Gold and white saum/GT (rivulatus) breeding

[wlat]

This is my first post, so I'd like to thank you all for sharing your knowledge -- this forum has been a fantastic resource for me in the past.

A quick disclaimer: since the debate as to what constitutes a "true green terror" vs. gold/orange/silver/white saum -- i.e. rivulatus, stalsbergi, etc. -- has been repeated ad nauseam, I'm just referring to my fish as orange/white rivulatus, which I am positive are correctly ID'd as such, to avoid confusion or needless debate.

After raising an orange female rivulatus, I fell in love with the species and purchased five juvenile white rivulatus from an independent breeder. I have found conflicting information regarding the polymorphism of the rivulatus species and breeding: some saying multiple colorations of rivulatus coexist in wild populations, others saying cross-breeding orange/white rivulatus will result in an "inpure" bloodline, and still others claiming crossbreeding should be perfectly viable as they are polymorphic.

I am very interested in breeding these fish and have sufficient real-estate/filtration to do so (2 x 90G and 3 x 40G tanks). I've also bred angelfish and EB acara in the past. My question is: would it be objectionable to breed an orange female rivulatus and white male rivulatus? Presumably they would have viable offspring as they are the same species, but what would the likely outcome be? I'm assuming I'll have to just give it a shot to find a definitive answer, but if someone with more experience could chime in I would appreciate it. Really, I'd just like to know if I should stick to finding an orange male to pair with my orange female.

 

[wlat]

I now know there is a dedicated breeding forum-- apologies if this was the wrong place to post.

 

[Deadeye]

Welcome to the forum!
It’s fine to post it here.
Personally I think that it is ok to mix the two. Assuming they are both true rivulatus (very likely, all other species of “green terror” are quite rare and easy to distinguish), they are compatible. I believe that the orange and white are just different phenotypes (I assume gold is dominant, it’s more common). When crossing the two you will see a split in offspring colors (or all favoring the dominant trait). Just be careful with pairing the cichlids. It isn’t easy to force pairs, and you can risk injury to the fish. Put the female with males and let them choose each other, don’t just pick a male.

 

[wlat]

Welcome to the forum!
It’s fine to post it here.
Personally I think that it is ok to mix the two. Assuming they are both true rivulatus (very likely, all other species of “green terror” are quite rare and easy to distinguish), they are compatible. I believe that the orange and white are just different phenotypes (I assume gold is dominant, it’s more common). When crossing the two you will see a split in offspring colors (or all favoring the dominant trait). Just be careful with pairing the cichlids. It isn’t easy to force pairs, and you can risk injury to the fish. Put the female with males and let them choose each other, don’t just pick a male.

Thanks for the advice, I will definitely try introducing her to several males. Incidentally, I had already tried introducing my largest male white rivulatus to her (she is solo in a 90G) when he was roughly the same size about 5 weeks ago; they showed mating behavior and seemed to pair readily, but some nicks were beginning to appear on him after a couple weeks. While she is generally extremely aggressive towards any cichlid, she was not particularly so towards him, so I decided I'd reintroduce after he has an inch or two on her.

I suppose I will allow for the other juveniles to grow out, select the unpaired males from the juveniles, and try introducing them to her.

 

[Deadeye]

Got any pics?

 

[wlat]

Got any pics?

Will certainly post later when I'm home! They aren't remotely as developed as the amazing specimens on here but I will share

 

[wlat]

terror squad

 

[wlat]

Frankly I think the big guy's put on enough weight to handle himself around her. They got along well, had all of the classic cichlid breeding behavior, but the tank didn't have much in it-- I think she got sick of his incessant flirting one day and slapped him around a bit. The wounds weren't bad at all, but I didn't have anything to fashion into a divider at the time and wanted to keep him safe. Perhaps I will break up the lines of sight with my surplus ludwigia and reintroduce.

 

[Deadeye]

They’re all very good looking!
If you put them back together, get a school of dithers or some convicts. When cichlid pairs have something to chase besides each other, they will bond stronger.

 

[Rocksor]

My vote would be a shoal of 8+ buenos aires tetras vs convicts or other cichlids. The pair bond could break if one of the GT finds the convict/cichlid more attractive.