Stuart86 Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 Hey I have been keeping a few different species of malawi cichlids for over a year and a half, I have managed to breed Red empress, electric yellows and cynotilapia afras, but have had no luck with the tanzainia. How big do the females need to be before they are sexually active.? Any help would be great.. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CThompson Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 My memory tells me 10-11+ cm, but would be happy to be corrected if others have more recent memory than I. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctaylor Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 Yeah Craigs right, Sexual Maturity @ 6 inches. Full grown Female should be around 10 inches. A lot of ppl say that the females do take quite a while to be in breeding condition, but when they're ready, will most likely breed as often as the Empress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DFishkeeper Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 Once they do start breeding, they have large mouthfuls and breed regularly. But make sure you have plenty of females and a large tank for them, the boys are really rough on the girls. Cheers, Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart86 Posted January 21, 2010 Author Share Posted January 21, 2010 Yeah Craigs right, Sexual Maturity @ 6 inches. Full grown Female should be around 10 inches. A lot of ppl say that the females do take quite a while to be in breeding condition, but when they're ready, will most likely breed as often as the Empress. hey champ! I found this awesome cichlid shop in campsie yesterday, and I asked the owner if he had any tanzainia and he said he has 1 male and 3 females at home that he would sell for $195. Appartanly they are all breeding and they are around7-8 inch. Do u think that it's worth it? He is really keen to trade empress and my mpangas for them too. He said that he would take the empress at 5cm. So u should give him a call and see if he wants some, only prob is he will only pay 2.50 per fish...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosco Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 only prob is he will only pay 2.50 per fish...? It really depends on the size of the fry but I would have thought $2.50 is not too bad especially if he takes 30 off your hands. A) you are no longer feeding them B) you don't have people coming to your house and buying 2 of them C) see A. If he takes 2 well I wouldn't bag them up for that. The trouble with most haps, and some mbuna, is that only the males colour up and as such are worth the big dollars. Mainly because most people want the pretty ones as they have one tank not 47 like me. If they were sexable and showing some colour, I would have thought $5 a head wouldn't be too much to ask. These fish also breed like rabbits so large mouthfuls and pretty common. Fish like Msobo where they have smaller mouthfuls until mature and both males and females are colourful I have heard people getting around $8 for them at LFS. cheers Rosco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intern1 Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 I agree with rosco, and I would certainly be telling the owner that he cant take all your males that are colouring up because the females will be very difficult to offload without males. plus if you trade lets say 20-40 fry at 3cm a striaght swap for the adults wouldnt be such a bad deal but 195 is a little bit steep to pay for them in my opinion although you could get your money back after a few mouth fulls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dobbin4 Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 When i had them couple of years ago, took a while longer to breed, bit like Ps msobo,Need to be very lg tank to get to 25cm. Mine were 16cm male, female just smaller and were a young colony.When they do breed as said heaps of fry. Mine breed at 9/11 cm as said, male 13/14cm. Yep males hard on female's. In 6fter. Stuart86 thats $50 a fish And 5 cm Red emps just starting to colour as Rosco says would be right. If you say size, age better advice can be given. All the fish you have breed bred much younger than these. I've not seen many around even as i sold at least 200 to shops aroung here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctaylor Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 I have to agree that $50 a fish seems pretty expensive to me, I'd be looking for a larger breeding colony 1-2 males and 5-6 females, I'd be more interested in paying $20-$30per fish than $50, but that's just my opinion. Depends how bad you want them. I'd say you prob want nothing smaller than a 6fter for them judging by what most people have said about the males bashing the females. Rosco's got a fair point, offloading your fry for fish you want might be worth it in this case as you'll no doubt have more soon. I've got Empress at 6+cm and while I can sex some of them most stores have no interest in them cause the males are still silver. If I hold on to them a bit longer I can get $5-$7 from LFS, though as John as said I don't want to be left with a stack of females. All comes down to tank space for juvi's to color up, I'm quickly running out of tanks here. How big are the tanzainia you already have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart86 Posted January 21, 2010 Author Share Posted January 21, 2010 Yeah true they are hard to find most stores near us don't have them so I think for a breeding colony all at around 7-8inch is not too over priced..? My male tanzainia is about 10cm and the female is around 7cm. Since the water disaster they are showing more interest in each other tho which is a good sign.. My empress fry are just over 4cm atm. So still have to wait a lil bit before I can trade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dobbin4 Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 Your Pro spilo T's have a bit of growing before breeding. Need more females. Emps at 4cm most shops willnot swap/trade unless as said real cheap. Your right ,,, if you really want them you will pay that amount and get the money back from the fry as well but they will need to be 5+cm so take up some room. Spilo as less common so should have no trouble selling them at larger size.They show colour before Emps as well. brucem used to breed them, I got some off him years ago for new blood when mind were growing up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart86 Posted January 21, 2010 Author Share Posted January 21, 2010 My fry are all in a seperate 4ft tank so will that help them grow faster? Being able to swim in a larger area? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart86 Posted January 21, 2010 Author Share Posted January 21, 2010 My fry are all in a seperate 4ft tank so will that help them grow faster? Being able to swim in a larger area? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DFishkeeper Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 The spilonotus Tanzania are an awesome fish when big and they will grow very big and aggressive in a large tank. Personally I would prefer to buy younger juvenile fish rather than bigger adults for breeding purposes, although if you can swap some of your other fry for them rather than shelling out cash, that option becomes much more attractive. I have some I have been growing out for a new colony for myself, boys are currently 12-13cm and girls 8-10cm and they are just starting to breed now. Lots of activity and I have seen them breeding and stripped a couple of small mouthfuls, but not breeding consistently as yet. I have a few more than I need for my colony, so shoot me a PM if you are interested in buying a young colony to add to your existing pair, say 1-2 males and 4-5 females. I'm on the Gold Coast in QLD, I have access to oxygen and can ship them to you via Virgin Freight to Sydney airport. You would be looking at $200.00 total cost including freight for 6 fish individually bagged and shipped to Sydney airport via Virgin Freight for your collection. Cheers, Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dobbin4 Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 Had fish from Doug before, Very good. I would go for 1 male 5 female giving you 2 m ,, 6f. Should grow faster in 4fter depends on how many in tank ,how often you feed and what you feed. Water changes etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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