Marlier's Julie ( Julidochromis marlieri )

Marlier's Julie (Julidochromis marlieri) is a small fish of the family and endemic cichlid from Lake Tanganyika, Africa. They are also found in Burundi, the Congo, Zambia and Tanzania. Fish that have other names like Spotted julie and Marlieri this cichlid, inhabits the basic rocks in deep water and are widespread in the north and south of the lake. 

They are in the depths of 5-30 meters and spend a lot of time in the rocks either gaps or holes to hunt for food or for protection. A fish of the genus is always using the name "Julie". Julie is the name for the most space or cavity in a lot of gaps in the lake habitat. Marlier's Julie have a body like turpedo with a maximum length of 15 cm. His pattern of lines on a black base color coated body creams make these fish like to swim a small remote control. All the fins and tail have a light blue color on the edges. They can swim to the side, hanging on the bottom, and moves like a planned movement. In addition, they sometimes shy and very difficult to be separated from the rock where he was hiding. Although shy, these fish are territorial and will attack his tanks when he was annoyed. Long live fish ranged from 5-8 years. 

TAXONOMY 

Kingdom : Animalia 

Phylum    : Chordata 

Class       : Actinopterygii 

Order      : Perciformes 

Family     : Cichlidae 

Genus     : Julidochromis 

Species   : Julidochromis marlieri 

For maintenance in the aquarium, at least require the tank dimensions 120 cm x 30 cm x 30 cm for his pair. Need a larger tank if nurture in large quantities. Decorative tank should resemble dune habitat that many rocks with cracks or caves. As it is known that these fish love rock crevice. If only keeping a pair of fish in the tank, it is advisable to do not often change the order of the rocks because the rocks had been no sign of their territorial boundaries.

Rumors are circulating that they will kill each other because of stress with a decor that has always changed. If there is more than one fish in one tank then give two separate rock mounds to reduce their aggressive nature. It would be nice if the fish are maintained to reduce the solitary nature of his aggressiveness.  

The substrate is made of sand and suggested oxygenation system in the tank should be good. Parameters required water is water with a temperature of 23-27 ° C, pH 7.5 to 9.5 and a hardness 10-25 oH. Although fish are territorial, but the fish was successfully maintained with other Lake Tanganyika cichlid species of similar size, such as species and Cyprichromis Altolamprologus.  

There is no information suggesting that the fish can be as prey fish, but it's better if protected from large predators.Julie Marlier's main prey are omnivores with a group of small crustaceans, insect larvae and water snails family. Some say that these fish can be used as a repellent mosquito larvae. They will also ingest sand particles such as algae or algal filaments digest diatoms (microorganisms).  

For treatment at the aquarium, these fish can be fed dry or frozen with decent proportions. Some plant foods such as spirulina and watercress can also be used as a variety of food.Sex differences can be seen from the body of the female larger than the male, in addition to the male reproductive organ (genital papillae) that is wider and sharper. Techniques breeding (spawning) nudah to be done but it requires considerable patience. The stage before the start of the spawning is best to buy a bunch of young fish and biarka they pair naturally. If a couple has been formed (it usually takes a year or more) then move the other fish and just let the couple is in the tank. If we buy direct and forced adult male paired with a female, then there is no guarantee that females would still be alive. Conditions aquarium gives a chance at pH 8.2 to 9 and temperatures 77-80 oF. If the process is successful spawning, usually females will produce eggs less than 100 grains.
 

 The process carried out at the crack of eggs hidden and eggs will be placed on the wall or ceiling openings. The males will guard outside the gap when females are laying inside. As breeders are smart, they will keep their babies from a variety of potential hazards. At dinner time so one parent will be out hunting while the other parent keep her baby. But it would be better to separate the parent after the chicks hatched fish. After hatching, the chicks fish will eat the egg yolks until they are exhausted, and after that they can be given as a nutritional baby brine shrimpe good growth. Fish growth was very slow and usually after two months puppy will fish measuring 2 cm.