Got a bunch of fry from a breeder on friday then more at an auction saturday
6 chailosi
7ussisya
6salousi
and.....
6 red top kimpuma when they grow out a bit I got my tank stocked
New mbuna tank
- Thread starter gomezladdams
- Start date
Got a bunch of fry from a breeder on friday then more at an auction saturday
6 chailosi
7ussisya
6salousi
and.....
6 red top kimpuma when they grow out a bit I got my tank stocked
HarpoGarza said:
lol yeah petco has alot of idiots. I run the aquatics dept at one and the herp and small animal "specialists" are pretty inept. kinda sad. at least they make me look like a genius
The key to preventing hybrids is not to get more then one species in the same genus. An example would be since you've got some Labeotropheus trewavasae do not put any other species of Labeotropheus in the tank.
Mallawis breed like crazy so have fun!
Mallawis breed like crazy so have fun!
Yea I was thinking I needed to keep the afra groups separate.and Im not sure about the ussisya and chalosi if theyre too close to put together.
So after cycling the tank for a few weeks with a few of my adult mbuna this is what I ended up putting in
6 labidochromis hongi(red top kimpuma)
10 salousi
10 labeotrphus trewavase(mpanga red)
6 chalosi Elongatus Ussiya
all the mbuna are really young 1 1/2" or less
also going in to the mix are
1 2" synodontis eupterus
1 2" Botia Helodes(tiger loach)
an two bristlenose plecos 1 1/2"
that was quite a workout catching all those fish. My fishroom is looking kind of empty today
was thinking of putting in a few silver dollars I have as dithers for a month or so while the mbuna are still young.Anyone think thats a really bad idea?
Should have some pics up later tonite
6 labidochromis hongi(red top kimpuma)
10 salousi
10 labeotrphus trewavase(mpanga red)
6 chalosi Elongatus Ussiya
all the mbuna are really young 1 1/2" or less
also going in to the mix are
1 2" synodontis eupterus
1 2" Botia Helodes(tiger loach)
an two bristlenose plecos 1 1/2"
that was quite a workout catching all those fish. My fishroom is looking kind of empty today
was thinking of putting in a few silver dollars I have as dithers for a month or so while the mbuna are still young.Anyone think thats a really bad idea?
Should have some pics up later tonite
True the majority of the time, but still far from being 100% accurate. One male can become hyper-dominant and try to mate with other females. The ONLY way to 100% prevent hybridization is to do a species only tank. Everything is dealing with percentages of risk. I've had a fish from one lake (Pseudotropheus lombardoi male) try to mate with one from another lake (Tropheus duboisi female). Different genus does not insure safety just look at the OB type Haps on Aquabid. Those are a hap crossed with a mbuna. How I try to reduce the risk is to keep them from looking like each other and as far possible apart with genus. Keep in mind that many genus are only man's division of the fish and not necessarily mother nature's. Since most of us aren't after species-only tanks, just try to be logical. Example: "yellow lab" with "red zebra" = low risk. "yellow lab" with "perlmutt" = high risk.
I am running at 45 species at the moment. Just brought in 3 Metriaclima aurora species, Mara; Lumessi and Cobwe,
these will be kept seperate as they will cross-breed if together, and 5 other species. The Tropheops chilumba, new arrivals, have been put into a different tank from the tank I have Tropheops red cheek. Yes these could end up cross-breeding if in the same tank. I have numerous Metriaclima and Pseudotropheus species together and have had no cross-breeding. I have Ps chailosi and Ps chewere and they have each bred with ther own females. They are in the same tank. Funny thing is they live on opposite ends of the tank most of the time.
I do not say it could never happen but the chances are greatly reduced if the males have females of their own type.
With all the fish living together in the Lake there must be some cross-breeding at some time or another. OB are about 1 in 1000 in the lake. Paid a huge price for a blotch Metriaclima estherae. Beautifull looking fish. Once she has settled will try to get a good pic to post.
these will be kept seperate as they will cross-breed if together, and 5 other species. The Tropheops chilumba, new arrivals, have been put into a different tank from the tank I have Tropheops red cheek. Yes these could end up cross-breeding if in the same tank. I have numerous Metriaclima and Pseudotropheus species together and have had no cross-breeding. I have Ps chailosi and Ps chewere and they have each bred with ther own females. They are in the same tank. Funny thing is they live on opposite ends of the tank most of the time.I do not say it could never happen but the chances are greatly reduced if the males have females of their own type.
With all the fish living together in the Lake there must be some cross-breeding at some time or another. OB are about 1 in 1000 in the lake. Paid a huge price for a blotch Metriaclima estherae. Beautifull looking fish. Once she has settled will try to get a good pic to post.
Took a bunch of pics last night they came out terrible Ill try again later.
Did my best to put mbuna groups as different as possible in the big tank,but still figuring on peeling out breeding groups to my smaller tanks at least temporarily to produce fry.
Did my best to put mbuna groups as different as possible in the big tank,but still figuring on peeling out breeding groups to my smaller tanks at least temporarily to produce fry.
Here's a little genetics/taxonomy 101. The african cichlids have been very confusing for the last few decades. Everything was first called Haplochromis something. Then there were divisions made by man to try to differentiate species. Pseudotropheus was one of those. Then that group was divided into Pseudotropheus/Tropheops/ and either Metriaclima or Maylandia.
Note: the aquatic and scientific community have been arguing for years over Metriaclima/Maylandia which is a whole other can of worms. All of these "classifications" were done by man not the fish suddenly mutating. Genetically many of the different species can interbreed. Even though man calls them different names they are often very closely related. I do agree that proper females reduce the risk, but no way eliminate the risk.
Scotty wrote:
Note: the aquatic and scientific community have been arguing for years over Metriaclima/Maylandia which is a whole other can of worms. All of these "classifications" were done by man not the fish suddenly mutating. Genetically many of the different species can interbreed. Even though man calls them different names they are often very closely related. I do agree that proper females reduce the risk, but no way eliminate the risk.
Scotty wrote:
I, and just about every author/scientist, disagree with that comment. The basic principle why there are so many different species and variants is due to the fact that there are physical barriers that prevent cross-breeding. Many species are only found at certain locations in the lake and nowhere else in it. There are even some large hap-types that have variants in certain locations. D. compressiceps at Chizumulu Island has golden yellowish juvies and females instead of the normal silverish ones around the rest of the lake. There have been at least two recorded hybridization cases in the lake, but both of those were directly caused by man transplanting species from one location to another. If one was to go back in time I'm sure there could be the argument that they all probably came from one species. The last major diversifications happened way before modern man was in the picture.
Heres a few pics of the tank all setup.Mostly just want to get some lava rock to do some cave structures for the background.With all this debate on possible crossbreeds Ill stick to my plan of pulling out breeders,depending on the ratios they grow out to be ill probably keep the big tank as all male show tank
