Stomatepia mongo

Milingu

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They're harem breeders and don't pair bond. A single male can (and will) breed with a whole group of females.
I am not so sure about that any more. It's summer now and pretty warm in the tank. The male and female are permanently together now for nearly three weeks. They are both courting and they are defending the potential spawning site together against the rest of the group. Maybe they don't form permanent pairs like many other cichlids but what is going on is definitely more than just trying to spawn. It would not be the first cichlid to only form temporary pairs.
 

Milingu

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Yesterday I thought the males are going to kill each other. Over the last two weeks the aggression was slowly increasing day by day. I just came home from work today and the first thing I noticed is that the aggression is gone. All fish but one are swimming together totally relaxed.
The female finally carries eggs!
I don't expect too much since its her first time but I am still happy.

Stomatepia_mongo_003_102021.jpg


 
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deeda

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Congratulations!
 
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duanes

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With my pindu, I would allow the female to hold about 12 to 14 days, then net her, and she would spit fry that were developed enough in the net, to be put in and successfully a grow out in rearing tank.
Not a good pic, but you get the drift.
1635160294741.png
 
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Milingu

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Update: Till now no success. But she holds longer and the breeding intervalls became shorter. Today they spawned again after only 25 days of break.
Surprisingly the female is still growing relativly fast compard to the rest of the group. I expectd she will put all the energie into producing eggs. She iwent from second smallest to third or forth largest in the group.



The only sure way to sex them is the genital papilla shortly before and after the spawning.
Female with big papilla.

s_mongo_009.jpg
s_mongo_011.jpg

Male with pointy and small papilla
s_mongo_004.jpg
 
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coltiger1975

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Only ever seen pindu but I have to comment and say those are awesome looking too. Great job with them, I can only dream of having them and being successful. Again fantastic fish?
 
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Milingu

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After several failed attempts and some frustration I can at least say now, I managed to get some eggs to an egg tumbler.
One female spit eggs out during a water change and I was lucky enough to catch some. Better always have a net in reach.

IMG_20220903_203744.jpgIMG_20220903_204005.jpg



I have never used one before.
Is this the right amount of movement in the egg tumbler?
 
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