Obeservations on Rhineloricaria

[Bas Pels]

Recently I had Marc van Arc on the phone, talking about several catfish issues, and said I had the idea Rhineloricarias are cannibals. He suggested I should share the expreiences, so here it comes:

Some experiences with my Uruguayan Rhineloricaria

Although I can’t say the species, according to CFWFOSCA (checklist of the freshwater fishes of South and Central America) Uruguay has 2 species of Rhineloricaria, R thrissoceps and R pareiacantha, both from the Rio Santa Lucia, which goes through the region Canalones and my fishes come from the region Tacuarembo (that is at least 300 km, or 2 administrative regions in between) my experiences with these fishes might still be useful.

In June 2006 I got 9 of them, wild caught from Uruguay, a sub-tropical country in South America.

Fishes from Uruguay can spend the summer outdoors in our temperate climate, but need more warmth in winter. I keep them in winter in tanks in a room with an open window, in order to keep the water cool. Last winter low temperatures averaged around 10 – 12 degrees (perhaps occasionally slightly cooler at night) for a few days. Quite often, however they were around 14 or even 16 degrees. The tanks have a floor measuring 140 * 40 cm, height is 40 cm, but not important, I think.

In April this year, my Gymnogeophagus labiatum, which were in the same tank, started breeding. These fishes are maternal larfophiele mouthbreeders, (only the female breeds, but she breeds only the larvae, the eggs are put on a stone, as is common for their relatives) but when the female is breeding, she needs some privacy. Therefore I put separating glasses in the tank, and contain every breeding female in her own 45 * 50 * 40 cm little tank. The tanks are provided with containing equipment, each for 1 window, on 1/3 of its length.
I try to keep these decorated, with wood, rocks and plants, in order to reduce stress to the minimum. If these items are already in the area, I leave them as much as possible alone.

One such tanks turned out to contain not only a breeding Gymnogenys female, but also a breeding Rhineloricaria male. As they did not bother each other, the situation was OK with me. Later the newborn Rhineloricarias started to swim before I could remove the cich lids.

The young cichlids and Rhineloricarias grew up together the first weeks, then I took the cichlids out an kept the small tank for these young cats alone. By now (October) the largest are 5 cm.

As the male obviously was no longer needed, I removed him to the other side. He was so kind as to stay put, so I had not to bother the cich lid at all. In September, one of the males started breeding, and a week later the other. The tank did contain, apart from 5 Rhinoloricaria, 1 sworttail, no real predator. However, I did not find any young Rhineloricaria at all. Remarkably, both the males stayed a few days on their respective breeding spots, without any eggs to breed left

I think the other Rhineloricaria had a feast twice, and the male staying in his breeding place is just an adaptation to prevent him from eating his fry, a means the other fishes do not have.

Thus, I think I may conclude, Rhineloricaria are not that hard to breed, if one prevents cannibalism by others. Ideally adults should be removed from the tank, and the breeding male as soon as the fry starts to swim.

I will try to repeat the above sequence: lure a male into breeding in the part I can separate from the rest of the tank, place the separation, and breed more Rhineloricarias

[MatsP]

Interesting, and not entirely surprising, considering that they aren't exactly vegetarians in their diet.

Petty detail: CLOFFSCA is the more common abbreviation of "CheckList of Freshwater Fish of South and Central America".

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Mats

[Bas Pels]

A very old topic, but in order to prevent repeating myself, I dug it up again

By now I have bred this Rhineloricaria species quite often, today I got 3 or 4 males guarding their aggs, for instance

However, I also have another specie. In December 2009 I was in Uruguay again, and collected 5 Rhineloricaria from the Arroya Tala, in the region Salto (Uruguay has more than 1 Ayo Tala, for instance in the west of the region Canelones).

Today 1 of the males - having had a cold winter @ 10 C for ~3 months with 10 hrs of light, which duration has gradually been increased to 13 hrs yesterday - is guarding his eggs

Howeve,r these are green, not white. Obviously, I netted all the other fishes from the tank, providing him with a 75 * 50 cm footprint for the fry to be

I hope raising them will be as easy as the other species. However, I would appreciate a bit faster growing, but as the parents themselves grew very slowly - from 5 cm in December 2009 to ~8 cm now, this will be a feign hope