My bad. Sorry. I thought he initiated the post. It happens fast and always when you aren't watching.
Possibly Breeding Jaguar cichlids? advice?
- Thread starter anzo1993
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My bad. Sorry. I thought he initiated the post. It happens fast and always when you aren't watching.
I agree with Mo about dropping the temp, when I had spawning pairs I would do water changes with slightly cooler rain water mixed in with my harder tap water. The cooler water, and drop in pH would always seem to spark spawning.
I have also found missing an eye is not a hindrance to spawning, although I usually remove males after the eggs are put down, sometimes waiting until they hatch, if he isn't too threatening. I find an extra cycled tank at the ready to drop a male in, is a must. Sometimes having a barrel between the main tank and sump is a perfect situation.
When my haitiensus would spawn beyond saving the female some grief, I'd pull the male from the main tank and drop him into the barrel to save his life. If I didn't pull him, his fry would cannibalize big holes in his sides.
The barrel didn't have a light, so would be dark 24/7, so the male would lose color until returned to the main tank.
his normal
after a few weeks in the barrel
I have also found missing an eye is not a hindrance to spawning, although I usually remove males after the eggs are put down, sometimes waiting until they hatch, if he isn't too threatening. I find an extra cycled tank at the ready to drop a male in, is a must. Sometimes having a barrel between the main tank and sump is a perfect situation.
When my haitiensus would spawn beyond saving the female some grief, I'd pull the male from the main tank and drop him into the barrel to save his life. If I didn't pull him, his fry would cannibalize big holes in his sides.
The barrel didn't have a light, so would be dark 24/7, so the male would lose color until returned to the main tank.
his normal
after a few weeks in the barrel
That behavior of the fry nibbling on the slime coat is something that I documented with video. It's called "glancing". My male and female managuense would lay on their side and let fry nibble. They would make a series of quick snapping movement with their jaw which looked like they were alerting the fry. It's probably the fish equivalent of mothers milk providing nutrients needed. They only do it for a couple days. The video is below if anyone wants to see it. I've been told by Juan Miquel at CRC that it's the first time he seen it recorded.
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Very cool. I understand discus also feed young this way. Are there any other cichlid species that do this?
I wasn't aware that the CA cichlids had contact feeding...so I'm not really sure. I've had similar instances where the fry would nibble to a point where the adult fish was damaged (my Dovii come to mind) So my guess is that it happens in more than you would think.
I read somewhere on the Internet, or saw on YouTube, someone saying A. Amarillo fry do it, too. The fry have to be removed or they'll eat holes in the parents.
Thanks, I haven't observed it w/ any species. I've only seen the parents lead the fry to food. Some cichlids will bring food to the fry like convicts.
I think the parents being canabalized has much to do with the way we keep aquariums, trying to discourage and clean algae all the time. In nature there is constant grazing, of algae and the life that lives within, and fry seem to need to eat constantly for proper growth.
After a few of these canabalizing instances, I started letting algae "over grow" in all fry tanks, and moving algae covered rocks and wood from adult tanks to fry tanks as needed, this helped curb the parents being damaged a bit. If heavy culling is done, and only a dozen or so fry are planned to be kept, this is less a problem, but when trying to keep hundreds, feeding them all can be a challenge.
After a few of these canabalizing instances, I started letting algae "over grow" in all fry tanks, and moving algae covered rocks and wood from adult tanks to fry tanks as needed, this helped curb the parents being damaged a bit. If heavy culling is done, and only a dozen or so fry are planned to be kept, this is less a problem, but when trying to keep hundreds, feeding them all can be a challenge.
I do the same, but not breeding anything at the moment. I only scrub algae off the glass.
