Issues with breeding Jag's

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lionboy1970

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 27, 2007
11
0
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kentucky
I have a pair of 5-6 inch jags that have attempted to breed 3 times. The female lays her eggs and the male does his thing.....so far none of the eggs have ever "hatched" out. Seems to me the male isn't holding up his end of the bargain....but i also wonder if the male just isn't mature enough yet? Both fish look identical, except at this point the female probably has a little more color. The fish are big enough that i can see that the reproductive organs are different on both.

Anyone have any ideas or suggestions?


Btw, i am shocked at how easy going these fish can be even when breeding. i have them in a 125 with a couple of JD's, Blue Acara, Fire mouth and a couple of catfish and they haven't caused any problems.
 
Do you have pictures of both specimens? You may have 2 females, it is possible that they could have paired up. It isn't the first time I have heard 2 female cichlids pairing up. Especially if they look identical. At that length the male should have lost any sort of strips on him.
 
evilxyardxgnome;740446; said:
Do you have pictures of both specimens? You may have 2 females, it is possible that they could have paired up. It isn't the first time I have heard 2 female cichlids pairing up. Especially if they look identical. At that length the male should have lost any sort of strips on him.
Click to expand...

I have a 10" male that is over 2 years old, and he still hasn't lost the black striping that the females & juviniles have. And I know he's a male.... I have had 3 batches of fry that he has fathered. So..... even the striping is not a conclusive way to tell the sex IMO.

I do agree though that they may be 2 females. When I bought my Jags, I got a batch of 4. One eventually out grew the other 3 by about double the size, and this one turned out to be Male. Currently the females are all 4-6", and the male is 10.5".
 
lionboy1970;740380; said:
I have a pair of 5-6 inch jags that have attempted to breed 3 times. The female lays her eggs and the male does his thing.....so far none of the eggs have ever "hatched" out. Seems to me the male isn't holding up his end of the bargain....but i also wonder if the male just isn't mature enough yet? Both fish look identical, except at this point the female probably has a little more color. The fish are big enough that i can see that the reproductive organs are different on both.

Anyone have any ideas or suggestions?


Btw, i am shocked at how easy going these fish can be even when breeding. i have them in a 125 with a couple of JD's, Blue Acara, Fire mouth and a couple of catfish and they haven't caused any problems.
Click to expand...

THey are big enough for both to be sexually mature at that size.
I bought a group of small juveniles (2.5") a few years ago, put them in a large grow out tank, loads of water changes and good feeding and within 3 months I had two males emerging, both seemed evenly matched. They were 6" at that point. Looking is not as good as "venting" (in a net in the tank, not out the water) it was clear, the male is usually much bigger, the row of large side spots disappear (or almost disappear in some cases) and the dorsal and anal fins have elongated points.
I then placed the 5 sub-adults in a 6 foot 180 and within 24 hours I had my pair, one of the males bonded with a female and the defeated male and the other two females were literally hemmed in at one end of the tank at the back corner. They then bred three times, and they would BOTH attack my hand in front of the tank and I needed a net to keep them off my hand if it was in the tank. It does sound like you have a pair of females due to the physical characteristics and the lack of violence. I will try to get my (non-digital pics) scanned and upload them. I lost both of them after a heater/stat failure chilled them, the male was around 7.5" and the female
5". One of only two species I don't have but still really miss.
 
Ozkar;740518; said:
I have a 10" male that is over 2 years old, and he still hasn't lost the black striping that the females & juviniles have. And I know he's a male.... I have had 3 batches of fry that he has fathered. So..... even the striping is not a conclusive way to tell the sex IMO.

I do agree though that they may be 2 females. When I bought my Jags, I got a batch of 4. One eventually out grew the other 3 by about double the size, and this one turned out to be Male. Currently the females are all 4-6", and the male is 10.5".
Click to expand...

Do you have a picture?
 
Thanks for all of the feedback. The female has the larger reproductive organ while the male seems to have a small hook like appendage. The thing i have noticed is that when they have spawned i have never seen any visual evidence that the male is producing or discharging (for lack of a better word) anything.

By appearance i think i have two female Jags, but looking at their reproductive organs they look like a male and a female. Not the end of the world, but i would like to have a marture male jag to look at and if i have 2 females i need to find a big male to put with them.
 
lionboy1970;742202; said:
Thanks for all of the feedback. The female has the larger reproductive organ while the male seems to have a small hook like appendage. The thing i have noticed is that when they have spawned i have never seen any visual evidence that the male is producing or discharging (for lack of a better word) anything.

By appearance i think i have two female Jags, but looking at their reproductive organs they look like a male and a female. Not the end of the world, but i would like to have a marture male jag to look at and if i have 2 females i need to find a big male to put with them.
Click to expand...

When my Jags (and Oscars for that matter) spawned, I never saw any "discharge" from the male either. I guess his stuff is just too small.

The "small hook like appendage" sounds right from what I have seen with my male Jag. Maybe you do have a male. Don't give up yet.

Can you get some good pics of both so we can all compare?
 
My wife just bought a new camera so i will see what i can do. After this last failed attempt i have noticed that what appears to be the male Jag has really started to get bigger than the female. "He" also seemed to have the dark line across his side start to disappear. I will try to get some pics on here asap.
 
lionboy1970;740380; said:
I have a pair of 5-6 inch jags that have attempted to breed 3 times. The female lays her eggs and the male does his thing.....so far none of the eggs have ever "hatched" out. Seems to me the male isn't holding up his end of the bargain....but i also wonder if the male just isn't mature enough yet? Both fish look identical, except at this point the female probably has a little more color. The fish are big enough that i can see that the reproductive organs are different on both.

Anyone have any ideas or suggestions?


Btw, i am shocked at how easy going these fish can be even when breeding. i have them in a 125 with a couple of JD's, Blue Acara, Fire mouth and a couple of catfish and they haven't caused any problems.
Click to expand...
I can"t belive they have not destroyed their tankmates that is very strange behavior for them to be that docile in spawning mode get some pics up and maybe we can figure this out:grinno:
 
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