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Breeding N. Tretocephalus, Experiences?


cooder

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Hi all,

I have been keeping Tangs for about 3 years now, and recently developed a heavy interest in Apistogramma spp.

Anyway, i was wondering about breeding Trets, as they seem to be uncommon and looked down upon for their conspecific aggression. ( if you can breed big CAs then why not Trets?) In a while, i want to give these beauties a try at breeding. I am still practicing breeding and raising Cyps and Calvus, and am hoping that i will get spawns from my A. cf. agassizii (Netz/Net) Alenquer. So im no where near really experienced, but i have good water quality and conditions, and general knowledge, so would like to give them a go. They are my favourite looking Neolamp,

After a quick search online, i cant find an abundance of info, but i will keep looking....

As with obtaining most breeding pairs, it would be best to get 6 or more juveniles at im thinking 3 - 5 cm and grow them up. What size are they sexually mature and can expect some pairing behaviour? Is it even likely that a pair would form, or would they just kill each other before they got to size, so in other words is their any tolerance at all for conspecifics in "smaller" tanks? As expected i wouldnt have any other bottom dweller in the tank, but would a colony of cyprichromis fair alright?

Also im expecting the tank will be a 200 liter 4 ft and just one pair, as i need any other bigger tanks obtained for future troph, front and sandsifter colonies!! :happy: I have kept a single Tret, he was gorgeous and not aggressive to other fish, other than the usual gill flaring and displays, but i want to observe the way pairs / groups interact.

Anyone have experience with breeding trets, and can give any sound advice as to what gave you success?? also if the idea works out, i need a supplier for good quality trets aswell, im not sure whether they are on Grants import list but i hope to get German or F1 stock, if it is even available. I cant stand the thought of distributing sub standard quality fry, if they breed. Thats my end goal in the hobby, to breed and dristribute as many good quality rare-ish fish that i can lol

Cheers for reading, look forward to any imput,

Cody

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I also just started growing a group of these up to breed and have the same info as you from my research. After losing a tank and having to move colonies around I was forced to put all my 7 trets into a 2" and they are happy so far. There is a 8cm male and 6 others at 5-6cm. I got these from Andrew at Labrynth and are great quality. Lionel (Zigzag) has fry and breeds in a colony? Which apparently shouldn't work but does.

Cheers Couchy

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Cool, Mick is actually in my area as far as i know, so that should be cool, see if i can take a look at his tanks. havent seen him online for a while though.

Continuing to look for info lol....

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Cooder

a friend use to breed these for years and started with

juveniles he let pair up

had his adult pair in a 4x2x2 with Cop. azuerus sand substrate

few rocks and a ceramic flat sided jar set next to the rockwork

for them to spawn in, facing forward so he could check with a torch

he know when they spawned by watching them and then removed

the jar after the eggs hatched

fed them on micro worms to start and then BBS, when they hit 3cm

they got moved into the 6x2x2 grow out tank

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Thanks Chris, that should give me a better idea,

What do you think i should do if they start to get aggressive towards eachother? clear divider until things settle down a bit?

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I breed Trets

in a 5x2x1.5 tank , i have a colony of eleven ration about 50/50 , tank set up is crush coral along the midle of the tank i have a hole pile of my hollow breeding rocks the pairs pick a rock an protect it like a home they lay in the rocks and protect the fry very well , i feed shrimp , decapusulated shrimp cysts , crush flake and pellets after 3 weeks i sucke them out with a hose and put them in a 2foot tank till ready to sell growth rate is not to bad at 6 months they are on 4cm .

Lionel

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Hi Chris

i was told the same thing from a few people , this colony i got from western australia they were around the 6cm i put them in the 5foot with some dolphins and couple of tropheous once one of the trets paired up and spawned around 3 weeks later i removed the fry and the dolphins and tropheous so the colony of 11 has been together for over 2 years now the biggest is around 11/12cm the smallest around 8/9cm they all get on i must be one of the lucky ones i do have plenty of my hollow rocks in the tank maybe that is helping to keep agression down , i have been keeping records and taking photos and video of them spawning , in the future i will do a talk as they are very interesting fish

Cheers

Lionel

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If you have been keeping videos could you send us one? lol

I will allow for the aggression, but hope that they go alright as a colony, i should have a spare tank or two for them to go in, or else sell them, which would be a hassle

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If you have been keeping videos could you send us one? lol

I will allow for the aggression, but hope that they go alright as a colony, i should have a spare tank or two for them to go in, or else sell them, which would be a hassle

have a look in youtube my channel is thezigzagfish i have videos of my fish room

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  • 3 weeks later...

I also have kept trets as a colony of 7 (3 males to 4 females) in a 4 x 18 x 18 and they got along well, the breeding pair did chase the others away when they were breeding but other than that there wasn't to much aggression. One piece of valuable advice that Lionell gave me was to keep a lot of plants (fake or real) as well as the caves and rock. The plants become neutral ground for fish as they don't fight over this space as they do for caves or rock formation.

I found this works really well not just for the trets but for a lot of other fish I keep.

Cheers,

Steve.

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