rosco Posted January 8, 2006 Share Posted January 8, 2006 Hi all, I just had to say that a couple of minutes ago I witnessed my Demasoni spawning it is their and my first time. I have not the best of luck with these guys thus far in keeping them, having lost over half the ones that I have purchased. I think mainly due to my own stupidity and power outages, so I am stoked. I manged to do a water change in their tank yesterday and I just walking into the fish room to turn the light on and behind the new rock I put in there last week was their sanctuary . I wondered why every other fish in the tank was in the far corner . What do other people usually do from here. I plan to leave her for now and if she holds for 2 weeks I will move her into another tank on the system. How does that sound cheers rosco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted January 8, 2006 Share Posted January 8, 2006 Sounds fine. What I do is strip the tank of rocks etc every three weeks and put all the females into their own floating fry saver (don't put them together as they are worst than the males when holding). Some will spit within a few days others may need to be there for a few weeks as they have just spawned. I find them to be good mums for a day or so then they decide to eat the fry even though I keep feeding her while she is in the tub so take her out as soon as you see her release the fry. Best of luck and congrats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropheusQueen Posted January 8, 2006 Share Posted January 8, 2006 Hey Rosco, Congratulations - at last:lol3: I treat them the same way as I do the Tropheus although I do seperate the demasoni mum right at the end - leave mum in the main tank for the duration and move her into a saver for the last couple of days to spit. This will be dependant on how much she is harrassed during the term however the girls can also hold their own especially if adult Your other alternative is to strip her 7-10 days in - this was a challenge at the start due to size but they handle it well if you know what you are doing. As always with this method ensure all fry are removed as even one left will stop the female from feeding again and gaining condition to return to battle I still breed mainly with the first female I bought three years ago - she is the favourite amongst the males in the tank and there are three of the feisty boys to 14 females -she must be very attractive in a demonesque way Interested to hear your progress. Cheers Aline Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosco Posted January 9, 2006 Author Share Posted January 9, 2006 Thanks Aline and Ben it has been a real rollacoaster ride with these guys for sure, but worth it. It will be an effort to catch her given she is in a 6x18x2 at head height with nine others. Maybe the 3 year will now come into her own or maybe I will just buy some light diffuser. cheers rosco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CThompson Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 I find their fry to be much slower getting to a selling size too. Whenever I have seen mine spawn, I have only seen them using the back wall of the tank. Do others spawn here also or is it just mine? Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willy Wombat Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 Well done Rosco, a verritable fertility parade at your place then. Still got all those BN's? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeWs Fish Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 Hey Craig, I never saw my demasoni spawn when I was breeding them but did find that they took quite a long time to get to a saleble size. Also, lots of the fry would be fine till they hit 2-3cm and then mysteriously drop off, while all the other fry from different species would be fine in the same tank. All in all, I was never good at breeding demasoni and this is part of the reasonwhy I sold off the colony. I'm having much better sucess with other species Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CThompson Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 Mike, I have not had the issue you mention, but wonder if it wasn't an aggression related issue. Even at that size and smaller they will kill each other. I raise my young with a stack of other mbuna of similar size, and don't have issues that way. I always have another spawn or two to raise them with, and in fact my last lot of demasoni are in with Cobwe, maingano, cobalts, yellows, and flavis. One really colourful grow-out tank, even with the uncoloured flavis and Cobwe . I saw another one spawn this morning and for the first time that I have seen they were spawning on the sand on the bottom of the tank. Thanks for your comment s. Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ducksta Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 I caught mine spawning in clearings in the substrate up against rocks (that the peacocks made to spawn in) all the time. Once the peacocks were gone and I used yellows for dithers, every spawn I witnessed was in a dark green plastic pot which I had put in as a cave. If your male is spawning at the back wall, maybe that is where he feels safest. I am pretty sure they are cave spawning fish and that spawning in a cave with single entrance is easiest to defend the nest site, so up against the back wall he wouldn't have a 360 degree area to protect but probably isn't feeling totally relaxed either. ps. I never had a problem with demasoni fry growing much slower than anything else, with the exception of acei which are like weeds. At the moment my last few are with some Dimi fry and the Dimi fry grow marginally quicker, but hardly worth worrying about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dobbin4 Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 HI Craig, Got you again Flavus mate, Hey i must have done well picking some girls for u as u did not need to come back to me. meaning they are the ones breeding .But that should give him some idea with these killers {olny if you dont follow tips given } John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosco Posted January 10, 2006 Author Share Posted January 10, 2006 thanks all for the responses. If I get that far I will be probably be raising them with yellow and C afra cobwe (if and when they decide to start breeding). Mine spawned behind a big rock that I put on its side about 6 inches away from the back of the tank that it was blocked in from one side with PVC piping pile so I guess it was reasonably secure. Well done Rosco, a verritable fertility parade at your place then. Still got all those BN's? thanks Steve it is quite active in fish room atm. That 6x2x18 that had 6 yellows in it last time you came is a hive of activity since I put more Yellows, A Beanschi benga (dithers for the yellows) and now demasoni. All I need is a chair and a beer and I am set. As for BN's I just flooded the LFS's with fry and I still have literally hundreds left with another 80-100 eggs. The Saulosi grow out room has now changed to the BN growout room . Next time you are in the area drop by. cheers rosco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosco Posted January 12, 2006 Author Share Posted January 12, 2006 I just checked her and it appears she has lost them oh well better luck next time. At least I know the biggest one is a male. I also know that they are reasonably confortable in their tank. cheers rosco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-1000 Posted January 12, 2006 Share Posted January 12, 2006 Just my 2 cents here... I got some demasoni back at the june auction (or whatever one had the presentation on ps elongatus) anyhow, I found that keeping them with electric yellows was the most effective way to minimise their aggression during spawning. My yellows were an average of around 9-10cm and the demasoni averaged about say 5-6cm and I found this helped a lot. When getting them to spawn, although my females only held once or twice (hence spat because they were young), the most important bit I found was to constantly change the rocks etc in the tank to reduce the feeling of "territory". I had 10 of them in a 80cm aqua one and only lost one over about 6 months by this method. I have since let them go a while ago - but I am quite sure if I had kept them (and had a spare tank) that I would have got results. BTW - I also found that a 50% water change with water that was say 2 degrees cooler induced spawning too. G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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