Need Advice on Breeding Cichlids
- Thread starter APAC
- Start date
from what i hear Daves has pretty good stuff......Post some Want Ads on GCCA.NET and five it some time.....most people dont wanna give up the P. Phenichilus...but eventually someone will.....patience....patience....patience....You will save alot of money finding someone more locally rather than ordering from a website....
APAC;3764272; said:
Let me know if you order from Dave's. I'll look over the stock list and see if we can get a group order going to help with shipping.
As far as substrate. You do not need to switch over. What you have will be fine for breeding. If you do decide to switch, go to Leslie's Pools Supply off of U.S. 31 and pick up the 50lb bags of pool filter sand. It is perfect for aquariums. You can pretty much gravel vac it without any problems.
Sounds like you have a plan. Just one thing about Ps. Polits. While the males are very pretty the females are drab brown, so are the babies. You may have to wait for them to color up a bit before selling. I'm not sure what the demand is on polits. I don't see them much on my local cichlid forum. One species I see asked for a lot if Ps demasoni and not many people breed them around me since they are so aggressive.
-I've got a friend of mine on the look out for some of the Tanzanians, I found some @ Bluegrass Aquatics but no WC or F1 so I'll just be searchin for about 3 more weeks to see if I can find what I wan't. If not I'll be ordering the polits and chitimbas from Dave's at the end of this month and find the tanzanians elsewhere.
-That would be great if we could get a group order going to cut back on shipping costs, I contacted dave and he said shipping to the Indy FedEx Hub would be roughly $50 for the 15-20 (1-2") that I want.
-The reason I chose the polits is because a local cichlid breeder just sold his breeder pair of pollits and told me he could barely keep the polit fry in stock they sold so quickly + I read on gcca.net that they are a very sought after mbuna that is not often shipped to the states.
-I'll keep the substrate I have, thanks for the help. For the fry grow out tanks do I need anything special? I have them set up with leftover black tahitian moon sand with regular hangover the back filters but read that lots of people use sponge filters, no substrate, some type of tumblers, etc.
-That would be great if we could get a group order going to cut back on shipping costs, I contacted dave and he said shipping to the Indy FedEx Hub would be roughly $50 for the 15-20 (1-2") that I want.
-The reason I chose the polits is because a local cichlid breeder just sold his breeder pair of pollits and told me he could barely keep the polit fry in stock they sold so quickly + I read on gcca.net that they are a very sought after mbuna that is not often shipped to the states.
-I'll keep the substrate I have, thanks for the help. For the fry grow out tanks do I need anything special? I have them set up with leftover black tahitian moon sand with regular hangover the back filters but read that lots of people use sponge filters, no substrate, some type of tumblers, etc.
I've still been searching like crazy and posting adds, finally got somethin that looks worthy. I'm in south Indy and a guy in Chicago has offered me 6, 3"+ Petrotilapia Chitimba (2m + 4f) along with some fry he has been selling for only $48. Is the 3hr ish drive, maybe 2 1/2 with the way I drive worth it? I've found these on Dave's Fish, 6-3"+ Chitimba for $96 ($16each) w/out shipping so it sounds dirt cheap to me.
I got the pictures and they look great, the guys a master breeder from the gcca....but I found a savior. There is a breeder who lives in Terre Haute (1hr 20min away) that has the phenos and polits(great pictures) that I want but not the chitimbas. I have been getting more advice and will see if he has any Tropheus Ikola, Thoracochromis Brauschi "Blood Throat", or Metriaclima sp. "Membe Deep"- I have been told these are good sellers in this Indy area. Will be stockin up on 18-20 fish tomorrow
I hope this isn't redundant - My Mbunas breed like rabbits only problem is they are oppurtunistic breeders they'll mate with any species. The fry grows very quickly as opposed to peacocks or haps that take a year or more to reach sellable size. The mbuna can get 1-2" in half that time. All the mbuna need to breed seems to be caves, they dig pits under ornimants to keep their fry out of the reach of larger cichlids. Crushed coral is my substrate - the ornimates are supported by the sub as the pits are dug preventing a collapse. The female will suck the eggs into here mouth and a few weeks later the fry will be born however they stay in her mouth for a few more weeks. She then spits them into the cave and the fry at that point are pretty much on their own. My Haps and Peacocks are open pit breeders.They dig round pits near ornimants not under them. The eggs are laid in the pits where the male will guard the nest. After birth the fry are encouraged to stay in the pit, they aren't abandoned like mbuna. The substrate I use is the same - haps dig big nests relentlessly - sand or clay would be everywhere including in my pumps. With haps brine shrimp flake and Hikari micro-pelllets work well for food. The mbuna fry are feed strictly supirulina flake to prevent bloat. Once the mbuna fry are spit out they can be removed to prevent them from being food, the haps will eventually leave the nest at that point they can be removed. My LFS won't buy fry under 2" so the first brood was the longest, after that it's a constant. The next problem is where to go with all the un-bought fry, you may need multiple buyers.
