It's the Gangnam, er, Damba-nam Style! Paretroplus dambabe

**notho2000** · 02-22-2013, 1:57 PM

The Dambas of Madagascar have a unique feeding style when it comes to locating food in the substrate. A vigorous "head waving, in a repetitive back-and-forth motion uncovers and dislodges tiny food particles. Their laterally compressed bodies make for a very efficient "sand fan". They will do this for hours, scouring the bottom for leftovers. All the Paretroplus species that I have do this. Even one month old fry do this naturally if a fine layer of silica sand is provided. Here 's a video of some young Paretroplus dambabe doing this movement - it's fascinating to watch.
[video=youtube_share;e3EWsP_CPQk]http://youtu.be/e3EWsP_CPQk[/video]

**Decker504** · 02-22-2013, 3:30 PM

Hahahahaha, as a DJ and a Cichlid Addict I found that thread title hilarious Jim. Thanks for sharing, I've never seen that behavior before...

**dstuer1950** · 02-24-2013, 7:38 AM

I've also enjoyed watching this behavior in my damba, and like I see you do, keep them with Central and South Americans.

**notho2000** · 03-06-2013, 3:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Decker504

Hahahahaha, as a DJ and a Cichlid Addict I found that thread title hilarious Jim. Thanks for sharing, I've never seen that behavior before...

I'd never seen it either, except with the Paretroplus genus.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dstuer1950

I've also enjoyed watching this behavior in my damba, and like I see you do, keep them with Central and South Americans.

Yes, it's interesting that these feeding strategies exist. Yes, I do have some of my Madagascan cichlids in with SA cichlids. I find they have similar temperments but there is virtually no negative interaction (yet)

.

**notho2000** · 03-06-2013, 3:44 PM

I've been raising a batch of 'menarambo' (~ 150) in a 25G , bare bottomed tank for the last month. A few days ago, I decided to split the fry up, whereupon I moved about half of them to another 25G, this time with silica sand substrate. As expected, these fry, when cleaning up food particles from the bottom do a head shaking movement to kick up the food morsels. It's comical to see these little 1" babies doing what their parents do. Here's a video of some little ones doin' the shake.
http://youtu.be/xCBkykfXyYI