If you follow the blog, you’ve inevitably read about my experience with Telmatochromis temporalis. I still have my breeding pair. Though the female no longer produces any eggs, her and her mate are still mostly inseparable. At only about 2.75″, she’s much smaller than the male. She’s very shy, and it’s really hard to catch her in a spot that I can get a good photo of her. I was partially successful in the top photo because I had just fed the tank, and she was looking for a morsel. The bottom photo actually provides a better view. Yes, she is jet black. Note her small nuchal hump.
The pair are still in one of my 75g Tanganyikan community tanks. This tank is also one in which I keep a colony of Julidochromis regani. I have strategically placed a variety of cave structures in the tank to provide several good options for the julies to lay eggs. In fact, I have two separate spawns in this tank now. Though I’ve tried hard to construct these cave areas in such a way as to minimize access by other species in the tank, the female temporalis seems to always find her way in. For this reason, I’ve decided she’s the tank irritant.
Two of the cave structures have proven to be acceptable to the julies…and she has decided to use both of them. “But what about the julie parents?” you ask. “Aren’t they defending their eggs?” Yes, they do. It’s not until after they’ve hatched that the temporalis somehow imposes herself. I have not witnessed excessive aggression between her and the julies, yet I seem to always see her hanging out where the fry are.
I have no idea why this is allowed. The temporalis diet does consist of small fish, so I can’t help but think that she has eaten some fry. However, I’ve never witnessed it. Strangely, I can say I have seen fry in her proximity that would easily fit into her mouth. I would hope if she was a real threat to them, the fry would not be seen anywhere near her nor would she be allowed by the regani pair to be near the fry. Then again, my fish are well fed, so perhaps she doesn’t see the need to consume them.
Nonetheless, it continues to irritate me that she won’t steer clear of my julie spawning areas.