Oscura heterospila

[nutty]

Here is one shot of my recently spawned Oscura heterospila pair. I dare say, that imo, this species could be the perfect Heroine cichlid. I have kept them on three separate occasions in 11 years and never experience problems. Ideal keeping them in community biotope tanks with Thorichthys spp. and livebearers.

DSC_4013a_2 by Lee Nuttall, on Flickr

 

[sevs and sajicas for me]

Good to hear. I'm growing out a group of 8 that I hope to keep a pair or trio in a 135 with some thorichthys or amatitlania species

 

[lunsforj]

Great picture. Very inspiring. I just picked up 4 of these guys from the wetspot.

 

[nutty]

Good to hear. I'm growing out a group of 8 that I hope to keep a pair or trio in a 135 with some thorichthys or amatitlania species

They should do well. Thorichthys spp. such as T. helleri, T. meeki and T. pasionis are biotope correct. Amatitlania and Cryptoheros spp. are not found with heterospila if this matters? They can pair and spawn quite early in their development, good luck with them.

 

[nutty]

Great picture. Very inspiring. I just picked up 4 of these guys from the wetspot.

Nice, are you able to sex them yet?

 

[lunsforj]

No. They are probably only about a half an inch long.

 

[sevs and sajicas for me]

They should do well. Thorichthys spp. such as T. helleri, T. meeki and T. pasionis are biotope correct. Amatitlania and Cryptoheros spp. are not found with heterospila if this matters? They can pair and spawn quite early in their development, good luck with them.

I wasn't going for biotope correct. But was going to do pasiones if i did do the thorichthys. Mine vary greatly right now in appearance (all are about 2 to 2.5 inches). Do you have any insights on the best way to sex them?

 

[kewpiefishypewpie]

Nice, are you able to sex them yet?

Do you have any words of wisdom in regards to sexing them? I have a group of 6, but the largest is only about 4". The smallest one is probably 2". Your pair is very beautiful by the way!

 

[nutty]

Young Oscura heterospila are generally monomorphic in appearance, however, some differences maybe observed. Generally the male will have a pointed dorsal edge and females appear rounded to males. Here is a visual guide. The fish are around 3-4 inch in length.

Male:
DSC_1942 by Lee Nuttall, on Flickr

Female:
DSC_1935 by Lee Nuttall, on Flickr

 

[kewpiefishypewpie]

Extremely helpful, thank you!!