Sexual maturity in Jags?

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joedtr

joedtr

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Dec 29, 2007
41
0
36
West Milton, Ohio
I bought three Jags about two and a half weeks ago. Two are about 3 inches long and the third is about 3.5. Well the larger one has paired up with one of the smaller ones and both have started displaying mating behavior. They have cleared a spot on the bottom of the tank and the two are defending the area very aggressively. They are constantly flairing at each other and swimming together. The smaller of the two has a swollen abdomen as well as what appears to be an egg tube hanging down. My questions is, are these two big enough to mate? At what size do Jags become sexually mature? This seems awfully early to me for this type of behavior.
 
Well, the question has been answered. The female laid eggs on a vertical piece of slate a couple days after my first post and she and the male continued to guard them very aggressively. I checked this morning and most of the eggs were gone. I assumed it was a bad spawn and they had eaten the eggs, but when I looked looked real close at the bottom of the tank I noticed I've got wigglers. Where do I go from here as far as feeding them?
 
Let the parents take care of feeding and rearing the fry. They will take the fry to different areas of the tank for them to feed. You can try Hikari First Bites or one of the other foods made for fry too. You may also notice the parents taking in food and then releasing some of it from their gills. The fry will eat this broken down pieces. I don't usually do much extra when my cichlids spawn. I have found that most of the time the parents have everything in control. Congrats on the spawn!
 
Thanks for the information. Looks like I'll just let nature take its course. At what point should I remove the fry so they don't become food for the parents?
 
joedtr said:
Thanks for the information. Looks like I'll just let nature take its course. At what point should I remove the fry so they don't become food for the parents?
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In a couple of weeks you can remove half of the fry and place them in a separate growout tank. Leave the other half for the parents to gain as much experience as they can from rearing their first spawn. Once the pair begins showing signs of breeding again you can remove the rest of the fry. If the parents start eating the fry, remove them as soon as possible. But this may not happen at all. Jags are usually very good parents. Some cichlids will tolerate a prior spawn to live with their new one. But the juveniles will usually feed on their younger, smaller siblings. You'll also need to take steps to prevent the fry from being sucked into the filter. A sponge usually is the best option to covering the filter intake.
 
Very strange, they usually become sexually mature only in 6"-7".
good luck!

That is what I was wondering about to begin with. I didn't think there was any way they could be ready to breed at the size they currently are, but I learn something new everyday.
 
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