Cukoo catfish breeding

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mr.bigglesworth

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 22, 2012
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By SF, Farther Inland, NorCal
Main Q: Hi all, i have a tank with 3full grown cukoos and 3 yellow labs if i got babies how long should i wait to strip?

Side Q: can somebody explain to me what hole in a head syndrome looks like & possibly post a pic. One of my cukoos head has gotten this whitish gape about 1mm thick. Sone ppl say he/she just hit his/her head but its been 2weeks and its not getting better.

Thanks.

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Depends upon whether or not you have an egg tumbler and want to tumble the eggs. With an egg tumbler, you can strip the female anytime after breeding. Without an egg tumbler, it is best to wait around 18 days after breeding before stripping. By this time, the fry will have absorbed most of their egg sack and be free swimming. Or you can just place the holding female in a separate tank and let her spit the fry on her own (usually23-26 days).
 
Random side note in the wild they actually trick other fish to raise their fry. They leave their offspring with mouth brooder fry and then over time the baby cuckoo eats the other fry right in the moms mouth! Awesome fish.
 
With mine if i want to strip the Hap Cichlid i wait a week to week in a half.. The cats eggs will hatch in around 3-5 days and the cichlid will hatch a few days after that.. When the cats hatch they will eat the baby cichlid eggs or fry if they've hatched.. Most the time i just wait a couple weeks because i'm trying to get baby cats not the cichlids as i have plenty of them..lol That way they've ate most or some of the cichlids and have gotten some size to them by then.
Or if you decide to let nature take it's course just let them be and when the cats get big enough the female cichlid will release them thinking she's releasing her babies..
 
Is 3 inches big enough for breeding? My lfs told me the cukoos were between 1-3 years old. But they thought they were petricola which stay much smaller.
I also have a lil .75" that is definitely not old enough just got him on Thursday I think. And the bigger catfish are cukoos I have already confirmed that both from myself and from other members. Despite the lfs saying otherwise. :)

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I'm not totally sure about the size mine started to breed.. I know they're 5" right now.. Your's might have another inch or so to grow..


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