Publication2 med aquascape Publication1cs complete | Page 173

State of the art filtration and water changing
system
I understand that you are probably one of a
handful of guys successfully keeping and breeding
pure specimens of Herichthys labridens (yellow)?
H. labridens are very sought after cichlids
amongst serious hobbyist across Europe and un-
fortunately many seem to struggle to keep this
fish alive, let alone spawn... what's your secret?
In the past I have kept all the labridens species
from the Panuco Basin and they all were easily
spawned and maintained in the aquarium. The yel-
low lab is a bit more challenging. I recommend a
group of them and it is best to start with young
fish. 12 is a good number but no less than 8 if pos-
sible. The larger the tank the better and I have
found they do best if kept only with their species.
They really are not an aggressive species by cichlid
standards and they need to be the dominant fish
in the tank, which is why I recommend them to be
kept alone. They also need consistent warm wa-
ter. I maintain my colonies at 82 degrees F and
that temperature is increased during the Summer
months to about 84. It took me many years to
figure out how to breed the Yellow labridens , but
the secret is to just keep them WARM. With
warm water comes significant appetites. The large
appetites can lead to overeating and I think this is
where most hobbyist mess up. In the wild they
eat snails but they have to hunt them down or fan
away the debris and sand to find them, so they
exert a lot of energy in search of food. Also, in the
wild they actually turn black which exerts a lot of
energy while hunting foods. This does happen in
aquarium but when it does occur in aquarium it is
only for a few minutes. In the wild the black col-
oration lasts much longer, thus exerting more en-
ergy. In the aquarium we feed manufactured food
and it is just poured into the tank and this allows
the fish to easily overeat and this leads to bloat or
blockage of the intestinal tract which can cause
death. So, it is important not to overfeed and it is
important to use the best prepared food on the
market. They do best on foods that have Pro Bi-
otics in the ingredients. This allows proper
This side of the fish room contains most of the
bigger aquariums
Thorichthys socolofi aquarium
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