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Yes, folks, some of us actually want to propagate these monsters in captivity! Actually, in researching this article, I was astonished at the number of reputable aquarists who have spawned pike cichlids! And heading the list is my good friend and accomplished aquarist, Delores Scherer. One other aquarist deserves mention in connection with pike cichlids Dan Kerson of Los Angeles, California. Dan, the proprietor of a fish store out there, for years specialized in pike cichlids, before they were trendy, and has spawned several species. I will rely on their experiences and my more recent ones for the substance of this section.

We will assume, for the moment, that you have found a species that you with to work with and that several juveniles or subadults are available. Your mission: grow them up to adulthood. Most pikes are ravenous eaters and grow exponentially. Again, the best approach is to start with a group of equal-sized individuals to minimize aggression and to provide them with plenty of hiding places in the form of PVC tubing. Keep the water clean (water changes are de rigeur with the heaving feeding these cichlids are capable of), keep it warm, and keep food in front of them, and your fish will grow to adulthood in no time, and begin pairing off. More on this later.

PIKE CICHLIDS

Many pike cichlids are sexually dimorphic. That is, the females are different from the males in appearance. In most species, ripe females develop a cherry-red belly, not unlike that of the African dwarf cichlid Pelvicachromis pulcher, the Krib.

Often, you are not that lucky. The exporter has shipped only large adults, they are large and belligerent, and you are faced with the task of making an appropriate blind date. There are several problems you face among them sexing the fish and introducing the fish to one another as potential consorts. The first problem is often the easier of the two. Many pike cichlids are sexually dimorphic. That is, the females are quite different from the males in appearance. In many of the species, ripe females develop an obvious cherry-red belly, not unlike that of the African dwarf cichlid Pelvicachromis pulcher, the Krib. These are used in much the same way: in ritualized courtship (see below), but their appearance assumes that the fish in question is sexually mature and ripe. Such is usually not the case for large, newly imported wild fish. But you may get lucky. In some species, the dorsal and anal fins of large adult males are produced to long filaments and somewhat smaller in females. Again, this presupposes immaculate, healthy specimens, which are rare in wild shipments pike cichlids definitely are nasty in a box bag in the confines of a shipping box. For some of the spangles species (eg. Cr. saxatilis group), the male has most of the spangling. For most of the huge, small scaled forms of the Cr. strigata complex, adult (transformed) females express a distinctive submarginal band just underneath the black or red marginal stripe on the dorsal fin, that males do not. In some species, the female alone has an ocellated dorsal fin, even at modest sizes (e.g. C. notophthalmus and C. sp. Belly Crawler). The point is, most of the pike cichlids you are likely to keep can be sexed if they are sexually mature and in good condition. Assuming they are not, you may want to buy 3 or 4, perhaps of different sizes or having cryptic differences that you think you see, to ensure both sexes. Remember to have them bagged separately or you'll be sorry!

What to do with wild adult once you get them home? The answer depends on the species. If they are similar in size, you might try them together in a large tank with plenty of PVC piping. But keep a vigilant watch: all hell may break lose once they acclimate to your tank. Wild pikes are often shy and retiring during the first few days, before letting their real personalities hang out. Be prepared to separate them! That means having extra tanks or dividers handy enough though they seem to be getting along. I myself prefer plastic egg crate lighting diffuser obtainable at your home improvement store. Another solution for effectively separating antagonistic pike cichlids is one adapted from the marine hobby: the use of individual plastic food containers (eg. Tupperware) with holes drilled or melted (soldering iron) in them. For pikes, plastic mayonnaise-type jars with plastic screwcaps, about twelve inches tall, available in hardware stores, are just what the pike god ordered. Drill a series of quarter-inch holes on all surfaces of the jar so there will be good water exchange, introduce the fish while the jar is in the water, cap it, and then allow it to sink to the bottom on its side. Admittedly, the fish has little room to move but this is one way of controlling blind dates between two fish of uncertain sex and manners. The fish can see each other and small each other and you can watch for any courtship activity. Feeding the occupant is simple just pull the jar up, unscrew the cap and put a piece if krill or two in, recap and re-sink. The intent here is not long term cultivation, rather, a way to introduce the fish to each other before letting them have physical contact access to one another.

When that time comes, I recommend that you be around to watch and the tank be filled with hiding places. You may want to rearrange the piping etc., so as to destroy any existing territorial markers, giving each fish an equal initial social status in the encounter. Often, the newly-introduced fish will approach each other, and flare, perhaps engage in head-tail beating and other neotropical cichlids aggression/courtship behavior. Your job, as referee, is to make sure one doesn t get the upper hand and descale the other. Remember, in the wild, when a blind date doesn't work, the rejected party simply swims away. In the aquarium, there may be nowhere to swim and death is often the result of love gone awry. Compatibility often assumes ripeness, so don t be unduly rushed to put your prospective consorts together: feed them well and watch if and how they display to each other across the divider.

One phenomenon I've come to believe in with respect to pike cichlids is Love at first sight. If a pair accepts each other, they usually do it immediately. (Assuming two fish in excellent condition and ripeness). Delores Schehr, sharing her recent experiences spawning Crenicichla reticulata, told me that her male, a ten year old twelve-inch bachelor, immediately took to a 6 inch female introduced into the fifty gallon tank he was living in by himself. In this case, success may have been a result of his protracted monastic existence. However, Delores reports that they continue to live harmoniously with no other dither or target fish and have spawned a number of times. John O Malley reports a similar experience with Cr. cf. saxatilis but my pair , obtained at the same time and from the same batch of fish, still remain divided and incompatible. He has also had similar luck with two blind-dated C. lugubris who took to each other immediately upon introduction to his tank and who remain, several months later, totally devoted to each other. That's how the majority of the pike cichlids seem to be.

PIKE CICHLIDS

Target fish serve as targets for cichlids aggression and, in so doing, help diffuse intraspecific aggression and cement pair bonds.

There is, however, one other ace-in-the-hole, for assuring that blind dates go well the use of target fish. Target fish serve as targets for cichlids aggression and, in so doing, help diffuse intraspecific aggression and cement pair bonds. Target fish for cichlids may range from other individuals of the same species, to other cichlids, to even some non-cichlids. For instance, it is Delores Schehr s experience that pair bonding and spawning of otherwise somewhat aggressive pikes (in her experience, C. cf. saxatilis and C. cf. lepidota) may be achieved only by the use of a third individual on which the intended pair may vent their hostility. This is the only way she has achieved successful spawning of these two species. The same is true of her recent spawning of Cr. compressiceps. Of course, the humane aquarist will provide ample hiding places for these target individuals and take care to place enough food strategically so the target can feed. The idea is not to get the target fish killed, rather to simply offer a focal point for their pair s aggression other than themselves.

Once you have successfully obtained a compatible pair, the rest is easy. You must first condition them well, preferably with live or high-quality frozen foods. As females ripen, many of them will develop a pronounced cherry-colored belly and will begin to court. Courtship involves a head-down shaking dance with swollen belly pushed first right, then left: the dance is very much like that of the West African Kribs (genus Pelvicachromis). After a few days of courtship, the pair will get down to business. A water change will help get them in the mood and hasten spawning. All of the pikes that have been spawned are apparently cave-spawners and should be offered appropriate egg receptacles. In my case, the arm pits of vertically oriented tangle of bogwood provided the necessary seclusion for attachment and concealment of the eggs (eg. C. marmorata, Leibel 1992). Delores Schehr provides her fish with large, upended flowerpots whose bottom drainage holes have been enlarged. A ball-peen hammer, judiciously used to carefully knock out shards starting from the center, fits the bill. The pots must be large enough to accommodate the adults, many of which get over twelve inches in length, so think big. Nini Schulz similarly reported the choice of an inverted flowerpot for an unidentified small pike of the saxatilis or lepidota group. Even the dwarf Cr. compressiceps spawned under a clay saucer that had been popped up.

The eggs are typically hung (yes, that's hung as in suspended by a thread-like adhesion filament attached to the end of the long axis of the egg ) on the top or sides of the pot/driftwood or cave. The eggs are usually large and often orange (Cr. marmorata, cf. lepidota, cf. saxatilis, semifasciatus, compressiceps). In larger species they may number in the hundreds, with 300-500 being about average. Schehr reported a spawn size of only 25 eggs, virtually all of them fertile, in the dwarf pike Cr. compressiceps. This hung by a filament style is unique among Neotropical cichlids (usually they are simply pasted down along their long axis) but reminiscent of that of several West African dwarf cichlids, among them members of the genus Pelvicachromis and Nanochromis. You will recall the similar convergence in female sexual coloration and courtship behavior described above. I say convergence, because I don t mean to imply that Neotropical pike cichlids and West African kribs are closely-related they aren t but the similarities are certainly striking.

Hatching and rearing of fry is rather straightforward, but there are some surprises. In my recent experiences with Cr. marmorata, the first spawn was apparently inviable and detached from the cave surface to fungus within 48 hours (Leibel, 1992). The second and ensuing spawns have been incredibly viable. Delores Schehr told me that it has been her experience with all of the larger pike cichlids that the first spawns are infertile, although Nini Schulz had luck on the first go with the dwarf Crenicichla species she spawned. If the eggs fall off the receptacle, you can bet they are bad. But be patient! And don't change the tank conditions if it ain't broke! In the case of Cr. marmorata, the eggs were clearly embryonated (eyed-up) by 48 hours at 78°F and hatched at five days post spawn. The female stashed the wrigglersin a hole in the driftwood or in pits in the gravel and they wriggled for an additional seven days, a fairly long time for neotropical cichlids, before becoming free swimming. Kerson's (1992) experiences with C. proteus (hatch: day 3. Free-swimming 2 days later, no temperature given) and Schulz (1992) with her small Crenicichla species (hatch day 4, free-swimming 4 days later; temp 80°F) are in line with typical expectations so the delayed schedule of Cr. marmorata may well be idiosyncratic for the small-scaled forms, most of which have still defied captive breeding. The fry are relatively large and can easily take newly hatched brine shrimp immediately. They grow explosively and can soon eat chopped frozen foods, particularly bloodworms.

PIKE CICHLIDS

Warzel (1991) reports that in the natural habitat, parents may guard their offspring for at least 6 months or longer.

The parents are exemplary for their size and sheer power, particularly gentle and loving. Remember folks, these are piscivores! It was a real pleasure to watch the family dynamics of my Cr. marmorata, an experience fraught with several surprises for me. Firstly, the fry grew at a tremendous rate and soon hit two inches at three months of age. I left them in with the parents who continued to give them loving care. I was forced to remove them at four months of age when I went away for an extended (2 months) trip to Boston, so I don't know what the actual envelope of tolerance would be. Warzel (1991) reports that in the natural habitat, parents may guard their offspring for at least 6 months or longer. I am not surprised considering their unflagging diligence. Anyone who has kept neotropical cichlid families together for extended periods know that about one month is all you can expect: the parents display their obvious and growing discomfort with their youngsters and may even eat them at this point.

Perhaps the most startling observation that I observed with Cr. marmorata was what appears to be contact feeding. Those of you familiar with discus, Uaru or even the Asian orange chromides, will be familiar with this phenomenon of contact feeding. Mucus-producing glands in the sides of the parent enlarge and secrete a proteinaceous food that is avidly picked away by the fry that nip the stuff off the sides of the parents. Pike cichlids are the very last neotropical cichlids that I would expect to exhibit this brand of parental care. I was in for the shock of my aquaristic life. I was on the phone in front of my 150-gallon tank, then housing the pike family, when I saw the female yawn, hold her extended mouth out and allow her one-inch fry to enter her buccal cavity and pick particles from her jaw and throat. They also clustered around her head and were obviously nipping something from there as well. Both male and female participated in this behavior a large number of times. Although I thought I might be hallucinating, I dove back into the scant extant pike cichlid literature and found an obscure reference to this very behavior in an ancient Buntbarsche Bulletin circa 1970. In an article by Jinny Longfellow about spawning Cr. cf. lepidota she reported that the youngsters at half an inch were fed frozen brine shrimp and shredded bloodworms. They have been observed picking at the sides of the parent fish in much the manner of discus fish. Amazing. She goes on to describe the loving care exercised by the parents for several months. This is definitely something for the parents to check out.

Which species are worth spawning? All of them! Our information about the husbandry of individual pike cichlids species is lacking, so any further input is valuable. For my money, however, the action centers around three specific groups. These are members of the small-scaled strigata complex, the dwarf pike cichlids, and the newly imported species from the Tocantins and Xingu. The first group has been spawned rarely, if at all (Warzel, 1991) (Cr. marmorata is one of these fish). The dwarf species are of particular interest because of their diminutive size and their extreme beauty. Again, only very few species of this group have yielded their propagation secrets in captivity. And finally, the rheophilic species of the Tocantins and Xingu remains to be conquered: they are of considerable interest. I know what I am doing with the next five years of my aquarium hobby. What about you?

Acknowledgements: Special thanks to my good friends Delores Scherer and John O'Malley for freely sharing their experiences with pike cichlids.

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