Rastinger62 Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 Really starting to think my dominant male can't take a bad pic lolHe is a full on show pony that loves the camera. Shame he doesn't breed as well the lazy bugger. There is 18-20 females at size so no excuse lolEnjoy!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ged Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 Stunning colony and an exceptional male. The water is probably too clear and he keeps looking at his reflection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckmeister Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 You need to give him a life lesson...you need to smile at the ladys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firthy13 Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 I found them to be terrible breeders. As you say, the males are so damn lazy they wont even chase the females to initiate breeding. They had to come to him. Beautiful colony. What size tank is that? Would he be about to be about 4 years old? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny Brasco Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 he looks awesome, curious though are there another few males in there that haven't got there speckles because he is speckled up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yabbie Dabbie Do Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 interesting. I had 1m and 4f and I couldn't stop them breeding. They bred like rabbit's. He has to be the best male I have ever seen. The whole colony actually looks awesome that big. Maybe you need to add another male to liven him up a bit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rastinger62 Posted September 11, 2015 Author Share Posted September 11, 2015 Cheers guys. The tank is a 6x2x2 and there is 5-6 males 18-20 females in a large sumped system. There are excess males in there which are still colouring up due slowly so sort of hoping one of them Spurs him soon. Unfortunately I'm unsure of actual age Flithy but I think 4 years would be a fair estimate like you said due to size and speckles. Definitely a possibility Ged regarding the reflection and the water quality. I don't have the sides painted which I might do too eliminate that issue cause he can display behaviour like that up and down the glass. It as an Awsome colony to view and very active but just not in the breeding way. Just typical food pigs like all Haps are lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buccal Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 Can have a run of constant breeding when fairly young for a few spurts.As gets older,, some females produce at different rates and anywhere between once a month down to three times a year.Drive for breeding is reduced when kept in large colonies (leveling out of ranking levels).I had a colony together like that group above and a bit older.They hardly bred at all once mature,,,, trick is,,, break up the big mature school into 1m/4f. And have many of these groups.Be sure to observe the odd dominant and/or jealous females,,, these are repeat offenders of sabotaging otherwise successfull spawning.Not a huge tank but cover for females,,,, the single male in group stays fairly persistent to breed,,,, as when females start to ripen and get detected by male, the females tend to have a lengthy lingering period before egg tube drops ready to spawn. (this makes male more focused on them).So create a male territory and female retreat hang out,The mature male fully adorned with speckles does not come in and out of color at all,, all males get color and it's fixed,, it's just that all te males just trigger and start the coloring process at different times. (Unlike say a red empress taeniolatus dominant male sparking up in front of others then fast losing it).Hopefully later down track, as Ive got about 20 large males all colored up,,, is to have about 4x top notch hybrid rays with 20 large pheno tanz males over top, and forget getting dicscus.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ged Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 You need to give him a life lesson...you need to smile at the ladys How you doin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rastinger62 Posted September 14, 2015 Author Share Posted September 14, 2015 Thanks for the advice Buccal. I was having a think about what you said and decided to split them up today. I've made 3 colonies and see how that goes. I've split up an 8ft with Perspex dividers for 2 colonies and another divider for a dolphin colony. The other colony is in with yellows in a 6ft. They seemed to breed before with yellows in there. SOunds like it will be a nice tank with 20 males in there. There a stunning species that's for sure. I'll keep you all updated how it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buccal Posted September 14, 2015 Share Posted September 14, 2015 Yep, top 10% of my favorites for sure.Make sure 1 male each group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rastinger62 Posted September 14, 2015 Author Share Posted September 14, 2015 Yeah there is 2m 9f in with the yellows and 2 tanks of 2m 6f so see how we go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rastinger62 Posted September 21, 2015 Author Share Posted September 21, 2015 @Buccal...I watched one of the sub doms in there new tank spawn today with this girl. I think your onto a winner here Buccal with keeping them in smaller colonies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ged Posted September 28, 2015 Share Posted September 28, 2015 Congratulations on the new spawn. Well done on the advice Buccal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buccal Posted September 28, 2015 Share Posted September 28, 2015 Hah ha, excellent,, it's always been a sure thing for me doing that..Now you'll, see how frequent each female is breeding.Some females go a long time between drinks,,, some noticeably breed much more often,, and it'll be the same individuals having same behavior.Don't let them hold to long wait 15 days.It'll set back the female from breeding again for to long.Also the fry becomes malnourished easily to long in mums mouth with this species.Also fry taken just able to swim with big fat belly/eggsac is best timing to strip,,, as mother tends to spit them less when your trying to catch her.Tanz and mdoka are well known for spitting fry when trying to be caught,,, the more mature the fry, the higher chance of being spat out.Good going mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rastinger62 Posted September 30, 2015 Author Share Posted September 30, 2015 Cheers mate. I strip at day 7 generally but depends on species. I'm a firm believer fish of not letting females hold long term as they eventually just get skinny after a few mouthfuls in a row. I like to strip and get food back into them and keep them very healthy for there next mouthful. I've been quite lucky regarding fish splitting on me while catching them and only ever had a Rhoadesii split a huge gob full as I generally strip all my larger predators at night due to their tank structure as its less stressful. I generally strip my smaller fish through the day like the Tanzania cause it's easy pickings and only takes a few secs to catch. I'll definitely keep an eye on the females and see how often they hold. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buccal Posted September 30, 2015 Share Posted September 30, 2015 Yeah, pheno tanz and mdoka, dimi comp (albino), Champsochromis caeruleus, B.nototaenia and most lethrinops species have been the ones I've had the spitting tendencies with.The mdoka was shocking, soon as the net touched the water they'd spit.Yeah true with females losing condition holding full term,, I do 13-14 days where fry are (belly wompers) "egg not fully used up".I have a particular fatty food I use in the colony for a few feeds after working females,,, and I do a few intermittent tiny feeds between also.Keeping temp at 27'c as we know keeps the metabolism running at full pace so this helps to.Sometimes in a colony when a female is ready to strip there are others that bred later that are hard to tell apart, so I have a series of tumblers to put eggs or partially formed fry into.And yes Definetely Definetely much easier on the females this way.But it all depends, female getting back into condition faster to breed more fry sometimes is just to much for the market to handle anyway.A little bit of each specie keeps the market fresh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rastinger62 Posted September 30, 2015 Author Share Posted September 30, 2015 Yeah it's near impossible to remember what female has held for what day when a few hold at the same time lolYeah it's so easy to crash the market with most species but the big Haps have basically no market in the first place and hard to sell. In 2 month or a little less I have over 900 Rhoadesii fry from wigglers to 4cm. I'm only growing that many out as there perfect for live bait fishing so at least I've found another use for them. I have a fantastic colony that's for sure breeding wise and I wouldn't have it any other way. His constant breeding means a fully awesome 25-27cm male always displaying his breeding dress. Win win really lolNow only if I could breed these pheno's better I would be able to buy a boat with how many people want fry lol My main male is beautiful of the pheno's and has won a few pic comps over time. Shame the breeding isn't as good but after talking to you Buccal it makes much more sense regarding there spawning periods and how frequent they do spawn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcsongei Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 I've had a couple spawns with these recently. First girl held only one day the other held for four. Didn't see what happened to them. Hope they get the hang of it better next time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rastinger62 Posted October 1, 2015 Author Share Posted October 1, 2015 Either still learning to hold or male isn't boding his job properly. Best of luck mate. It will eventually happen just like mine lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buccal Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 Yep young phenos do a lot of mock breeding at the start, as Rasti said, sooner or later they'll get it right,, but the breed cycles likely won't be as often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rastinger62 Posted October 22, 2015 Author Share Posted October 22, 2015 The fry is cranking out a bit now Buccal. Least 50 on the grow. You have been in this game much longer then me so I appreciate your advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rastinger62 Posted November 28, 2015 Author Share Posted November 28, 2015 Update: breeding like champions now. Milked a 12cm female for 106 wigglers which I was surprised about. Double what I normally get. Easy 250+ fry growing out now. I think there quite comfortable now in there smaller colonies and breeding is much much better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buccal Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 Well done,,, that's a big mouth full there, I had one with 80 or so once at best.Their eggs are so small, that it allows for more to fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rastinger62 Posted November 29, 2015 Author Share Posted November 29, 2015 Yeah I didn't expect that many from a girl but won't complain. Eggs are small like American's so there half the problem why they grow so slow lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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