African Cichlid Partners?

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bunzplayer

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 2, 2011
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Limington, Maine
Is it possible for a mating pair of Mnubas, to have multiple partners during the egg laying process? Can more than one male fertilize the same batch of eggs? If so.,..this would give me a multiple mix of frys, would it not ?
Any help would be most aprecieated!!
 
Its funny you should mention that, I just watched that exact same scenario yesterday with a female and two male sp44's. The sub-dominant male would jump in between the female and dominant male, which would make the dominant one chase him away, but he would quickly duck around a powerhead and lose the dominant one. Then while the dominant one was searching for the intruder, he was busy getting busy with the female for a couple rounds. then the dominant one would come back and the sub-dominant male would go away for a bit before starting all over again. So I saw both fertilizing the eggs the female would lay. Granted its not like it was two different types of males that fertilized the same females eggs, but I thought I'd share to show it was possible.
 
It is absolutely possible. In the wild, most females will breed with up to four males in order to ensure viability of the brood.
 
Yes. Mbuna (not mnuba) aren't pairing fish, they're harem breeders, so there's nothing unusual about plenty of polygamy going on. They'll also hybridize quite easily.
 
cmjdjm1 said:
Its funny you should mention that, I just watched that exact same scenario yesterday with a female and two male sp44's. The sub-dominant male would jump in between the female and dominant male, which would make the dominant one chase him away, but he would quickly duck around a powerhead and lose the dominant one. Then while the dominant one was searching for the intruder, he was busy getting busy with the female for a couple rounds. then the dominant one would come back and the sub-dominant male would go away for a bit before starting all over again. So I saw both fertilizing the eggs the female would lay. Granted its not like it was two different types of males that fertilized the same females eggs, but I thought I'd share to show it was possible.
Click to expand...

thats like jerry springer in an aquarium.
 
Funny you're hoping for a tank of hybrids - most people who keep mbuna generally prefer to keep and raise pure species, as their phenotypes and behavior are much more predictable. Oh well, best of luck.
 
Yes, this can happen. I've found breeding harems to be more successful if there is a single male and multiple females, or many more females than males (like 3:1 ratio). I've lost fish due to male breeding fights (sometimes the female gets it too) but have seen a female bounce between different males on a regular basis. I've seen this in new world cichlids as well.

I've found this is more common in pet store strains as opposed to WC fish. Aggression of WC fish can be pretty brutal.

Many Tanganyikan cichlids are also harem breeders, and I've had groups of fish that all mate together. I have also seen obvious pairs form from fish that are not supposed to pair. At this point, I am rarely surprised by the behavior of fish.

A veteran fish keeper I know always says "put a fish in unnatural environment and you might get unnatural behavior"
 
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