Geophagus hybridizing? I'd never seen it before... until now.

Yesterday one of my small orangeheads dropped her tube and started vigorously cleaning the inside of a flower pot in my 150 gallon cichlid community. I got these fish last November at about 1 - 2" long and this is the first time they've showed signs of spawning. I sat and watched for a long time to see if she'd chosen a male, and she did... a male Geophagus parnaibae.

Tonight I came into the room to find the female orangehead laying eggs on the walls of the pot with the male parnaibae following behind her, fertilizing them. I'm amazed that he even had the strength... he's an old fish and the last one of my original group of four F1. The others have all passed of old age and this guy has been looking pretty bad for a while. I expected to come in and find him dead any day. Now he's spawning. He hasn't bred in two years, since I lost the last female parnaibae.

I peeked in a little while ago and there is still a large clutch of eggs, but the male is already chewing. This is where things get interesting: orangeheads are delayed mouthbrooders, picking up the fry after they hatch. G. parnaibae are immediate mouthbrooders, and in the three pairs I've bred, it's always the male who picks up the eggs as soon as spawning is finished. It appears he's already picked up some.

Is there really any chance these may hatch?

[video=youtube;EoQCVnIDb2A]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoQCVnIDb2A[/video]

I don't think the eggs are fertile. About half of them have already fungused over as of this morning.

I have exactly four wrigglers!

I thought all the eggs were bad but I shined a light on them this morning and saw a few black tails moving. Now I need to try and separate them from the fungused eggs so they don't die, which may end up being problematic.

Regardless of whether or not they make it, I guess that does mean that the hybrids are possible.

RD. said:

Wow, that's really something else. Never say never!

Click to expand...

GT3000 did claim his friend had an altifrons hybrid, and I found a video of an altifrons type spawning with an orangehead on YouTube, but there's been very little photographic evidence of actual fry which always makes me leery. I guess seeing is believing.

We know some species within the same genus will cross (I'm looking at you, Heros) but in all the mixed geo tanks I've kept this is the first time I've even had a pair show interest. I don't want these hybrids to get out but I may try to raise this handful of fry just to see what the cross would look like.