Venustus - Nimbochromis Sp. Venustus

Venustus Nimbochromis venustus


Description: A large, oval-shaped fish. The coloring of the male is much more intense than the female. The head is pale blue, while the body is light golden-yellow. The cheeks and the lower jaw is dark blue. Several irregular dark blue splotches can be found cover the body. The upper part of the dorsal fin is bright yellow while the lower half is dark blue. The caudal fin is also yellow and blue. The other fins are dark blue.

SIZE : To 10" in aquarium, to 12" in nature.

HABITAT : Eastern Africa; sandy parts of Lake Malawi. Tank: Bottom, Middle

TANK : 55 gallons is sufficient for this fish to 6". Use rock formations as a back-drop with a coral sand substrate in the foreground. Leave a large open swimming area in the middle of the tank and place plants along the sides and back of the tank.

WATER : pH 7.5-8.8 (8.1), 12-30 dH (20), 77-84°F

BEHAVIOR : A territorial fish that is aggressive and intolerant of its own species. Keep one male with several females. Towards other species it is usually non-aggressive. A predatory fish that will eat smallfish.

TANK MATES : Lake Malawi Haplochromines, Synodontis, mbunas, Polypterus, Afromastacembelus .

FOOD : Live; small fish, Tubifex , aquatic insects, earthworms, crustaceans; chopped meat; large flakes; pellets; tablets; vegetables; spinach, peas, spinach.

SEX : The male is larger and more colorful, Bright blue head
BREEDING : This fish forms a matriarchal family and the mother performs mouth brooding responsibilities. The water should be between 81-84°F. Up to 120 eggs are laid. The eggs are incubated in the mouth for a period of three weeks. The mother looks after her young for 10 days, with the young spending nights in her mouth. When the mother is gravid, she is easily frightened and may prematurely expel the eggs. Normally matures at 6 inches.




Special thanks to AquariumLife.net for photo. Thanks also for the following for above information: PetEducation.com, AllCichlids.com, and Mongabay.com.

Great pics. Great Library post!

nice!!!!!

tight i bought to yesterday cool

These are nice I have some 2" ones coming in on Monday .

Just got some of these guys in! very nice looking.
Also Great Post cajun. When you search for Venustus Nimbochromis Sp. Venustus on google USAfishbox comes up 5th out of 180,000 ! Nice job ...the Library is good stuff.

HAHA yea that nice right their!!!
we be all up on the google pages!:)
WAY TO GO EVERY !

I got one of these a few weeks ago, and now my wife will look into the aquarium to see what he is doing. Its a start. Before she would just walk by and reference them as stupid fish, lol

nice fish i had one once i got from a lady but it was about 9 to 10 inches and i had to sell it didnt have a big enough tank for it at the time
very aggressive fish from what i seen

Nice work Cajun thanks as always for the 411

i have one male in my 125 thanks cajun for the 411 thats how i know it is a male

I would love these fish but i woulds want bigger than a 55 for them. What size tank are other members keeping them in?

Mine is about two inches now. maybe a little more than that. And he is getting super aggressive when feeding.

Cajun, nice post. This is the fsh that we seen last weekend. The Female had quite a few babies ,that she would gather as we approach the tank. I had never seen this before.
Nice fish!

thanks Ornate, just keep in mind we always see awesome things at Kens, lol