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Beginners aquarists often wonder: everything seems to be doing right, but the fish do not reproduce ... The naive concern of beginners is quite understandable, because the reproduction of fish is a weighty evidence of well-being in the aquarium and literacy of the actions of its owner.
Calming the interlocutor, I explain that unpretentious fishes swimming in his cheerless flock, having reached a certain age and provided that they are really comfortable, most likely have already spawned. Simply in a general aquarium, whose population often has an arbitrary species composition, it is problematic to see the progeny of fish: instantly devoured eggs are eaten off by neighbors, and sometimes by parents themselves. The same fate comprehends the fry that hatched from the rare eggs that have escaped in the midst of the aquatic vegetation - leaving their shelter, they immediately turn into the production of adult fish, even if they do not belong to the category of predators.
So, without a spawning can not do? Not at all. It is only necessary to acquire producers of such species that are able to protect their offspring and continue the genus even in a common aquarium. And I consider one of the most worthy candidates for this role to be dwarf cichlids Pelvicachromis pulcher (Boulenger, 1901), who received the usual name "parrot" for the brightness of coloring.
This fish is almost ideal for beginners. It is unpretentious with respect to water and feed; Indifferent to the neighbors on the aquarium, even if the dimensions of those are not large; Does not damage plants, what sins most of the large cichlids, and moreover has a magnificent coloring.
Unfortunately, pelvikahromises (before they were referred to the genus pelmothromis) do not always attract the aquarist who went shopping. Firstly, the young are usually put up for sale, which does not yet have the color of adults. Secondly, the parakeets did not pass the lot of many easily bred fish: their reproduction is put on stream, and the producers squeeze everything possible without worrying about preventing inbreeding and, accordingly, the quality of today's parrots lost the former saturation of color.
But if you met a strong line of pelvicaromises, and even brightly colored producers float next to the young, it's unlikely that you will pass by indifferently. The color of adult fish is really impressive. Two dark longitudinal lines (one along the ridge of the back, the other along the whole body from the lips and to the end of the tail) are favorably shaded by the common light background of the body: yellowish in females and light cream, almost white in males.
Males are larger, their graceful slender body has a length of up to 7 - 8 cm. The tail is rhomboid; Its upper part is decorated with black spots in a narrow gold frame; The number of them individually and can vary from one to seven. The opinion of some aquarists that this is determined by the local habitat of parrots is hardly valid, since even within one litter individuals can meet with both two and five spots. The anal and especially the dorsal fins are pointed and stretched so much that they reach almost to the middle of the tail. On the dorsal fin with an orange rim along the outer margin, there are also several black marks, sometimes merging into a continuous line. Dark contrast "blot" is located on the gill covers. Pelvic fins milky-lilac; Anal and lower part of tail - yellowish. A significant part of the abdomen has a more or less pronounced pinkish hue. Transparent and not colored only pectoral fins.
Females are smaller (up to 4-6 cm in length), their unpaired fins are rounded. Spots on the dorsal and caudal are less (up to four), or even not at all; And in general they are more humble. But the stain on the belly of females is not pale pink, but bright-crimson and appears at an earlier age. Actually, this sign also serves as the determining factor in the selection of young fish.
However, in order to guarantee a pair of manufacturers, it is better to purchase 4-6 young fish at once. Even if more than one pair is formed from the group, but two or three, it's not terrible - watching the competing nests is even more interesting.
Parrots with equal success live both in soft acidic and in hard slightly alkaline water at a temperature of 20 to 30 degrees C; The main thing is that it should be clean and fresh: if the organics are abundant, the fish become sluggish, lose color saturation, so regular water substitution (up to 10-15% weekly) is mandatory, and the presence of a good biological filter is highly desirable.
You can feed them even with dry fodder, but it is better to live or frozen moth, daphnia, in a small number - enchitrea, tubule, scraped meat, etc. The growth and development of fish is positively influenced by vegetative top dressing, including dry on the basis of spirullina.
With regard to the style of aquarium design, parrots are also universal: they are suitable for bare rocky landscapes and dense thickets, but they are more comfortable for fish in reservoirs where vegetation occupies 40-60% of the bottom area. Primer - small moderately dark gravel. Back background - monochrome (blue, black) or a fragment of the rain forest basin, but without excessive variegation.
While the parrots are young, they live amicably. But with the onset of puberty, the situation is changing. From a carefree swimming around the aquarium, males go on to a purposeful search for the future spawning site, determine the boundaries of their territory and protect them from the encroachment of competitors. The center of the males' possessions is a cave, a grotto, a flower pot, a coconut shell or even a ceramic tube with an internal diameter of 3 to 4 cm. If each male finds a shelter, the division of the territory occurs quickly enough and is accompanied only by lethargic skirmishes.
With a shortage of caves, the struggle for their possession is more protracted and harsh. But even in this situation, it does not reach the point of killing. The males, almost touching the snouts, begin to contact each other without contact. In the end, the weakest with disgrace is hiding in the thickets, leaving the battlefield to the victor. Neither serious wounds, nor even ragged fins ... Negative situation in another: when engaged in internecine strife, parrots are distracted from nest arrangement and withdrawal of offspring. In the complete absence of shelter, males begin to dig in the ground pit, raising turbidity and pulling plants.
Place caves should be at least 20 - 30 cm apart from each other in places as far from the feeder as possible, so as not to provoke the inhabitants of the aquarium to invade the possession of a couple caring for offspring.
While the males "arrange frontier posts," the females retain neutrality and passivity. But with the completion of territorial disputes, the parrots move on to the next phase of relations, the dominant role in which belongs already to females who organize a real beauty contest. Their coloring at this time reaches its apogee: yellow tones become golden, burning; A crimson spot acquires the color of a ripe cherry and its borders widen, passing through the middle black line, and the entire body from the anal opening to the root of the tail becomes dark, almost black. Demonstrating the outfit, females bend the body arc so that they almost touch the snout of their own tail. As a result of these competitions, the dominant pair is determined (and further downward). Distributing roles, females diverge along nests and are included in their arrangement.
The remaining individuals are not at work (for example, if the number of males and females in the group does not coincide) have a pale color and undergo a mild but permanent obstruction from the "family" fishes. Since the latter spend most of the time at the bottom, the "bachelors" are gradually being forced into the upper horizons of the aquarium.
Of course, the timing of the ripening of individual fish is different, and it is not necessary that the formation of all pairs coincides in time, but if this happened, consider that you were just lucky - the spectacle is surprisingly dynamic and beautiful.
The stimulus to spawning is a 2 to 3 degree rise in temperature and a substitution of 15-20% of the volume of water for fresh water. The arrangement of the nest takes 1 to 3 days and basically consists in cleaning the "working" surfaces, but this may not be the end: often manufacturers dig through the cave, or vice versa, narrow the gap, grazing it with gravel, even move the shelter, if they can. Finally, the female climbs in and lays off a dozen eggs with a diameter of up to 1.5 - 2.0 mm. Then she leaves the nest, giving way to the male for fertilizing the eggs. This whirlwind lasts 1 to 2 hours, then activating, then calming down. As a result, on the inner surface of the cave (more often - on the walls or the vault) a compact round masonry is formed, usually consisting of 100-120 (according to some data - up to 250-300) laid in one layer of eggs.
After 2 - 3 days at a temperature of 24 - 26 degrees C there are tiny pot-bellied larvae hanging on the walls of the shelter for a few more days. All this time the producers ensure the safety of the offspring: the female spends most of the time in the cave (creates a current of water, removes dead caviar and larvae), the male protects the territory. Sometimes young parents do not cope with their duties and destroy masonry. It is not necessary to get upset - one of the following spawning grounds (and they repeat in 2 - 3 weeks) will necessarily have a positive ending.
The completion of the larval stage and the transition of the young to active feeding is indicated by its "going out into the light." In the early days, the beige ones, with their dark streaks scattered in staggered order, are kept by a dense flock at the entrance to the shelter, biting their fingers in the gravel, this is their first hunt, the object of which is the simplest organisms living on the surface of the soil.
Now it is worth paying attention to the behavior of parents. In principle, they should feed the fry: grind a large feed and spit it into the center of a flock of his heirs. But many couples ignore this process, and then the care of feeding young falls on the aquarist. However, there is nothing complicated here. It is enough to study the direction of water flows in the aquarium and learn how to set the feed (live, dusty dry, liquid Wardley "Liquid Small Fry", egg yolk, etc.) so that it quickly finds itself in the frying area of ​​the fry.
They grow quickly: after a couple of days they can be transferred to nauplius of artemia and small cyclops. To get an insignificant part of this delicacy to the fry, first it is necessary to feed abundantly other aquarium inhabitants or to use frozen crustaceans: they are immobilized, they are less attractive for adult fish and, being carried away by the current, quickly fall within the reach of fry.
Despite the vigilant protection and care of parents, the daily waste of young in the general aquarium is up to 30-50%. As a rule, no more than a dozen fry remain in a litter of 80-100 eggs (respectively, 50-60 larvae) in 8-10 days, but those that managed to overcome the two-week barrier have a high resilience and reach the adult state.
In the first 1 - 2 months of life, the color of the fry undergoes slight changes: dark specks are transformed into vertical strips, and a narrow black rim appears on the dorsal fin. But the behavior of adolescents is changing dramatically. As youngsters learn how to escape from adult fish, parents are weakening their vigilance. If at first they furiously drove away any neighbors (including completely innocuous, like small characin), now only those that are a real danger to the young are exposed to attacks: tribesmen, predators, etc. Since the flock leads a predominantly bottom-line lifestyle, fish from the same horizons enjoy special dislike for parents: corridors, ancistrus, badish, etc.
At first the young are barely noticeable and keep a compact flock, but gradually the fry become bolder, disobedient, expand their zone of influence. It's funny to watch two or three flocks of young fry at the same time. It seems that their parents concluded a non-aggression pact with each other on juveniles: adult fish can quickly guard the territory from each other, from neighbors, but they practically do not react to the curious foreign fry that has swum into their limits.
By three months of life, 2 to 3 centimeters of fry represent a smaller copy of their parents. Their fins acquire the proper pigmentation, in young females the pinkness of the abdomen arises. Nevertheless, it is still too early to call young people handsome. But they have their whole life ahead of them. You also have to experience the joy of watching the growing generation and decide whether to keep all the fish in your own or to share these wonderful creatures with your buddies.


V. Safronov Moscow Aquarium № 4, 1999