During a visit to an aquarium cellar in June 2004, I bought 4-5 new fish species, and the Afra was one of them. I had been considering buying a pair for a long time, and now the opportunity was served on a silver platter.
Behavior
The male is quite dominant, and from his territory, typically a cave under a rock, he makes lunges against all potential threats. However, that came to an end when my Pseudotropheus sp. 'ndumbi gold' reached adulthood. The Ndumbi becomes at least half as large again, and at one point there were 4 males that all wanted a territory, and it took its toll on the Afra, which was beaten thoroughly. After a few days of beatings, he accepted his new position, and the Ndumbis apparently did too, but I thought it was a bit of a shame, and that contributed to my decision to sell the Afras.
Breeding
When I had just bought them, the female hid for a bit after I put them in the aquarium, and I soon realized she was carrying eggs. After I had her for about 2 weeks, I moved her to a small aquarium so she could spit in peace. There were 8-10 fry in total.
Since then, the pair has spawned several times, and I have also removed the fry a few times. The fry grow quite quickly, but they also need to be quite large before they can be sold.
Since the space in my grow-out tanks is very limited, I have chosen to get rid of the Afra. First, I sold the adult pair and some of the fry in February and March 2005, and in early April, I sold the rest of the fry.
