Buccochromis Rhoadesii spawning

[SunnyHouTX]

That half face mask on the female was kikkass

[sountfc]

Ha ha, yeah I finally confirmed with Dave (Dave's Rare Fish) that it's a form of nerve damage. He said he's seen it over the years, but it doesn't seem to affect the fish, and that it's not passed down to fry. Not sure what causes it, either. We named that one Benjamin Linus 'cause the fish is "two faced", then we found out it's a female, but by then the name had stuck.

Looks like she's still holding. She's refusing to eat, and while her throat isn't really enlarged, she's moving her mouth in a different way than normal. So, we'll see.

That half face mask on the female was kikkass

[SunnyHouTX]

Yeah, I have a Tropheus sp. Red Moliro female like that too. The half mask comes on when she's held for a few weeks and is stressing out when she's about to spit.

[sountfc]

It appears to be permanent on this one, although it's not as dark as it was when it first appeared a few months back. Sure makes it easy to pick her out from the others!

Yeah, I have a Tropheus sp. Red Moliro female like that too. The half mask comes on when she's held for a few weeks and is stressing out when she's about to spit.

[SunnyHouTX]

Interesting. Nerve damage... who knew.

[New_Cichlid11]

looks very pretty nerve damage lol

[sountfc]

From Dave:

"It's a form of nerve damage. I've seen it happen to half of the face, as well as to the back end of the body. It doesn't seem to bother them at all, and doesn't appear to be a genetic issue. I've had females breed with this condition, and I've never once seen it show up in their fry."

[aquabee]

Interesting that nerve damage would show up as a color change in that same distribution. Kinda cool.

[sountfc]

Yeah, I'd really like to know what causes it. What's interesting about this fish is that it covers exactly one side of the face. There's literally a line drawn right down the middle of her head.

[aquabee]

Yeah, I'd really like to know what causes it. What's interesting about this fish is that it covers exactly one side of the face. There's literally a line drawn right down the middle of her head.

In humans, when a virus affects a certain nerve (like in shingles), the blisters and the pain follows the distribution of that nerve on the skin (a dermatome). You can literally draw it out. In Horner's syndrome, the area of the affected nerve becomes very dry and cannot sweat, and you can actually see a line where it stops on a certain side of the face. So it's just fascinating that in fish, the damage is manifested as color change. Very dramatic!

Ok nerd moment over.

[sountfc]

I thought that was interesting. This appears to be a similar example:

[aquabee]

Whoa!

[sountfc]

Well, win some, lose some. I was out of the large floating NLS I normally feed these guys, so last night I threw in some mixed Dainichi, the difference being that the Dainichi sinks. The female freaked, dumped the eggs and started gathering up the Dainichi as if she thought they were eggs. Of course, a tankmate quickly gobbled up the eggs. Oh well, at least I now know she's a female. I'll wait until the next time they spawn and make sure I have plenty of floating NLS on hand...

[aquabee]

Aw mannnn! Sorry to hear! Kinda comical though, her gathering her Dainichi eggs...

[sountfc]

Yeah, I think my reaction was something along the lines of, "What the #### are you doing???"