Newo Posted March 19, 2004 Share Posted March 19, 2004 Do you guys think they would cross? Ive got a colony of 17 Mainganos and about 9 yellows. The Maingano's are breeding. The Yellow females are still probably too small, but one of the males is definately breeding size. I havn't noticed him shaking at any of the mainganos but you think he would give em a go? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
griffin Posted March 19, 2004 Share Posted March 19, 2004 Any of the Malawians can hybridise - it's always a possibility. When the two species are very different in colour/shape it's less likely that it will occur as the fish are less likely to be attracted to a fish that looks very different to them. But if they get desperate (a male of one species only has females from another species around him - he has nochoice but to spawn with them.....) Fortunately maingano and yellows look very different in both colour and shape - you should be OK and if they should hybridise the fry should look very odd letting you know that crossing has occurred. Unfortunately if it does happen you'd have to cull that whole batch. But overall, so long as you check your fry carefully, you have a fairly safe combination there. Cheers, Jess Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chorrylan Posted March 20, 2004 Share Posted March 20, 2004 hi, I've had breeding colonies of these two species together for at least 8 months and have had no signs of crossbreeding problems (yet). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cichlids_au Posted March 20, 2004 Share Posted March 20, 2004 When the two species are very different in colour/shape it's less likely that it will occur as the fish are less likely to be attracted to a fish that looks very different to them.Fortunately maingano and yellows look very different in both colour and shapeWhile I agree with this in the main it is not always true. I had a active, established colony of Labidochromis freibergi, when I got my colony of Iodotropheus sprengerae AKA Rusty’s I put them in together overnight while I got the Rusty's tank set up. They crossed. Nice looking Rustybergers lolol So you still need to keep an eye out and check your fry as Griffin said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onlyme Posted March 21, 2004 Share Posted March 21, 2004 Mark, you should write to Ad Konig about that because I am almost sure he is quoted as saying Rustys dont cross ?? Craig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cichlids_au Posted March 21, 2004 Share Posted March 21, 2004 E-mail sent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cichlids_au Posted March 22, 2004 Share Posted March 22, 2004 Hi Mark, Never heard of such a cross. Thank you for not introducing this as a "new species". Best regards Ad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CThompson Posted March 22, 2004 Share Posted March 22, 2004 I have kept these two species together for a number of years, and have never had an issue. And has been said to me once; “at worse, all you have is some live food”. I also agree that if the fish are different colours, and shapes, there will be less likelihood of crossing. However what Mark put down is also correct. The trick here I believe, and is not mentioned, is to make sure the groups both have lots of girls to spawn with, and few males (only one?). That way, whenever a male wants to breed, he will have a girl ready, willing and able of his own species. If humans could have it so good! Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobaltcraig Posted March 22, 2004 Share Posted March 22, 2004 I have my mainganos in with my dimi comps Guess what the male dimi and a female maingano were trying to breed so i think anything is possible ta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rol&Jas Posted March 23, 2004 Share Posted March 23, 2004 It is true anything is possible I think the issue is the probability. Lot of zebras have different colours, but they are closely related and their shapes are very similar too. When I started with cichlids, I did not know much about them and put a few zebra species together. The greshakei male was interested in the red top black bar females and the albino males were trying to mate both females. Talking about extremes: at work we have a standard 3ft tank and had some red face mac and an interruptus male there. They shouldn't really crossbreed, but when the red face mac babies were growing up some looked weird. One particular juvenile had a shape of an elongated red face mac with very long dark pelvic fins. The head changed to dark blue when excited. It looked very much like a polit, maybe that is how the polits were created in nature I had to cull all this babies and the work tank is only a male tank. That crossbreeding was very unlikely, but as the interruptus male did not have any females and it was very dominant, plus the tank was small the cross happened. If the tank was larger and there would have been some interruptus female there the likelyhood of crossing would have been very low. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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