Publication2 med aquascape Publication1cs complete | Page 159

Thorichthys pasionis
Thorichthys aureus,
Willem Heijns
Thorichthys sp. 'mixteco' blue (male)
foods such as prawns will be fine, but keep away
from mammalian protein. This will more likely
cause digestion problems.
Thorichthys make excellent companions for medi-
um/ larger cichlids such as Parachromis, Para-
theraps, Rocio, Theraps and Vieja species. They
are robust enough and will look excellent if kept
in large groups of 10 or more fish. A large group
will also act as dither fish to help a large shy cich-
lid become more outgoing.
Breeding is usually a straight forward process.
Many members of the complex are substrate
spawners, but have been observed in the aquari-
um to cave spawn by using a plastic pipe or clay
flower pot. The size of the spawn can vary be-
tween different species and the size at which the
species spawns. Spawns can be as little as 25 up
to a couple of hundred eggs. Sexual dimorphism
can be a little problematic with some of the spe-
cies, especially those represented in group 2.
Most of the time sex can be determined from be-
haviour and morphological differences such as
colour, markings and flowing unpaired fins. Many
species representing group 1 can be determined
as the female fish will usually develop a dorsal
blotch. However, it has been noted that in some
populations of T. maculipinnis, this characteristic
can be lacking. Thorichthys are a fantastic colour-
ful group of cichlids that will enhance any cichlid
display large or small. Get into Thorichthys as
they are great fish to keep and spawn !
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