Chromaphyosemion volcanum
The species that I have maintained since June 2015 (nearly 5 years) is Chromaphyosemion volcanum Ekondo Titi CB3SR 07/21 and I have had nearly no problems maintaining this strain, except for when regular water changes were missed for a few weeks due to a family bereavement, and I lost a number of fish. The numbers have now increased again and just to be safe I have also collected a number of eggs and already have a number of small fry coming along. I have successfully incubated eggs in water with a small amount of Acriflavine added ( which was diluted after 5 and 10 days incubation) - see note below, and on damp peat. Must admit that I prefer the damp peat approach as most of the collected eggs hatch at the same time (within 1-3 days), so the fry are of the same size.
Note: I had no problem in hatching the fry from eggs stored in water + acriflavine, but I lost a lot of them when they were moved onto a larger container. Now I only have 3 fry from the original 12-15 that were transferred. I am not sure what the problem was but maybe the fry were too small to eat microworms or newly hatched brineshrimp.
Normally, I have found that there is no need to collect eggs, as fry regularly appear in the tank with the adults, in sufficient numbers to maintain the species and to donate a few pairs to other enthusiasts.
In fact, a pair that I donated to the 2019 BKA Convention won its class and hence the Best Chromaphyosemion Trophy and also the trophy for Best African Fish.
I maintain these fish in a 40 litre tank on the lowest shelf in my fishroom, as these fish seem to prefer a cooler water temperature. The water is 50% treated tapwater and 50% rainwater, which gives me a hardness of 180-200ppm (10dH). Of course, being at such a low level means that I do miss seeing their beautiful colours when the males display to each other, as I must admit that I only bend down to that level when feeding or doing water changes. Just wish my photographic skills were good enough to capture these lovely fish in all their glory and I would then be able to put some pictures onto this website. Now recently, Jan Tropicalfishlover Wirén has posted a link (see below) onto YouTube that shows a 7 minute video of his fish and very well worth a look.
Note: I had no problem in hatching the fry from eggs stored in water + acriflavine, but I lost a lot of them when they were moved onto a larger container. Now I only have 3 fry from the original 12-15 that were transferred. I am not sure what the problem was but maybe the fry were too small to eat microworms or newly hatched brineshrimp.
Normally, I have found that there is no need to collect eggs, as fry regularly appear in the tank with the adults, in sufficient numbers to maintain the species and to donate a few pairs to other enthusiasts.
In fact, a pair that I donated to the 2019 BKA Convention won its class and hence the Best Chromaphyosemion Trophy and also the trophy for Best African Fish.
I maintain these fish in a 40 litre tank on the lowest shelf in my fishroom, as these fish seem to prefer a cooler water temperature. The water is 50% treated tapwater and 50% rainwater, which gives me a hardness of 180-200ppm (10dH). Of course, being at such a low level means that I do miss seeing their beautiful colours when the males display to each other, as I must admit that I only bend down to that level when feeding or doing water changes. Just wish my photographic skills were good enough to capture these lovely fish in all their glory and I would then be able to put some pictures onto this website. Now recently, Jan Tropicalfishlover Wirén has posted a link (see below) onto YouTube that shows a 7 minute video of his fish and very well worth a look.