Adult pairing

[ItsDubC]

Ino that to achieve successful pairing, 5 or 6 juvies should be bought and raised until a pair forms.  But does anyone have any experience/tips on how to achieve pairing if the cichlids are already adults?

I'm inquiring specifically w/ regard to leleupi and ocellatus.

[ItsDubC]

Re: Adult pairing

Cool, I stumped an entire forum   :smokin:

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Adult pairing

i have some leleupi's that i bought from different places and they are about 1.5-2" not sure if that constitute as adults but two ended up pairing up from different origins or at least they seem to be paired up.

no real results or confirmation yet just a lot of tagging alongside each other and an occasional "love dance". i think that if you plan on doin g it as adult buy a bunch of them from different places and let them settle in, eventually they will pair up.

i would also have water quality and the diet for breeding to help the process.

[geoff_tropheus]

Re: Adult pairing

With Tropheus and Other Africans I have kept, I never noticed that any of them paired up. Males have many females.

Unlike your Southern and Central Americans where I think the pairing of one male and one female is essential.

Possibly the paring deal is not so significant in Africans because of the mouthbrooding.

I never had any issues introducing more females to a tank, except with Petrochromis.  Males have been a differnt storey, unless the guy is more like a juvinile about half the adult size.

[SCOTT]

Re: Adult pairing

The best tip I can give for introducing new fish and establishing either pair bonds or harems is to provide plenty of cover, if already occupied, rearange the existing cover. It also helps to introduce the new occupants at night while the others in the tank are resting and the aggression is at its lowest. By rearanging the cover in an established tank, you in essence destroy any established territories and force the occupants to come to a truce in their search for their own space. Just be sure to allow at least 1 hiding place for each occupant, and once the bond exists you can remove the unoccupied spots if needed. This is especially true of species in which the male is the only one who claims a territory, Electric Blue's are a good example. The male Electric will claim a spot, and the females will school, but when introducing the harem, the females will need a place to hide to avoid aggression from the male while he stakes his claim.
Hope all this makes sense.

[ItsDubC]

Re: Adult pairing

Just wanted to post an update.  

My occies were constantly bickering since I got them about 3 weeks ago, so last week I decided to see if anything would happen if I didn't feed them for a day and a half.  Then about 5 minutes after feeding them, my female occelatus went into her shell and the dominant male followed her and parked himself at the entrance while she was inside.  Every few seconds he would go inside and come out to guard the shell entrance again.  I left 10 minutes after this whole event, and never saw the female until I came back hours later and I found her parked in front of the shell w/ the male swimming around as usual.  Needless to say, no more bullying is going on between the two and lately when I reach into the tank and move my hand toward the female's shell, the male will rush over and start biting my finger.  When my finger gets within 3 inches of her shell, the female starts viciously attacking it!  

I haven't seen any fry in the shell or anything so I dunno if they've bred or not, but I'm just happy that they've paired up.  These little fish are crazy fun to watch and interact with.  Thanks again Mike!

[ItsDubC]

Re: Adult pairing

O ya and JUST IN CASE (and for future reference   ), is crushed flake sufficient food for fry or should I feed them something else?  Baby brine shrimp?  Hikari First Bites?  Daphnia?  Gerber?

[PhishPhreek]

Re: Adult pairing

Can't say for your fish but for baby bettas
they live off of the yoke sack for the first few days.
BBS is too large for them the first week so I feed infusoria / rotifers
after the first 10 days I feed live BBS 2 or 3 times a day.

[Mzungu]

Re: Adult pairing

That'd be great if babies pop out in a couple of days! Just to let you know, like PhishPhreek, I don't know about your fish, but with mine I've always done a combination of BBS (I like live better, but sometimes frozen is all I can manage, especially if they're unexpected) Hikari First Bites, HBH Fry Bites (which I can no longer find, by the way!) and finely crushed variants of flakes. I think a lot of it also depends on whether or not you isolate the fry in a grow-out tank.

Keep us posted!!

[ItsDubC]

Re: Adult pairing

Ya apparently shell-dwellers live off of their yolk sac for the first 5 days or so.  Infusoria?  I guess I better get a culture goin...

What's the fastest way to cultivate infusoria?  Could I just put some grass in an open plastic container containing tank water and set it on a window sill?

[PhishPhreek]

Re: Adult pairing

I use water from a working sponge filter to start my infusoria cultures.



infusoria

[ItsDubC]

Re: Adult pairing

Haha, I think I paid more attention to the sangria recipe.  Thanks moderator!

[Tiapan]

Re: Adult pairing

yeah i think we should all have a sangria and infusoria party.

[PhishPhreek]

Re: Adult pairing

If you like that you should really try making a BBS hatchery


BBS Hatchery

[ItsDubC]

Re: Adult pairing

yeah i think we should all have a sangria and infusoria party.

+1