Ivanacara Bimaculata is an extremely rare South American dwarf cichlid from Guyana that has been recently rediscovered and brought into Europe. It is unlikely to be imported again. This line was successfully reproduced in Sweden and then those fry were imported into Western Washington, USA. I was lucky to aquire an F2 group of these fish and have successfuly spawned these starting on 5/26/23. These fish were offered here commercially for the first time in the USA. These are black water fish that have evolved with water low in mineral content and often very acidic. For the fish being sold here, I am growing them out with local faucet water change from the tap ph 7.2, tds 40. They have proven to be stong and adaptable fish living in any tap water all over the USA regardless of PH and hardness. Temperature wise they have been adaptable between 74 and 85. If keeping them alone I would aim for 78 . These fish are greedy eaters and have accepted all foods I've offered. Dry flakes, Frozen Brine Shrimp, Gel Foods. Compared to Ivanacara Adoketa, from what I have seen so far, these fish are hardier, smaller, and less aggressive. Ivanacara bimaculata are excellent community aquarium fish that are safe to keep with any fish that are not too small to eat. They will certainly make meals of any shrimp in the aquarium. I fully expect for this species to become a popular and well known dwarf cichlid. They have amazing color that can shift quickly, and they develop an outgoing personality after taking several weeks to become comfortable to a new aquarium. It is normal for them to hide for several weeks after being shipped. The males are easy to tell apart from females. The males are larger, and often show red color on the top of their heads, while the female stays smaller, and develop a white vent with a red spawning tube continously protruding, that is characteristic of this species. The females are really good looking and can color shift where their heads become jet black with starry white spots. These fish can spawn either in a cave or on top of a rock or leaf. They deposit 30-150 eggs which hatch in about 60 hours. After they hide their young, usually in a cave for 6-7 days until their fry become free swimming. After this, both parents look after their fry and take them around the tank searching for food. These fry are able to eat newly hatched artemia immediately. From what I've seen these parents can spawn again rather quickly and in some of my tanks, have chased their fry off after about 1 month to spawn new eggs.
