Breeding D51

[yoricks_]

I have 2 pairs of wild or f1 D51.
How can I best get these to spawn

 

[MacZ]

I thought the thread you started was to discuss this?

 

[yoricks_]

I must have open opened two!

 

[anewbie]

These things are always risky but D51 is one of hte more passive species. You could start with all 4 in your large aquarium providing you have a lot of hiding places. When a female picks a male you could remove the other male or other two. The risk is that the rejected male might be injured severely without adequate hiding locations. My experience was that my male (a sp bluketa) was not super aggressive and as long as the other male stayed away there was not an issue (though in truth for me the other males were f1). Also when the female had a second spawn she did not chase the f1 frys from the previous spawn very far and when a few frys wonder off the f1 did not seem to eat them as the success rate was quite high. However i know at least one juvi had the tail damaged a bit so they are not completely tranquil and a lot here will come down to individual fish behavior. If your tank lack good hiding spaces (and caves are not good hiding spaces); then the issue might be a bit more severe though less likely with a large enough aquarium.

The reason you might start with all 4 together is female decides on which male (if any) she is willing to breed with and if she does not like one male she might be more open to the other male so if you split them into twos and for some reason neither female like hte male she is with they will not breed.

Conversely you could split them into two and put them in two aquariums and assuming they are mature wait 4 or 6 months and see what happens - if the results are not satisfactory you could then swap females. While they need some space i did not find the female with frys hyper aggressive - in my case she had a brooding cave and the male would chase her a bit but once she entered his cave he would never attempt to follow her.

Please understand a brooding cave is a bit different than a place to hide but rather a location of territory. I hope this makes sense.