I bought 5 Dimidiochromis compressiceps at about 6cm at the Cichlid Center in Vallensbæk on Saturday, November 29th. According to Martin, they were about 9 months old, and besides their flattened shape, there was nothing special about them back then.
Growth
Only at around 12-15 months of age do they begin to show their colors, and that held true, as by April-May they were fully colored and otherwise busy breeding. I was incredibly lucky with the sex ratio, as it turned out to be two males and three females.
Breeding
The 3 females have carried eggs 4 times in total, and the 3 broods were spat out after almost 4 weeks. The 4th time came to nothing, as I believe the female swallowed the eggs. The 3 broods consisted of about 25-35 fry, and the female cares for the fry for at least a week, taking them back into her mouth if she is startled. The fry are barely a cm when they are spat out and are reasonably easy to raise - they readily take a mixture of dry food and frozen food and grow nicely. The fry from my first brood were about double the size after 1½ months.
