yeah one of the pikes does that now, the "red devil" is becoming a bit more shy too....I do love the big midas, but he is completely and utterly unrivaled due to his size, maybe I should take all out except the red devil, the midas, the butti the texas and one pike, and look for another big male of similar size to the midas....the biggest surprise in the tank to me is my jag! "he" will try to dominate my butti! even though he is around a third his overall size! and the strangest thing is the butti does actually back away!
getting the hump!!
- Thread starter cichlidfan78
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yeah one of the pikes does that now, the "red devil" is becoming a bit more shy too....I do love the big midas, but he is completely and utterly unrivaled due to his size, maybe I should take all out except the red devil, the midas, the butti the texas and one pike, and look for another big male of similar size to the midas....the biggest surprise in the tank to me is my jag! "he" will try to dominate my butti! even though he is around a third his overall size! and the strangest thing is the butti does actually back away!
...I've always wanted a nice male lyonosi. But yea as far as the hump goes, anything that makes him think he could spawn soon will trigger hump growth. It's nothing more than fat deposits led on by excess testosterone. I've never tried it but maybe you could use some tank water from another breeding pair if you have one. Could work. My Midas aren't big enough to develop a hump yet but I intend on using tank water from my breeding cons to see how it affects hump growth
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I only have the one tank currently....I`m not fussed really about the hump, so not worried about trying to induce them to develop one....thanks for the advice/ideas though
I am going to take all the smaller stock in the tank out over the weekend if I get chance, I did see a trimac the other week at a fairly local shop, and he was a big lad! so may go back and double check he is a he...and maybe try him in there, maybe giving the big midas something his own size will give him something else to focus on other than the red devil and the texas...
The nuchal hump of fish mostly consists of water, not fat, hence the reason that the hump can become enlarged, or diminish in size overnight.
Care to share your reference for that? To the best of my knowledge females can grow nuchal humps in their native environment just as they can in captivity.
The following past thread should help clear some of this up.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?472442-The-Nuchal-Hump-in-Amphilophus
HTH
My reference for what I said is a book. "the cichlid fishes: natures grand experiment in evolution" by George Barlow. It explains experiments where fish were blindfolded to determine if a male can find a female by scents/pheromones alone. Which they can't. Only when you take the blindfold off can a male tell if another fish is female. Dummy fish were used. Some with humps, some without. The male Midas only exhibit spawning behavior with dummies with no hump. It also states that the hump is comprised of a fatty material deposited when sexually mature, which can be flooded with fluids to attract females, and drained again at the point of spawning.
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This would mean that females with humps are unattractive to male fish and thus, unable to pass on a hump gene. Only in private aquaria, where the majority of fry are allowed to survive, would the females pass on genes for a hump. Are there females in the wild with humps? Sure. But are they reproducing? Not likely.
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