Cyathopharynx furcifer Breeding Guide

How to breed the featherfin Cyathopharynx furcifer: large sand craters up to 60 cm wide, ventral-fin egg dummies and maternal mouthbrooding of the eggs.

Overview

Cyathopharynx furcifer is a featherfin endemic to Lake Tanganyika, where it lives off rocky slopes and feeds on plankton, reaching about 21 cm TL. It is a maternal mouthbrooder: males build large sand bowers and gather in colonies, holding craters adjacent to one another in the wild.

Sexing

Males are the larger and more colourful sex, with noticeably longer fins than females, especially the ventral (pelvic) fins. Mature males also turn intensely iridescent blue while displaying at the bower.

Conditioning

Keep the fish in a group with several females to each male and condition them with plenty of high-quality, largely vegetable-based foods. Good conditioning and a stable environment bring males into display colour and trigger nest building.

Breeding Setup

A large tank with extensive open sand is essential, because the male excavates a crater-like spawning site that can reach up to about 60 cm in diameter. Maintain hard alkaline water around pH 8.0-9.0, hardness 8-25 dH and a temperature of about 24-27 C (75-81 F).

Spawning Behavior & Trigger

The male has egg-shaped structures at the tips of his long ventral fins. The female is attracted to these and, when she tries to add them to the brood already in her mouth, she instead takes up sperm released by the male, fertilising the eggs orally over the crater.

Egg & Fry Care

The female may carry a brood of about 10-40 eggs for up to roughly three weeks before releasing the free-swimming fry. The fry can take brine shrimp nauplii and crushed spirulina flake from the day they are released.

Common Challenges

The huge bower means a large open sand area is non-negotiable; small or rock-cluttered tanks suppress breeding. Several females per male spread out male attention. Stable warm, hard, alkaline water must be held throughout the brooding period.