Publication2 med aquascape Publication1cs complete | Page 123

succumbing to digestive problems if not properly
cared for. Taking in this information, I recommend
lower protein sinking pellets offered sparingly, one
feed every other day. I suggest sinking, as this de-
ters the fish from feeding at the surface and gulp-
ing excess air which could bring on digestive prob-
lems. When the fish bottom feed, this encourages
them to forage and possibly consuming small parti-
cles of sand which in turn could help promote good
digestion. Water quality is also important as a
steady temperature between 27C – 30C /81F-84F
will benefit as well as hard alkaline water. Our
household tap water will certainly never be as high
in GH (General Hardness) as the Media Luna, but
pH ranges of 7.0-8.0 are certainly easier to simu-
late.
In my opinion H. bartoni will do better as a group
in a species tank only. We can add dithers like large
livebearers and Mexican tetras if you can source
them. Decoration isn’t overly important, but in my
tank I wanted to represent a Media Luna environ-
ment by including water Lilly plants. To represent
this I used Nymphae lotus (Green Variety). These
aren’t a Mexican plant species but originally found
in Africa. However, artistic licence is allowed to
create our biotope inspired aquarium.
Aquarium size from 150 x 40 x 40cm or larger is
recommended. Although slow growers, they will
benefit in the long run as the group develop. He-
richthys bartoni are one of the smallest in the com-
plex, but you can expect adult size of 7”/ 18cm
Males and 5”/ 12cm Females.
Conspecific aggression can be expected especially
when fish are pair bonding and spawning, so pro-
vide sanctuary for sub-dominate fish.
Spawning
Aquarium care
I have kept Herichthys bartoni before, but with
little success, mainly due to not understanding the
aquarium requirements of these sensitive fish. In
my opinion H. bartoni are a little more specialized
and sensitive than most Central American cichlids.
They require low protein foods and higher than
normal aquarium temperatures. There are many
reports of aquarium specimens quickly
My group consisted of 9 fish with sizes between 2-
4”. This is a nice number to start with as this will
settle the group and gives a good Male/ Female
ratio. Only a few short days after introduction, pair
bonding was observed. Herichthys bartoni are not-
ed to be sexually mature at quite a small size as I
was soon to find out.
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