Video of B nigrodorsalis spawning

Video of B nigrodorsalis’ recently deposited eggs

Video of B nigrodorsalis female guarding fry

Benitochromis nigrodorsalis are from the West Cameroon area in Africa. More specifically, they are in the coastal areas from the foot of Mount Cameroon to the regions surrounding Duala and possibly Fernando Poo (Lamboj, 2004). B. nigrodorsalis exhibit beautiful coloration. In general, body coloration is a light to dark brown with subtle green. Both males and females have a rosy pink belly but during spawning, this intensifies in females. Males can reach lengths of 12cm and females slightly smaller then that. Other then size, sexual dimorphism is very subtle in this species.

I have attempted to keep this species a number of times over the past few years. I have gotten pairs before but they never spawned and typically showed very high aggression towards one another. I think one of the most challenging aspects of successfully spawning this species is in getting a compatible pair. These fish form monogamous pair bonds so aggression against other conspecifics will be very high. About two years ago, I decided that I would try one last time and was able to get a pair. At the time, I was limited with tank space so had to place the pair in a 29 gallon. When they were housed there, the pair seemed to be peaceful but on occasion, the male would be extremely rough with the female and on several days, I would see the female forced into the corner of the tank; however, on other days, they seemed to get along great. At this point, I was not sure if I had a compatible pair or not. This past October 2009, I was able to move my tanks into the garage and was able to get this pair into their own 55 gallon. The tank has a sandy substrate and I placed numerous caves as well as Anubias plants to help them feel at home. The temperature is kept around 72F and the pH was 8.2. I fed them frozen brine shrimp, varied cichlid flakes and spirulina flakes. These fish are not picky eaters. After a few months, I noticed that the aggression level between them was nonexistent and the color in the female intensified as well as a visible spawning tube (ovipositor). One afternoon, I was lucky enough to witness the actual spawning! The female deposited approximately 20 or so eggs on a quahog shell I had placed in there. The male followed in fertilizing the eggs. At this point, the female picked up all the eggs in her buccal cavity. Another interesting aspect about this species is that they are biparental mouthbrooders! Although the female had initially picked up the eggs, the pair would swap mouthbrooding duties with each other. I never got lucky enough to see the actual swap, but I could see that it was occurring multiple times on any given day. Sometimes I would see the female holding and then later in the day, the male would. Whichever parent was not holding was able to feed and the pair were almost always together. The fish typically incubate the eggs for 10 – 12 days (Lamboj, 2004). However, in my tank, they released at day 20 (I’m thinking this is so because of the water temperature). When the fry were released, again, both parents participated in brood care. I noticed that they would pick up the fry in the evenings when I turned the tank lights off or when they suspect danger approaching.  As I am writing this article, the parents are still protecting their young. Brood care continue for up to two months (Lamboj, 2004).

In conclusion, I would have to say that B. nigrodorsalis would be ranked on top of my favorites. They are extremely interesting in behavior and not too difficult to keep – keeping in mind that you want to get a compatible pair. These fish are available occasionally from specialty shops so please give them a try! They are a must-have for any cichild enthusiast!