Nanochromis transvestitus | digitalaquarist

Nanochromis transvestitus, my experiences with!

Steven Chester 2009

Some fish are rare in the hobby, its seems that due to certain circumstances such as having exacting water requirements, difficulties in breeding or simply because they are delicate fish, they are destined to always be rare and never make it through to the mainstream hobby! But as long as i still have them in my tanks they are not rare to me but are certainly still just as desirable!!

Which fish am I talking about? The fish in question is simply one of the most stunning and interesting of all the dwarfs’ cichlids from West Africa, Nanochromis transvestitus.

This fish eluded me for many years, it was on my wish list for a long time and I simply never found any for sale, this increased my desire to own this fish and made me even more determined to eventually keep and hopefully breed a species of dwarf that has been classed by many experts as a very difficult fish.

I eventually located this species in the most unexpected place and have now owned and bred this species for the last year, I would like to share my experiences and add to the sparse literature on this interesting fish.

Nanochromis transvestitus was found in a black water lake in the Democratic republic of Congo in the 70’s, the official description was published in 1984 and stated the type locality as Lac Mai Ndombe. Not too much is known about this freshwater lake and I myself had not researched it very well before keeping N. transvestitus, it is only when writing this article that I have delved into the literature and studied the available information, I am now able to share this with you and we can all say that we have learnt something new!

Lac Mai Ndombe is a large freshwater lake in the western part of the Democratic republic of Congo, the name Mai Ndombe actually means Black water in Lingala, a language spoken by more than 10 million people in Northwest Democratic republic of Congo and also a large part of the Republic of the Congo.

This large (approx. 890 square mile) shallow lake (5 – 10 meters depth) drains its acidic water from the south into the Fimi river and eventually into the mighty Congo, the shore areas are covered with dense, humid equatorial rainforest and the sandy bottom is often littered with dead wood and leaf litter from the abundant jungle. The water is dark, tea coloured black water that was measured at PH 4.2 – 5.6. In the original description (Donald J. Stewart and Tyson R. Roberts 1984) It is stated that when a person’s hand is thrust into the water it no longer remains visible after only 20-30cm, this makes underwater observation of the aquatic fauna difficult and because of this not much is known about what swims in Lac Mai Ndombe!! A few Characin species are known to inhibit these waters as well as N. transvestitus, Nanochromis wickleri (new species 2006) and another new species found in 2008 Chrysichthys praecox swim in these murky depths, who knows what other secrets this dark lake holds? One interesting fact I discovered is a report that the lake can double or triple its size during the rainy season! This means that the surrounding area should also contain the same fish as the lake and visa versa, it could still hold lots of surprises!

Now onto the fish in question, Nanochromis transvestitus. This fish is a small dwarf cichlid that is possibly the smallest species of the genus Nanochromis, maximum size is around 6cm. The name Transvestitus was given by Stewart/Roberts on account of the unusual coloration of the two sexes, in transvestitus it is the females that show the stronger colours and patterning, males are a dull gray colour but do possess stunning gold cheeks and upper caudal fin when in good condition, when my males have been displaying to their partners they are a very attractive little fish with dark bands across the gray body, females are even nicer and are possessed with stunningly marked dorsal, anal and caudal fins that are black with white banding, the females also show a bright red stomach most of the time although it is more prominent when in spawning condition, like all Nanochromis, when in spawning condition the females stomach is hugely distended with eggs, my son commented that the fish looked like it had swallowed a marble!

Care and keeping

My first encounter with this fish was pretty unusual by my standards, the usual way to find rare fish is to be in contact with any shop that imports direct from Africa, attending specialist fish auctions such as the BCA or regional cichlid club such as the North west cichlid group which is my local club, of which I am a active member, or of course through other like-minded hobbyists, It was through the former that I acquired my first group of these fish.

It was a strange call! a catfish keeping friend of mine that does not like cichlids gave me a call with the words ‘a friend of mine has some of those cichlid thingies!!!!’ after chuckling and teasing about his lack of interest in cichlids I asked what species? fully expecting the standard, kribs, convicts or similar. ‘Nanochromis transvestitus came the reply, ‘he has bred them and I can get as many as I like’, because I was aware of the aggression between non-mated pairs I ordered 8 pairs to give me a large group so that I could let the fish pair of naturally and hopefully without too much bloodshed.

The group were housed together in a 18x18 (base) by 12-inch-high tank containing several half coconut shells for shelter. As soon as I saw a pair form I removed them to a ready decorated tank of the same size, this tank contained a inch thick layer of children’s play pit sand (Argos brand is completely inert!!) plenty of bogwood, coconut caves and finally some established but small Anubias and Java fern plants. The water used was my standard tap water which luckily comes from the tap very soft and slightly acidic with very little chlorine treatment, I sometimes wonder if they pipe it direct from the Amazon!!

The pair settled in well and were perfectly happy in the presence of each other, within a week they commenced spawning behavior and I have to admit that they took my attention away from my favorite Apistogramma and put on a fantastic show. The female now had a bright red stomach which was obviously ripe and full of eggs, the live food diet of white, grindal and micro worm had obviously done the trick and she took every opportunity to show the male her ripe stomach, this is a fantastic show and the female bends her body right into a U shape along with quivering and flaring actions, while trying for hours to get a full set of spawning photographs I still never managed a clear shot of this behavior. Maybe next time!

The male responded to these displays by stretching his body and showing his fins off to the maximum effect, as you can see from my pictures he may be the subtler fish but he is stunning in his own right.

As pre-spawning behavior advanced, the action was centered around a well sheltered spawning cave, the female removed a lot of substrate from the cave and along with the genus Pelvicachromis seem to have this behavior as a critical part of their courtship, when setting up any breeding tank for these fish you would be well advised to fill 75% of the cave with substrate and let the fish excavate to suit themselves. Eggs were laid shortly after but unfortunately, I missed the actual spawning, I had hoped for a full set of breeding pictures to support this article but this was not to be. The first I knew of the fish spawning was the female sitting in the entrance to her cave while the male stood guard outside, this continued for 7 days and on the 8th a small brood of approx. 40 fry were shepherded into view for the first time. Both parents took on responsibility for the fry and remained a close, well bonded couple, the pair seemed to take it in turn to guard the fry while the other searched for food in the substrate, upon the return the other parent left to forage and feed, this continued for three weeks until the the fry were large enough to start to wander further and relied less on the parents. Things were great and I planned on where and who to distribute the fry!

Unfortunately, this time things did not go to plan and went wrong in quite spectacular fashion. Four weeks into the brood care I returned home from work and after my usual family commitments checked my tanks in the fishroom, at this time the Nanochromis were no longer the newest fry and it took several hours to get around to checking that tank during water changes, what I found shocked me and proved that the reports of aggression were founded and certainly true. All 35-40 fry were dead or dying, the female was lying injured on the substrate and the male was relentlessly chasing and attacking anything that moved! I had read of this fishes’ aggression and poor pair bonds but had not witnessed anything untoward before this time. I had to write this off as a valuable experience and wait until the next time I find this stunning fish to try to keep them again!

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