We have received wonderful Heros notatus from Brazil. A typical feature of this species are the dark spots in the lower half of the body. As with all Heros the sexes differ by the head colouring, however, it is not always easy to distinguish a strongly coloured female from a male standing far below in the hierarchy. To avoid to get constantly in trouble with the dominant male, low-ranking males assume female coloration. One calls this also “Sneaker”-behaviour. Sneaker-males frequently appear in cichlids. In the nature, they “take revenge” for the humiliation through the territorial, dominant male by joining the spawning couple during the spawning process and fertilizing many eggs on that occasion. So they can pass on their genes to the next generation, without having spent energy on building up the territory, defence of the territory and courtship display in front of the female.
For our customers: the animals have code 682955 on our stocklist. Please note that we only supply wholesalers.
Text & Photos: Frank Schäfer
