So I got my hands on a pair of Petrochromis sp. Macroganthus Rainbow "Red Dorsal."

From what I know Laif first imported these fish for the first time in the summer of 2008. They then popped up again recently.

I'm going to see if I can build a colony up from just this pair.

First, the pair has been in my 125g lufubu tank for a week. Surprisingly, aggression is very low. I think it's having all these ditter fishes in the tank really helps. I have seen the male shaking a the female a number of times. However, the female is out of condition and needs to put on some body mass before she can breed. So for now she is not showing any interest in him.

I'm excited to see how this works out. I'm done this with tropheus no problem....I'm praying for some luck with these petros.

They are now currently being house with my marco greens.

Male





Female

Hmm, I didn't expect the male to have a blue body. Great pick up!

Thanks G.

The picture is a little misleading. I have some blue looks over the tank.

He looks more like this when I turn off the blue lights.



Compared to Laif's picture.



More info can be found here: http://www.cichlidnews.com/issues/2008apr/whatsnew.html

Which states: Unusual Petrochromis species continue to dribble in. Here a P. sp. “macrognathus rainbow” which is found around the Kipili, Tanzania area and northwards. As the “rainbow” label indicates, this species is a colorful version of the typical P. macrognathus, sporting red fins. To my knowledge, this is the first time this fish was imported into the USA.






This post has been edited by Mr. Johnson: Apr 25 2010, 02:43 AM

I think you are right on the money at least within the last few years. I've only seen them in pics from the EU. Good luck with the breeding. Are you feeding them krill or shirmp mix? These foods will condition them quickly.

I'm feeding them krill and shrimp mix.

But they are also use to flakes and pellets now.

Female just doesn't eat as well as the male.

I'm sure she eats, but it's been hard for me to up her conditioning.

Maybe I should put her in a breeder cage and power feed her some.

Breeder cage is an excellent idea as you don't want to seperate them into different tanks. I had a beat up female in a homemade breeder cage and recovered in no time flat. I also use the cage as a fry growout/tumbler. Just make sure the cage is strong enough as my male does attack the cage from time to time..go figure.

Thanks for the tip!

I'll do this for the female and some other macro greens I want to condition as well!

I wish you good luck MJ. Macros are no fun what i heard. I know a guy who lost 10-12 Petros in just one night. Killed by a Macro Rainbow male.

Update: She has been holding since the 19th and I striped today. Below is the bad picture of 13 fry in a tumbler. I didn't have my DSLR so I had to go with the camera phone.