About eight months ago I decided to jump off the deep end and attempt a run at spawning Altolamprologus calvus. My quest began by trying to find adult specimens for sale (fat chance). To achieve this, I had to lie down and spread my wallet open wide for a trio of wild caught White calvus (one male, two females). This color morph is very rare and, to my knowledge, not shown in any publication. The tension mounted. Finally the day arrived when I was to pick up my new parents-to-be from the Tampa Air Cargo!

My new fish arrived looking wonderfully different from any calvus I had every seen and very healthy (thanks, Old World). During the thirty-day quarantine and acclimation period, I lost one of the females to unknown causes. Shortly after, I moved the remaining pair to a 55 gallon community/breeder tank with three Sunshine Peacocks, four Ahlis, and a group of six Frontosas. The water was kept at a pH of 8.2, dH of 13, and temperature of 82 degrees F. Conditioning foods included Tetra Cichlid flakes, Hikari pellets and pieces of shrimp twice a day. Using fluorescent lighting, I established a 14 hour photoperiod. I changed 30% of the water weekly to induce spawning. After what seemed like an eternity (one month), the 2 1/2" female finally coaxed her 4 1/2" mate to a deep crevice in a lava rock (totally ignoring all shells and clay pots) where she deposited a batch of 3 mm olivaceous eggs. After approximately one week, I removed all adults including both calvus parents and left the tiny calvus babies to grow up alone in a 55 gallon nursery tank.

I was truly a proud grandpa as I watched my tiny progeny grow (albeit painfully slowly). After two weeks, I then switched them over to crushed Tetra flakes. However, much to my disappointment, I found out that even in a well-aqua-scaped 55 gallon tank there was a lot of fighting and cannibalism amongst the fry. Their infighting left me with six grandchildren out of an original count of approximately 20. Four months have passed. The remaining six fry are all still only about 3/4 inch in length, but are doing fine and no longer fighting.

All in all, it has been a wonderful experience that I would recommend to any breeder with time and space to try a new species. I would like to thank my friends Mike Dandaneau and Robert Stagno for their encouragement and for their answers to my endless barrage of "stupid" questions. I would also like to thank Pierre Brichard and Ad Konings for their research and publications concerning the identification, needs and spawning requirements of Altolamprologus calvus.