Op rec PA OP PR ee SO FS FSD 
Germ rms es 
Commonly known in the vernacular as 
the mouth-breeder, Haplochromis strigi- 
gew has long been a favorite because of 
its beautiful coloration and intensely in- 
teresting breeding habits. Their scaly 
sides display a riot of color, scintilating 
in the light, as they move about—usually 
with some definite object in view. It is 
well-nigh impossible to describe the 
colors, as they lay in no well defined pat- 
tern, each scale seeming to have a com- 
plete complement in itself. For this rea- 
son they have often been justly described 
aS appearing to be set with precious 
stones. In addition to these prismatic 
colors there is a dull band running later- 
ally from a highly-colored spot on the 
opercule back to the caudal peduncle, 
where it blends into the colors of the tail. 
The pectorals and ventrals are practically 
without color, but the dorsal and anal 
fins are as brilliantly hued as the body 
proper. The sexes vary only slightly in 
color and size, the female being somewhat 
duller and lacking the vermillion tip on 
the anal, which is usually present on the 
male. This sexual mark is well shown 
in the accompanying illustration. After 
a female has bred the lower jaw remains 
rather distended. 
The mouth-breeder is truly a tropical 
fish, inhabiting the streams of Egypt and 
the Congo, so should not be subjected to 
a temperature less than 65 degrees. They 
do very well at 72 degrees, while for 
breeding purposes it is well to raise it a 
few degrees. It is not necessary to keep 
it as high as 80 degrees, but good results 
will be secured around that point. 
The breeding habits are no less strik- 
(The Mouth - Breeder 
| 
| CHARLES M. BREDER, Jr. 
POR PR SOR OE OR I PTD OT OR DR YI VSI TT OL, 
ing than the colors. In nature the fish 
prepares a nest by removing all the debris 
from a circular patch on the bottom, in 
this somewhat following the custom of 
our common sunfish, Eupomotis gib- 
bosus, but is smaller as befits a fish that 
is seldom more than two inches long. In 
the aquarium this nest is often omitted, 
the tendency being seemingly correlated 
Haplochromis strigigena 
with the size of the receptable. The 
smaller the tank the greater the possibil- 
ity of it being passed by. A certain pair 
when they spawned in a tank 18 by 12 
by 12 inches, made no attempt at nest- 
building, but when placed in a tub 24 
inches in diameter, a nest a foot in diam- 
eter was hollowed in the centre and 
cleared of all foreign matter. The con- 
ditions were likely more natural in the 
larger body of water, with the added 
advantage that they were not disturbed 
by the sight of people moving about, as 
in the case of a glass tank. 
After the eggs have been laid and fer- 
tilized the female gathers them into her 
mouth, there to carry them during incu- 
bation, and the resulting fry until they 
have reached the free-swimming stage. 
During this period the female abstains 
from all food. As many as twenty days 
