Did my Breidohri pair up AGAIN??

[BlesOne]

I think my breidohri paired up again!!! Its been about 7 months since these two were together. I had to seperate them after one of their spawns when the female suddenly openned up a big o can of whoop a** on him while guarding fry, almost killed him. Now that hes finally back to 100% and his fins grew back I decided to put them back together. It looks a little promising as they have been hanging out together a lot and chasing off the others somewhat.

My questions are, what are the chances these two will actually "re-bond" so to say and will actually breed again??? Do cichlids have gold fish like memories and forget their partners?? Has anyone else successfully re-introduced pairs? Or is this another beatdown waiting to happen?

 

[trace]

Oh yes very possible. I once had a pair of jags that paired and bred dozens of times and I separated them after I got a better male to try to pair her with him. So I kept her alone for a month and introduced them. He displayed for her and tried his best but she wanted nothing to do with him. So after another month I finally gave up and put the original male back in with her and they paired back up and spawned two days later. Cichlids apparently remember for a long time. Or maybe she just liked the old male more for some reason I didn't see. He was smaller thinner and less colorful but she sure liked him.


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[DanG13]

Very possible and highly likely they will "re-bond".

 

[rocky2]

most prob they will coz my jag and fh paired up laid eggs then i removed the fh but later wen i reintroduced them they spawned again

 

[chevylife]

They should pair back up without too much trouble, but each fish is unique. My trio of breidhori switch mates all the time and he has bred with both of his girlfriends. I just added a third girl for him to pimp. Lmao


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[ahud]

I think you guys are confused about bonding.

For most (if not all) cichlid species bonds are not meant to be permanent, they only last while the fish are breeding and caring for fry. Then there are many factors that will cause break-ups. If the tank size is too small, then the female will not be able to keep the male on perimeter duty and will continue to harass him.

A male or female may find its mate unfit, even after it has spawned with that fish multiple times in the past. I highly doubt most fish (some saltwater fish do) have any memory of past spawning partners, as that would not make sense in the wild.

To answer your question, I would watch closely. But I think that advice should be given for all big central American fish.

 

[trace]

I think you guys are confused about bonding.

For most (if not all) cichlid species bonds are not meant to be permanent, they only last while the fish are breeding and caring for fry. Then there are many factors that will cause break-ups. If the tank size is too small, then the female will not be able to keep the male on perimeter duty and will continue to harass him.

A male or female may find its mate unfit, even after it has spawned with that fish multiple times in the past. I highly doubt most fish (some saltwater fish do) have any memory of past spawning partners, as that would not make sense in the wild.

To answer your question, I would watch closely. But I think that advice should be given for all big central American fish.

I'm sorry I couldn't disagree with you more. Cichlids are some of the most intelligent fish on the planet and they can certainly remember for long periods of time and often pair for life. I have had multiple pairs that never broke even if I tried to intervene. Males will often take new mates but females can take years to re pair after a split. Now am I saying this is always the case, no and not all species are the same and bond as strongly as others,some don't bond very well and are notorious for being very fickle pairs but others are very monogamous to each other after they pair off. But yes you should always watch all of your cichlids very closely because they are unpredictable. That's part of what is so great about cichlids.


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[ahud]

Care to point out which Central and South American cichlids pair for life? Forcing two fish to stay in confined quarters (a tank) is not pairing for life.

 

[trace]

As I said my old jag pair stay together for 2 years then I separated them for months and tried to pair the female with a larger more impressive male and she had none of it and as soon as I gave in and reunited them the paired again and stayed together until he died of old age 5 years later. When they didn't have young they still were always at each others side following each other everywhere never splitting and claiming their own share of the tank. That was in a 150 gallon tank where they could at least stay several feet apart at all times and yet never did for more than several seconds. My current umbee pair are the same way but spawn so often it's hard to say if they would stay away from each other or not. But so far the bond seems to stay strong when not spawning. I have many more examples as well but feel my point is made and you can feel free to disagree with me if that's your opinion you are entitled to it but this is my point of view on the topic and there is no way to say what happens in the wild whether they bond for life often or spawn and separate I have never heard of any studies that focused hard enough on the topic to prove one way or the other so I am going off of what I have observed in domestic aquaria.


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[Chrisplosion]

Care to point out which Central and South American cichlids pair for life? Forcing two fish to stay in confined quarters (a tank) is not pairing for life.

I have heard of both Oscars and Vieja/Paratheraps doing this. Some of the more intelligent cichlids can be very picky when it comes to their mate.