Finally a breeding pair of something other than convicts! Rainbow cichlids

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C

Camphilophus

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 11, 2008
5,202
4
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Howell, Michigan
Two or three months back I picked up some herotilapia multispinosa (rainbow cichlids) at a swap meet. They were only maybe 1/2"-3/4" and they were asking $2 a piece but I knew they must of had a ton of them so I haggled them down to 4/$5. I grew them out in a 40gallon with a bunch of other stuff until they started to color up and then I moved all 5 of them to a 10gallon. I don't have a light on their tank so I haven't been seeing much go on but I noticed that a few of them looked to be in their breeding dresses for the last month. Finally a few minutes ago I see two of them gaurding the tera cotta pot I threw in there so I put the flashlight on them and they've got wrigglers already. I just removed the other three and snapped a few pictures.

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I haven't sexed them yet but seeing the size difference between the two it looks like the male is gaurding them, with the female just outside the pot. This is my first thing I've bred other than my 3 pairs of convicts so far so I'm kind of excited. Now I'm just wondering what I'm going to do with all the fry. Are these any easier to get rid of than convicts or am I going to have just as hard as a time selling them to the pet store? I know they're easy to breed but I have NEVER seen these at any of my LFS's. If all else fails.. feeders!
 
the only thing is that they were so boring looking until they hit the 1.25-1.5" mark. They had no color and were very dull even though I was feeding them the best foods. I guess I'll have to grow them out until they color up, which will probably take a good 4 months.
 
Or you could just show the lfs pictures of the parents, that way they know what theyre going to look like and youll have a better chance of selling them
 
RexFish;2047831; said:
Or you could just show the lfs pictures of the parents, that way they know what theyre going to look like and youll have a better chance of selling them
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only good fish stores post pictures of what full grown specimens look like, none of those around here.
 
that's alot better than convicts...i have about 400 of them right now
 
I would think you can move them more readily than cons. No LFS here have them either. I have actually tried to special order them from all 3 stores near where I live with no luck. One of the managers was told from his fish distributor that they used to be really popular several years ago and have slowed in popularity with new species of fish being found and introduced into the hobby. I think they are awesome and wish you lived closer because Id sure take some of those fry off your hands!
 
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