gianniz Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 Hi, I have had 3 mouthfulls from 4 females and so they either spit or eat within a day of holding. I know they are teenagers at best as they are 4.5-5cm. Is it normal for smaller ones to do this? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joel Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 Hi, I have had 3 mouthfulls from 4 females and so they either spit or eat within a day of holding. I know they are teenagers at best as they are 4.5-5cm. Is it normal for smaller ones to do this? Thanks Hey gianniz, Mine do the same thing and they are seasoned veterans... Just the other day I had two females holding from the same day. The older, larger, more experienced one spat or swallowed her spawn within three days. The other is still holding. (looks to be a big mouthful too ) I have experienced this same behavior since I got them. This is not always the case though. I have had plenty of times that they have held to term. They seem to be really moodie at times. Hang in there though, it will be worth it when you get a large school of fry growing out - they are so active. Cheers Joel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 Hey I find with my cyprichromis that this time of year when its very warm that when they do spawn (they dont much through summer) they seem to get fungussy really quickly and then get spat or get eaten. In winter they hold fine But in summer its just too hot and the fungus gets the eggs. I dont know if this would make sense in your case but its a thought matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emma2938 Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 I have pleuros, same size as yours gianniz and they do exactly the same thing. They have held 3-4 times but 2 days later nothing. I have seen the male and other fish chase her, so that could be the issue? I'm not even going to bother trying different things until they are a bit bigger. I was soooo suprised when I saw her holding the first time, I didnt think they could at that size. But If your trying to get some fry, maybe catch her and isolate her. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gianniz Posted January 19, 2009 Author Share Posted January 19, 2009 well after careful observation, one of the other female is holding as well!!! I knew something was different as she kept her mouth shut and occasionally open them up but only little bit. I got put some food infront of her and she refused to eat. Her mouthful is non existence (visually) but every 10 seconds or so she would tumble and I saw the yellow/orange eggs but those eggs seem to be held near her throat rather than the front of her mouth (like the other one). I am going to leave it until i see the fry. This way the girls will give a natural birth. I am against caesarian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chorrylan Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 with Callochromis melanostigma I found the females held better if I removed the male as they are remarkably horny little buggers. Keeping the temperature down, oxygen up and nitrates down will help with tangs generally but especially for holding females. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie Salita Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 Matt and chorrylan echo what I found to be a true a few years ago when I kept similar species. I was experimenting with temperatures and found that my spilopterus and cyprichromis held much more reliably when the the temperatures were lower. Melanogenys responded similarly. They spawned often after a big water change of very cool water, which would bring the temp down to 20-23. I now try to keep all my tangs between 23-25 degrees. They seem much happier. Though it may be a subjective observation, I just wonder how many actually experiment with the lower temps with their tangs. They are quite happy in the low to very low 20's I think. Of course, it lengthens incubation times though. But thats not really a bad thing unless you are a frontosa who wont eat for a month... Maybe worth trying. cheers, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gianniz Posted January 20, 2009 Author Share Posted January 20, 2009 i don't think mines fungusing as i have uv and my left over food doesn't get fungused. i caught the female holding and isolated her into a guppy breeder thingy. also put geo liquid. my water temp is constant 28degrees as my room is airconditioned. shes still holding after 24 hours so i'll do more closer observation to see if she will spit or eat. if this fails i'll try to lower to temp to around 25 and see how that goes. Laurie you are 100% correct about the boy being an incredibly horny bugger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chorrylan Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 i caught the female holding and isolated her into a guppy breeder thingy. ... my water temp is constant 28degrees as my room is airconditioned. I'd still recommend: - put him into isolation rather than her. I find callo's, cyps and foai females get stressed in frysavers and are likely to spit as a consequence - drop that temperature. just try taking a nice big mouthful of marbles, run around the block and see if you can keep your mouth shut. Warmer water holds less oxygen and makes things even harder for her let alone the extra bacteria etc etc that grows in warmer water. The water temperatures in lake Tanganyika rarely if ever exceed 25/6 degrees and that's with nice clean water with zero nitrates (due to the huge anaerobic sump in the bottom of the lake). Our water by contrast is disgusting so we should be keeping our temperatures lower than the lake to compensate rather than higher. Laurie you are 100% correct about the boy being an incredibly horny bugger you doubted me grasshopper?? :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gianniz Posted January 20, 2009 Author Share Posted January 20, 2009 never doubted you ever just to update on the situation. i left home around 1pm and came back around 10pm. I water temp was 31!!!!!! and i found 3 eggs all white but no sign of fungus. it seems the egg was boiled! also found 1 coral sand the size of the egg. I assume she spat and ate some. I have reduced the heater to 24. Laurie i'll try once more with lower temp and removing girls before removing a boy. i only have 1 boy and 4 girls so i care about my stunning boy little bit more he reminds me of how horny i was when young! lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gianniz Posted January 23, 2009 Author Share Posted January 23, 2009 lol the three eggs i was incubating in the fry saver was round coral sand! lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joel Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 lol the three eggs i was incubating in the fry saver was round coral sand! lol Hey, Yeah mine aslo pick up small coral sand mistaking them for eggs i guess. I regret putting the coral sand in there now. I wonder if the eggs in her mouth will get damaged when she tumbles the small coral sand? I have had a few mouthfulls with fungused eggs at times. Cheers Joel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gianniz Posted January 24, 2009 Author Share Posted January 24, 2009 Joel, that was the question i was going to ask. I am going to leave it for a while and try the lower water temp. If that fails again and again, i will take out the coral sand. Just use the finer net to scoop it out. Ive done it before. It will only pickup coral sand and the finer sand passes through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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