Julidochromis marlieri

Julidochromis marlieri

Julidochromis marlieri has a dark brown color over its entire body with yellow spots and stripes on top of that. The edges of the fins have a blue outline. When the fish flare at each other they spread out their fins and their colors show at their brightest. Females grow to around 13 centimeters and have a fuller body. Males stay a little at around 10 centimeters and are more slender built. These are the only obvious differences between sexes.

A couple of Julidochromis marlieri will do wel in an 100 liter aquarium if they are the sole inhabitants. If they have not paired u yet or if there are more species present, you will need a larger aquarium starting at around 200 liters.

You can keep them in a group (six to eight specimen) if you have a very large aquarium, plenty of hiding places and not too many rock dwelling cichlids. Julidochromis marlieri are monogamous, it is best to remove all other marlieri from smaller aquariums as soon as a pair has bonded. Males stay a bit smaller than females. Changing the rocks in the aquarium or moving them to another tank may break the bond. Sometimes the bond breaks without any apparent reason.

Diet

Being omnivorous they will accept all kinds of food but they will prefer meaty foods. You can usually see them scraping algae off the rocks. The scraping can even be heard as a scraping or ticking noise, clearly audible in the living room. It is therefore important not to clean the rocks yourself but allow algae to grow on them.

In the wild this species feeds mainly on insect larvae and small crustaceans found in the aufwuchs. In their search for these small food they will also consume small parts of algae. Feed them with a varied diet of mysis, artemia, mosquito larvae, daphnia, plankton, dried foods and make sure not to forget some spirulina to keep them healthy and active.

Character

Julidochromis marlieri can be very aggressive, usually when they have fry. Also when pairs have formed they can fight off any other marlieri to get them out of the newly formed couples territory. They usually can be found hiding in one of the top corners or behind your aquariums heater for instance. It is best to remove these fish and house them elsewhere.

Breeding Julidochromis marlieri

If you really want to breed Julidochromis marlieri it is best to start with frequent water changes. They will create or seek out a cave, usually they digg out a hole below a rock.
As soon as they have spawned they will guard their territory ferociously. They don’t hesitate to chase off larger fish. Soon after hatching the fry will start to swim freely. They usually stay very close to their nest. The fry will start to get the same markings as their parents early on, even as small as one centimeter fry will show markings. You can raise the fry with newly hatched brine shrimp, crushed flakes and small living foods.

Video

Author

Margie van der Heijden – Ons Natuurgenot Gouda

Copyright images

Margie van der Heijden – Ons Natuurgenot Gouda
John de Lange