Burundi Princess - care and maintenance in an aquarium

Many aquarists, from beginners to the most experienced specialists in closed water systems, can not remain indifferent to this white beauty. The Burundi princess is an elegant graceful fish that gets along beautifully in any conditions, it is unpretentious in its diet and with pleasure coexists with many representatives of the water world. In this article we will learn about the princess's origins, get acquainted with the conditions of her maintenance, and also try to figure out how to breed this snow-white beauty.

Elegant Princess Aquarium

The Burundi princess belongs to the family of Cichelidae of the Perciformes. Under natural conditions, the fish began to breed around the middle of the 20th century. This white beauty truly becomes a real decoration of any aquarium, it is always noticeable in the general flock and is favorably distinguished by exquisite forms.The length of the body of the fish is 8-9 cm, in the aquarium, the individuals grow up to 12 cm. The color of the fish can vary from a beige shade to a pinkish color with small yellow splashes. From the eye of the fish to the gills passes a black stripe. Gill covers are very patterned and bright, on the upper part you can see a rather large yellow spot. Over each eye plot of scales with a green overflow. The peculiarity of this cichlid is the elongated tips of the dorsal, caudal and anal fins, covered with orange strokes with a blue border. The homeland of this amazing fish is Lake Tanganyika, where flocks of white beauties live on the surface of water bodies. The princess prefers calm waters with a slow current. The fish is exclusively schooling, pairs are formed only during the spawning period. The life of a fish in an aquarium is quite long, reaching 10 years in good conditions.

White princess content

In order for the graceful fish to feel safe, to multiply on its own and to increase the population of the flock, it should provide decent living conditions.

1. This representative of the underwater world prefers spacious aquariums, at least 70 liters for a couple and about 150-200 liters for a small school of fish.
2. When arranging an aquarium, do not forget about the various grottoes, shelters, stone labyrinths. The fish is quite shy, it must have hiding places to hide. But to plant a lot of plants is not necessary, in the natural habitat of this fish there are not so many of them.
3. Burundi, like a real princess, is quite capricious about the quality of the water. In the aquarium with this fish there should be a powerful filter and a good compressor that saturates the water with oxygen.
4. It is very important to pay attention to the composition of the water, because if it contains chlorine, ammonia or other chemical impurities, the fish will not survive.
5. Every week, be sure to replace the water, about a third of the total. Together with the water change do not forget to clean the soil from food debris, excrement, etc.
6. The temperature of the water in the aquarium should be about 22-26 degrees, the acidity is 8-9 pH, and the hardness is about 13 dGH. Particular attention should be paid to stiffness, because it is not typical for breeding other species of fish.If the water is not hard enough, you can add a little coral chips. Of course, if you have a common aquarium, you can slightly reduce the acidity and hardness of the water, so that the other inhabitants of the underwater world will be comfortable, the Burundi princess will gradually get used. But still try to find a compromise and at least a little closer to the quality of water to the natural habitat.
7. In the diet, white fish is unpretentious, it can be fed both vegetable and protein feed. The fish perfectly eat plants and plankton, algae that grow on the rocks. The princess is happy to feast on live worms, artificial and frozen food. There are special formulations for sale for African cichlids, they are fully balanced precisely for these organisms. However, it is still worth giving up the bloodworms while feeding, since this live food can cause a disturbance in the gastrointestinal tract in the Burundi princess.
8. Try not to keep the fish alone or in pairs, the best fish in the aquarium live in small groups of 6-8 individuals. In such a flock a hierarchy is gradually built up, the behavior of the fish becomes interesting for observation.
9. The Burundi princess is considered to be a fairly non-aggressive type, the fish get along well with other cichlids, except for mbuna, which is very evil - the male attacks anyone who enters its territory. The Burundi princess can attack the neighbors only during the spawning period, when the fish zealously protect their offspring.

Summarizing, we can say that the main conditions for the good life of a Burundi princess are a spacious aquarium and good-natured, well-chosen neighbors.

How to breed a princess Burundi?

First of all, you need to learn to distinguish between a male and a female, which is not easy to do in this form. It is believed that the Burundi princess males are larger, their fins are much longer. But only experienced aquarists can determine the sex of a fish with accuracy.

In the first clutch, the female usually lays no more than 100 eggs, in the subsequent spawning this number increases to 200 small transparent balls. A few days after laying, fry appear; in a week they will be able to swim and explore the surrounding area on their own. Before the appearance of fry, the female carefully monitors the roe, and the male, as the true head of the family, protects and feeds the mommy. The princess of Burundi fry grows slowly enough, the female looks after them for a very long time. Sometimes new offspring appear in the family before the older fry become fully independent. Because of this, several generations of fish can live in the aquarium at the same time.

The Burundi princess is an amazingly beautiful, graceful and elegant small fish that will surely decorate your aquarium. In addition, it is quite unpretentious in living conditions in the presence of a large volume of the aquarium. Dissolve the princess of Burundi - she fully justifies the beauty of her appearance.

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