killiguy Posted August 5, 2010 Share Posted August 5, 2010 Ive noticed 2 of my Limnichromis auritis with mouthfuls,at each end of the tank with their partners.Ive no idea when they spawned although one looks quite skinny and has a very full mouth.I realize these are biparental but when can I strip them??Does the male need to do his bit or can I intervene before?? They are only 4-5 inches and have taken me by suprise although I did notice them paring off.They look identicle so I cant tell if the male has taken over already. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussiem Posted August 5, 2010 Share Posted August 5, 2010 Doug,I would send debgrafish a pm as they have been breeding auritus for a while now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killiguy Posted August 5, 2010 Author Share Posted August 5, 2010 Thanks Mr Peacock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debgrafish Posted August 5, 2010 Share Posted August 5, 2010 Hi Killiguy, I have sent you a message, thanks deb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debgrafish Posted August 5, 2010 Share Posted August 5, 2010 Hi, it will be impossible to tell which one is carrying. They only carry for about 9 days so i wouldnt advise stripping them. The fry are very tiny when they are born, so you can just syphon them out of the tank when the parents have released them. But you have to be quick the parents will start picking them up as soon as you come near the tank. So you may only manage to pick up half of them, and then have to wait until they let them out again to syphon more. With the last spawning i had i only syphoned out half of the fry and left the rest with the parents to see what would happen. They were both very good parents, they kept the fry in the corner of the tank most of the time and at the first sign of danger (mostly me coming near the tank) the fry would sit on the bottom and the parents would both pick them back up in their mouths. They would constantly chase other colony fish away from them. The rest of the colony (i have 8 in the colony) were forced to stay at the other end of the tank. Occasionally one would manage to pluck off a fry or 2. I ended up leaving the fry with the parents for about 2 weeks, at that stage they started to get adventurous and would swim too far from the parents, so i took them out. Once you take the fry out they will spawn again fairly quickly, gererally within the next few weeks. If this is the first mouthful you have seen it may only be a practice run, I had a few practice runs over a period of about 6 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ziad Posted August 6, 2010 Share Posted August 6, 2010 I have read about this fish and was a little confused (I get confused easily)... do they spawn in a shell and then after the fry hatch will mouth brood them or do they breed like regular mouth brooders? Also why don't you just strip them like other cichlids rather than try and catch the fry when they have released them? Will the fry eat regular fish food or do they require something like BBS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debgrafish Posted August 6, 2010 Share Posted August 6, 2010 they are mouth brooders, they spawn best in long tubes with one end closed off, as in the wild they will dig long tunnels. only one will enter the tube at a time. The female will generally hold the eggs first and then over the incubation period they supposedly pass the eggs back and forth to each other, I have never seen this, as they probably only do that when in their pipes. Once they are free swimming then you can see both of the parents picking them up in their mouths. I dont milk them as i have heard that they can swallow the spawn if they are scared and stressed. The new born fry are quite small, about the size of calvus fry. They are very easy to syphon out of the tank. I feed the new fry on freshly hatched baby brine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debgrafish Posted August 8, 2010 Share Posted August 8, 2010 out of interest, i noticed a new spawning in the tank this morning, a different pair that havent spawned before down the opposite end of the tank. Both mum and dad are carrying the eggs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ziad Posted August 8, 2010 Share Posted August 8, 2010 thanks for the info deb. you say above that both male and female are holding. Do they hold at the same time? like half each? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debgrafish Posted August 8, 2010 Share Posted August 8, 2010 thanks for the info deb. you say above that both male and female are holding. Do they hold at the same time? like half each? yes , this morning when i fed them, these 2 didnt eat as they were both holding the eggs at the same time, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johns Posted August 9, 2010 Share Posted August 9, 2010 i had about 80 fry from my parents and after taking them away and putting them in a 4ft tank alone i noticed daily that they started to spiral and die i now have only about 3-4 fry left any help would be great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debgrafish Posted August 9, 2010 Share Posted August 9, 2010 How big were the fry when you put them in a 4 ft tank? If they were only tiny they probably couldnt find the food. Were the water parameters and temperature close to that of the main tank. What were you feeding them. I have a 25 lt tank with 8 compartments for tiny fry like this and calvus fry. I put them in there for the first few weeks, i turn the filtration off at feeding time. I feed them freshly hatched brine that i hatch myself. They have that 2 times a day. When they get too big for that tank i move them to a standard 3ft grow out tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johns Posted August 10, 2010 Share Posted August 10, 2010 How big were the fry when you put them in a 4 ft tank? If they were only tiny they probably couldnt find the food. Were the water parameters and temperature close to that of the main tank. What were you feeding them. I have a 25 lt tank with 8 compartments for tiny fry like this and calvus fry. I put them in there for the first few weeks, i turn the filtration off at feeding time. I feed them freshly hatched brine that i hatch myself. They have that 2 times a day. When they get too big for that tank i move them to a standard 3ft grow out tank. Yes they were small straight from parents had them in a fry saver for 1st week and noticed they eat from the surface in that, so maybe they couldnt find the food in the tank then was feeding them decapsulated brine shrimp fry. O well next time will try to leave them with parents longer and then try taking them later on. Thx for the help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killiguy Posted August 13, 2010 Author Share Posted August 13, 2010 I spoke to the guy who gave me the auritis and he suggested stripping the fish at 7-8 days as he felt alot of fry were lost in the transfer from female to male. I stripped them last night and was very suprised at the huge number 300+ with a small residual yolk sack.Not sure what III do with them all if they survive. Thanks for all the advice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhonti Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 I've bred them a few times now and have decided that the best thing for my pair was to leave the fry in with them as they grow a lot quicker.The parents swap the eggs and then fry on quite a regular basis.They won't all survive to adulthood which is probably why they produce so many.Expect about 50 plus to survive.I fed newly hatched brine or frozen and then ground up flake or pellets.They are quite quick growers for Tangs. I have also bred some Triglachromis Otostigma which have similar breeding habits . Cheers Glen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dobbin4 Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 Nice fish, Great pic's, well done.Wow 300+ and you got them given to you.Good mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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