Pelvicachromis Pulcher Super Red

December 17th, 2007

After much consideration, I finally decided upon this Pelvicachromis pulcher ‘Super Red’ pair to occupy the other side of my 75G from the Nannochromis nudiceps. These fish are a color variation of your common P. pulcher kribensis that are far redder than the normal variety.

Pelvicachromis Pulcher Super Red Male

Purchased from SCALES in Silver Spring, MD, I was informed that this pair had already spawned in store, yielding a small group of fry that were taken home by an employee. Already in my 75G, I witnessed plenty of fin flashing and body wiggling between the pair. Even weirder, I’ve seen the female display the same motions toward the male N. nudiceps. Clearly this female is both confused, and ready for motherhood!

Pelvicachromis Pulcher Super Red Female

The female is by far the more beautiful fish of the pair. Her belly is a ripe red color, with some really nice spots on her fins. The yellow is also quite intense. The female kribensis has a very interesting body shape, as her belly seems slightly out of proportion from the rest of her. Hopefully I’ll be able to report a successful spawning sometime soon!

5 Responses to “Pelvicachromis Pulcher Super Red”

  1. wujimon Says:

    Super cool! As you previously noted via a comment on my blog, I only have about 5-6 fry remaining from the spawning. I was getting a bit worried about having 30 of the little guys, but I guess that’s not the case.

    Can’t wait to hear and see pics of the spawning!

  2. guitarfish Says:

    Thanks for clicking over wujimon! I hope mine do end up spawning!

  3. Rob Says:

    Kris

    Have to disagree about which is a prettier fish, especially day in day out. The males I have tend to be the better looking fish. The female has moments of coloration that are pretty amazing varying from a deep purple to a fiery red but the male gets the same color pretty frequently and has the dark contrast of the rest of the body to really make it stand out and finnage the males are a no brainer as your photos show the male with the flowing dorsal and anal fins that are highly colored. I have found the the females spend too much time in a blanched out coloration for me to get excited about them. The courting and warning movements of these fish are extremely similar so the female might have been defending territory as I have found that the males tend to dig the cave while the female guards. Not sure what is playing out with yours though.

  4. Rob Says:

    Another quick note….one of the reasons that the female belly tends to look out of proportions is that they will pull their fins in towards the belly to make themselves look fatter since the bottom finnage and the belly tend to color up the same. It distorts the view of the fish but the ladies are definitely a portly fish regardless.

  5. guitarfish Says:

    Wealth of information Rob, thanks! Both are great looking fish, and the picture I got of the female doesn’t accurately represent how she’s looking in the tank. Eitherway, I’m really pleased with these two fish, and hope they make some more pretty kribs for me.