BABIES!!!

This is a particularly cruddy picture, but it does prove that for the second time we have managed to breed Aequidens sp. Peru. As regular readers will remember, Max, Ross, Emma and I bought some babies of this unidentified South American cichlid at a BCS auction in Redditch several years ago.

They bred in 2011, and we were very proud, but despite my best efforts the huge alpha male killed off quite a few of the others (both male and female) and I was afraid that we would never have the pitter patter of tiny fins again.

But all that changed yesterday when young Jessica's boyfriend Matthew spotted babies in the tank. Did we say babies? These were not fry, but well grown juveniles about half an inch long. The bloody things had bred back in one of the hidden areas of the tank and we have been none the wiser.

Another peculiar thing about this brood is that on the first brood we followed all the best instructions and changed the water religiously every few days. This year we did nothing but keep the tank in a reasonable condition and leave it be, and so far we have at least three times as many youngsters as we did last time they were this size.

Weird huh?