50 years i'll put a nicer looking something in there. I would not be shocked if the asian one is a hybrid of some sort. At least one of the wc thayeri looks spectacular - i should get a picture of it - the more i want to take a picture the less it wants to be photo'ed. Hum... To be honest i haven't noticed any real personality with my curviceps other than being stand-off-ish. They don't really want to socialize with anyone include themselves.

 

 

Standoff is a good way to describe the boy curviceps. The girl is friendly to me.  The other girl was super friendly and decided a German Blue Ram was her mate. Spawned then tried to bully the ram into fertilizing.  This was a temporary holding tank for both. After he left she became huge with eggs. I put her in with a male dorsigera for fear of her getting egg bound and I was male heavy. (Intent to destroy eggs never produce hybrids)  No deal. She beat the tar out of him and he was larger. I threw her in with the group of them and the entire group hid in the corner. 
 

The curviceps pair I have now are separated because he beat her up even though they were spawning regular. 
 

All in all personality wise I prefer the dorsigera. Friendly vs cranky and moody. I don’t ever see the playfulness from the curviceps either.
Mine are the more blue but to me look nothing like the dorsigera and prettier than others I’ve seen. Pretty does not mean interesting to me. 
 

Dorsigera are farm raised curviceps tank raised. 

[anewbie]

On 12/7/2023 at 5:08 PM, Guppysnail said:

Standoff is a good way to describe the boy curviceps. The girl is friendly to me.  The other girl was super friendly and decided a German Blue Ram was her mate. Spawned then tried to bully the ram into fertilizing.  This was a temporary holding tank for both. After he left she became huge with eggs. I put her in with a male dorsigera for fear of her getting egg bound and I was male heavy. (Intent to destroy eggs never produce hybrids)  No deal. She beat the tar out of him and he was larger. I threw her in with the group of them and the entire group hid in the corner. 
 

The curviceps pair I have now are separated because he beat her up even though they were spawning regular. 
 

All in all personality wise I prefer the dorsigera. Friendly vs cranky and moody. I don’t ever see the playfulness from the curviceps either.
Mine are the more blue but to me look nothing like the dorsigera and prettier than others I’ve seen. Pretty does not mean interesting to me. 
 

Dorsigera are farm raised curviceps tank raised. 

My curviceps are tank raised (from wetspot) but no clue where they import them from; my other to l's are wc; the thayeri are like feed me feed me 24 hours a day but when i'm not feeding them they spend the day chasing each other. Not sure what is going on with the tank - even the reclusive fishes are begging for food in the morning - maybe i don't feed them enough ?

 

[Guppysnail]

On 12/7/2023 at 9:35 PM, anewbie said:

My curviceps are tank raised (from wetspot) but no clue where they import them from; my other to l's are wc; the thayeri are like feed me feed me 24 hours a day but when i'm not feeding them they spend the day chasing each other. Not sure what is going on with the tank - even the reclusive fishes are begging for food in the morning - maybe i don't feed them enough ?

 

Worms.  They not only fill them up they satiate the instinct to hunt. 

[anewbie]

On 12/7/2023 at 8:42 PM, Guppysnail said:

Worms.  They not only fill them up they satiate the instinct to hunt. 

So now i have to spend my days digging earthworms 😞 I'm gonna end up with dirty fingernails.