Tapajos II breeding

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T

turtle_slayer

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 8, 2008
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Hershey PA
Has anyone had luck with breeding their Tapajos II pike. I have a male and female who used to hate each other, the female did most of the hating the male just hid. Now the female is about 9" and the male about 8". They have become much more friendly in just the past two weeks. Swimming beside each other and doing alot of nudging and bumping. I've also noticed their colors are much more pronounced. The female still chases the male from time to time but he doesnt run for his life he just gives her a little more space. I'll get some pics if I can later this weekend. Maybe I can feed them some oysters to get them in the mood for the pics :naughty:
 
turtle_slayer;1921385; said:
Has anyone had luck with breeding their Tapajos II pike. I have a male and female who used to hate each other, the female did most of the hating the male just hid. Now the female is about 9" and the male about 8". They have become much more friendly in just the past two weeks. Swimming beside each other and doing alot of nudging and bumping. I've also noticed their colors are much more pronounced. The female still chases the male from time to time but he doesnt run for his life he just gives her a little more space. I'll get some pics if I can later this weekend. Maybe I can feed them some oysters to get them in the mood for the pics :naughty:
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The only records of lugubris group pikes that have been bred are marmorata and "Xingu I". If your Cobras breed it will be a world's first as far as I know.

Lugubris group pikes have kept their breeding secrets very, very well...
 
I have alot of plants in my tank already I'm afraid oak leaves will just end up clogging my filters and messing with my PH. I have a continuous fill\overflow setup that adds about 50-60 gallons of fresh well water to the tank per day, so I'm not sure I need to do anymore water changes. The before said things may be the reason the pike are doing so well and getting into the mood so fast. They never leave each others sides now, they are constantly together. I was off a little on their lengths the female is about 9 3\4" and the male is just shy of 9". How quickly they grow up, it seems like just yesterday they were in a box on my doorstep. I would say they are definitely a pair but they still have some of their juvy colors especially the male. I couldn't get a pic of then nuzzling, the camera gives the female precoitus interuptus. She doesn't like it at all, I used the flash on her a few times and she went nuts.

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WOW!! What spectacular fish!! Very, very nice. The best Cobras I have ever seen.

With that said, they are waaaaaay too young to breed. They still have their adolescent coloration/pattern. You've probably got a good 6 months to a year before their ready to go. Especially the smaller fish. The larger one is definitely a female. The smaller one looks male but may yet change.
 
Scatocephalus;1926728; said:
WOW!! What spectacular fish!! Very, very nice. The best Cobras I have ever seen.

With that said, they are waaaaaay too young to breed. They still have their adolescent coloration/pattern. You've probably got a good 6 months to a year before their ready to go. Especially the smaller fish. The larger one is definitely a female. The smaller one looks male but may yet change.
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Thank you Scatocephalus I've seen pics of your fish and consider that a true compliment.

As far as them being too young I was thinking the same thing. What swayed my thinking was the fact that they went from hating each other to constantly being at each others side and their amorus behavior.
In my experience with other breeding preditory fish and from what I've read about Pike Chiclids. Same sex fish get more aggressive toward each other as they reach maturity not friendlier. This coincided with drastic color changes, mostly on the females part. I'll try and get a pick of the nuzzling (I cant think of a better word for it). As soon as I pick up the camera it draws the famales attention and they stop. You can see in the one pic how she flairs her gills and gets all ticked off. She really hates that camera. It makes me feel like a peeping tom :popcorn:
I guess time will tell. If they do turn out to be a pair I'm going to have alot of dead fish in my tank. Or alot to get rid of.:confused:
 
TS ~ WOW ! ! I've never seen juvie Cobras with that camo pattern, really like the male darkness... Female is really red at a young age, she'll be a really nice specimen when older! We'll want to see more pics 1/2 yr. or so when they lose their camo pattern.

As to breeding, who knows? From our original trio, now a pair for almost 2 years after the smaller male died, we have to watch cyclical aggression. The male is 1/3 larger than his mate, and sometimes trashes her, maybe from boredom or frustration, or just being a brute. We currently have them in their own tank with a barricade, might take both to ACA Atlanta.... Over the winter the 13" male has developed some wrinkles on his head - rather distinctive looking. Have seen this on some other older lugubris males, kinda cool! {This guy won 1st in class '06 ACA Chicago}
 
MTN PIKE;1930242; said:
TS ~ WOW ! ! I've never seen juvie Cobras with that camo pattern, really like the male darkness... Female is really red at a young age, she'll be a really nice specimen when older! We'll want to see more pics 1/2 yr. or so when they lose their camo pattern.

As to breeding, who knows? From our original trio, now a pair for almost 2 years after the smaller male died, we have to watch cyclical aggression. The male is 1/3 larger than his mate, and sometimes trashes her, maybe from boredom or frustration, or just being a brute. We currently have them in their own tank with a barricade, might take both to ACA Atlanta.... Over the winter the 13" male has developed some wrinkles on his head - rather distinctive looking. Have seen this on some other older lugubris males, kinda cool! {This guy won 1st in class '06 ACA Chicago}
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MTN Pike, do you have any pics or links for your fish I would love to see them. Your the first person I've heard of that has a pair of Cobras.

When I got the pikes they were about 3-4" that was about 4 months ago. I bought them from Fishfarm, class act, would highly recommend. I originally had three but had to sell one of the females. She was out of control, she killed half the fish in the tank and scaled the other half in no time flat. She even went after my hand when I put it in the tank.

I mentioned earlier about having alot of fish that are going to be killed if these two are pairing up. I looked into the tank today and the female had my 5" male Red Terror (he's in the third pic top left hand corner) in its mouth and the male was tearing its fins and scales off. I got to it too late its bladder was popped and its eye and gill were torn up real bad. They are showing high levels of aggression toward all the fish that go into the right half of the tank. Accept for the silver dollars for some reason?

After seeing them butcher the Terror I think I might start using the claw to feed them instead of by hand. I dont think they could break the skin yet but better safe than bloody I always say.

I just wanted to stop and say thanks for all the info and ideas guys (Scatocephalus, Taz, and MTN PIKE). Breeding Crenicichla seems to be a new frontier, its not like you can buy a book on it. You're experience and opinions are valued and appreciated.
 
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