Red tiger motaguense / RTM / parachromis!

[Bara fisk]

Hi ! i recently got this pair thats approximetaly 2 years old the male is 27 cm / 10.5 inches the famale is 17 cm / 6.5 inches , acording to the previous owner they bred reguarly and i only had them for barely a week but this is my first time in the hobby where i set up a tank for ONLY 2x fish ( no plecos/ancitrus or ANYTHING else ) i only been in the hobby for 1.5 years so there might be something im missing , im totally new in breeding i want to know everything thats been working for you guys in breeding parachromis / RTM fish ! i heard one guy talking about cold water changes thats about it , not in a big hurry since its only been 1 week but i simply want to do the best i can so... please comment your experiences on this fish or any parachromises at all (( I did kinda want a jaguar but noone available and this might be the smarter one to start with since its smaller ))

 

[duanes]

I have had motaguenses breed in my tanks, along with about 50 other species of cichlids.
Its good there are no Pleces or catfish, any of those are egg and wriggler predators, and can easily devour an entire spawn in moments.

To me the most important aspects of any breeding, and grow out operation are water changes.
I usually do 30-40% of a tanks volume every other day.
Next is feeding and separation of fry.
Once free swimming, fry need to be fed lots of small meals throughout the day, at least 4 to 5 Xs, preferably more.

I like to focus food into all parts of the school so all get their share.
I also allow thick carpets of algae tp grow in these tanks for the fry to graze on between meals, and to help use up nitrate

Next is separating fry by size, into separate grow out tanks.
If this is not done, with a predatory species like motaguensis (or any Parachromis for that matter), larger brothers and sisters will eat their smaller siblings.
I usually separate a spawn into 3 sizes, of 3 tanks, to avoid as much cannabalism as possible.
And each tank needs lots of water changes, sometimes daily depending on how fast nitrates and growth inhibiting hormones build up.
I use nitrate as an indicator of the presence of growth inhibitors, and try to hold nitrate down to 5 ppm, using water changes.
If initial grow out tanks are small, as the fry grow separating them into larger tanks usually becomes needed.
I find 50 gallon tanks usually minimal to get fry to a reasonable size, that other aquarists will want them (larger tanks would be better).
For a while I had a number of 100 gal rubbermaid horse troughs just for grow outs

 

[Bara fisk]

I have had motaguenses breed in my tanks, along with about 50 other species of cichlids.
Its good there are no Pleces or catfish, any of those are egg and wriggler predators, and can easily devour an entire spawn in moments.
View attachment 1497358
To me the most important aspects of any breeding, and grow out operation are water changes.
I usually do 30-40% of a tanks volume every other day.
Next is feeding and separation of fry.
Once free swimming, fry need to be fed lots of small meals throughout the day, at least 4 to 5 Xs, preferably more.
View attachment 1497359
I like to focus food into all parts of the school so all get their share.
I also allow thick carpets of algae tp grow in these tanks for the fry to graze on between meals, and to help use up nitrate
View attachment 1497360
Next is separating fry by size, into separate grow out tanks.
If this is not done, with a predatory species like motaguensis (or any Parachromis for that matter), larger brothers and sisters will eat their smaller siblings.
I usually separate a spawn into 3 sizes, of 3 tanks, to avoid as much cannabalism as possible.
And each tank needs lots of water changes, sometimes daily depending on how fast nitrates and growth inhibiting hormones build up.
I use nitrate as an indicator of the presence of growth inhibitors, and try to hold nitrate down to 5 ppm, using water changes.
If initial grow out tanks are small, as the fry grow separating them into larger tanks usually becomes needed.
I find 50 gallon tanks usually minimal to get fry to a reasonable size, that other aquarists will want them (larger tanks would be better).
For a while I had a number of 100 gal rubbermaid horse troughs just for grow outs

Hi! Thanks alot for the reply !
This is a awesome guide but honestly im not even sure what to do with X amounts of fries i'll probaly only keep MAX 20-40, And try sell it to store / marketplaces to see if there is any interest ! ,

i currently have 3x tanks ( 50g+100g(this one) and a 190g ) im not sure my mom is gonna allow a breeding tank would the 2 other pictures work ? or is it even dumb to try , can i have them in a bigger bucket ( like a 70 L / 20 ish gallon one ) with a air pump and daily waterchanges you think or the smaller boxes inside the tank ? i might be able to set up a breeding tank if the fry melt me parents heart but thats a big IF also whats ur opinion about the tank in general should i add / remove decorations the male moved all the sand in less then 2 days ...

 

[duanes]

If you're only interested in keeping a few, you can just let nature take its course, allowing them to cull each other.
In most cases if you keep too many, you end up with a glut that are hard to unload, and keep up proper care for.
And the older they get, the more tank space they require.
Even with my 20 tanks, and extra horse troughs, space got tight

When I had spawning haitiensus (partly because the pair were such good parents) I had a hard time giving juvies
away between large metro areas of Chicago and Milwaukee.
And because many individuals of large species of edgy cichlids like that are hard for LFSs to move, I saturated my near area very quickly.
By allowing only a small number to live, and them to self cull, the ones left should be the fittest

 

[Bara fisk]

If you're only interested in keeping a few, you can just let nature take its course, allowing them to cull each other.
In most cases if you keep too many, you end up with a glut that are hard to unload, and keep up proper care for.
And the older they get, the more tank space they require.
Even with my 20 tanks, and extra horse troughs, space got tight
View attachment 1497438
When I had spawning haitiensus (partly because the pair were such good parents) I had a hard time giving juvies
away between large metro areas of Chicago and Milwaukee.
And because many individuals of large species of edgy cichlids like that are hard for LFSs to move, I saturated my near area very quickly.
By allowing only a small number to live, and them to self cull, the ones left should be the fittest

ye i doubt many people will want them honestly , just fun to try What did u feed ur RTMS? i've feed mine shrimp and some ''alaskan pollock'' meat , and the other cichlid pellets hikari ( the red one with a oscar on it ) but they didnt seem to be to big of a fan of pellets .. any tips there ?

 

[Rocksor]

ye i doubt many people will want them honestly , just fun to try What did u feed ur RTMS? i've feed mine shrimp and some ''alaskan pollock'' meat , and the other cichlid pellets hikari ( the red one with a oscar on it ) but they didnt seem to be to big of a fan of pellets .. any tips there ?

I would feed a better quality pellet than Hikari. Any other brands available to you? It could also be that you are feeding pellets that are too large for it to swallow whole. Shrimp and pollock meat are way softer than the pellets.

 

[duanes]

Once young fry are transitioned from live foods (like daphnia, Artemis, etc), I use pelletsas adults, varying carnivore and omnivore pellets and adding a Spirulina based pellet like NLS Algaemax to make sure a complete diet is provided.
When even carnivores eat prey in nature, because they eat the entire fish (guts, bones, organs, and all) or eat insects (whatever they've eaten) they get plenty of plant based, calcium based and complete nutrients in the process.
I find good quality pellets are the best way to accomplish that complete amount of nutrition.

 

[Friller2009]

ye i doubt many people will want them honestly

if you were in Sydney I would take em all of your hands

 

[Bara fisk]

Once young fry are transitioned from live foods (like daphnia, Artemis, etc), I use pelletsas adults, varying carnivore and omnivore pellets and adding a Spirulina based pellet like NLS Algaemax to make sure a complete diet is provided.
When even carnivores eat prey in nature, because they eat the entire fish (guts, bones, organs, and all) or eat insects (whatever they've eaten) they get plenty of plant based, calcium based and complete nutrients in the process.
I find good quality pellets are the best way to accomplish that complete amount of nutrition.

I would feed a better quality pellet than Hikari. Any other brands available to you? It could also be that you are feeding pellets that are too large for it to swallow whole. Shrimp and pollock meat are way softer than the pellets.

if you were in Sydney I would take em all of your hands

hehe its 11 PM atm , i can take some pics of what i have and what my store has ( im gonna need to restock on food soon anyways !) i live in sweden and from what i gathered not many large fish keepers at all :l , was at a fish auction not to long ago 370 listings i think there was one fish that got bigger then 4 inches being 1x discus ... xD rest was shrimps / ancitrus / apistogrammas and such :l

 

[Bara fisk]

I would feed a better quality pellet than Hikari. Any other brands available to you? It could also be that you are feeding pellets that are too large for it to swallow whole. Shrimp and pollock meat are way softer than the pellets.

Yep these are the 3 i use , the blue one is to small to even bother with i cant find a bigger size at the LFS :c , the red ones that i feed my oscars , and the carnivores they werent to interested in. im gonna try to sneak a picture going to my LFS soon , i think they have some arowana sticks aswell? i guess i could try those not sure. Idd the pellets seems to hard they take 1-2 and spit out like half ..