No. 5 (1920) CICHLID FISHES OF MALABAR 159 



retreats, and the male by a similar but quicker movement pours 

 his milt over the eggs and fertilizes them. He also scrutinizes the 

 eggs before he allows his mate to approach the nest again and 

 impatiently watches her while she lays her eggs. The spawning 

 lasts about two or three hours during which the alternate processes 

 of egg-laying and fertilizing take place several times. Both the 

 parents try to drive away any fish approaching the nest. They 

 fondle each other by striking each other's side with the snout and 

 by rubbing sides. This is also a very common habit with the fish 

 when they are at play. The eggs are cemented to the prepared 

 surface in a single layer close together but not in actual contact 

 with each other. The number found in a nest varies within wide 

 limits from over three hundred to more than a thousand. Young 

 adults are less prolific than the older. 



Care of the eggs and the young. — After the eggs are laid and 

 fertilized the female broods over them. She is found almost 

 always close to the nest, fanning it with her pectoral fins and 

 scrutinizing the eggs from time to time. The current produced 

 by the pectoral fins puts the eggs gently in motion and prevents 

 any sediment sticking to them. Occasionally the mother goes in 

 search of food, leaving the charge to her consort, but she is never 

 away for more than ten minutes. The male generally remains 

 a little away from the nest and keeps off all intruders from it ; but 

 unlike the female he makes long excursions for feeding. On the 

 fourth day after spawning he begins to excavate one or two pits 

 at some convenient place near the nest. Generally he selects the 

 nearest place where the bottom is not more than three feet below the 

 surface and where it is of fine sand firmed with mud so that the 

 pit excavated may not be hired up with sand and mud falling in 

 from the sides. He tests the ground well by scooping at different 

 places before he selects the proper place. Sometimes it may be 

 more than ten feet from the brood. The female also takes part in 

 digging pits. They are about two to three inches in diameter and 

 about one inch or a little more in depth. After the larvae are 

 removed from the egg membrane to one of the pits as described 

 below, more of these pits are prepared in the bottom around. The 

 fish takes the mud and sand from the ground and blows them 

 away at a distance. Even pebbles of some weight are thus thrown 

 away. 



