My N. transvestitus have spawned, advice please

[Curiosity101]

Well my male and female spawned around xmas and I saw a few fry swimming around the surface on the 28th... which was a bad sign obviously.
A family member had unplugged the fishes heater so the temperature had plummeted to 12C. So I'm hoping it was this that caused it.

However the pH here is 7.6 but not overly hard... (no real 'lime scale' or anything to speak of).

At the moment the pair are in a 150l tank with 4 Bolivian Rams, 2 Dwarf flag cichlids and a single female N. transvestitus.

I'm debating moving them to my 35l in the future. But in the mean time what is the best thing I could do about the eggs? Shall I leave them with the parents...?

And does anyone have any experience breeding them in higher pH water..? What sort of hatch rate should I be expecting?

Oh and what colour are fertilised eggs? She spate a few out of the cave which were a pale yellow colour.

 

[Curiosity101]

I've just double checked,
KH - 215ppm (ish) or 12 dKH if you prefer
GH - 145ppm (ish) or 8 German degrees if you'd prefer

I guess I can just wait and see what happens, but it'd be nice to know if anyone has had experience breeding them in similar/less than ideal conditions like this.

 

[tjudy]

Congratulations! N. transvestitus is not one of the most prolific west african cichlids.

My advice would be to leave this spawn alone and the let the experience help to develop the parents into a better pair. After all the fry are gone (and with all the other cichlids in that tank, they will be eaten), I would move the pair into your other tank. The only other tankmates should be some small danios or other surface-oriented dither fish.

The natural environment for N. transvestitus is significantly softer and lower in pH that your water. However, that does not mean that trying to match the natural habitat is necessary. I suspect that you will end up is an uneven sex ratio in the offspring with the pH over 7.0. (The natural habitat has a pH around 5.0.)

 

[Curiosity101]

Thanks for the reply. I'd only had the female for just over a week before they spawned. I just picked a couple of nice fat healthy females from the shop... he picked one... and voila.

If I moved them to the 35l they'd have it to themselves, or at the most would be sharing it with 6 harlequin rasboras. However that'd only be to give the transvestitus some security.

I know they come from super low pH water... and I had heard about the skewed sex ratio thing... I was just worried the fry wouldn't last at all in PH 7.6?

TBH I'm actually expecting some of the fry to survive the other fish. (If they hatch). The male is VERY defencive when the other come near and they steer well clear. It has a footprint of 36 x 18.
He's claimed an 18 x 18 patch and the others stay clear.

I did have a really good divider but have checked everywhere and seriously can't find it. If I could I'd stick that in and give them a chance to raise the babies in peace. Oh well... Might take some pics later and post them up.

 

[Joe Gatchell]

Congrats on the spawn. Love to see some pics. We never have that species around here.

 

[Curiosity101]

Full tank shot, as you can see, not heavily planted. Plants are on order, I only just got proper lighting setup lol. Before I had an 8watt lamp providing light.

She really didn't like the camera at first. Wouldn't go back into the cave... then when she eventually braved it was staring at me from inside while the male guarded.

Once she'd got used to the camera...

The two together

And a group shot of some of the others. I haven't put up all the other pictures I took... there were quite a few that had this group pressed firmly against the glass as soon as I got the camera out. Show offs!

Oh and just a note, she's normally ALOT brighter than that. But obviously due to breeding/caring for a spawn she's dulled down as is usual for the species

 

[Joe Gatchell]

Nice shots. Would love to find a pair of those locally. What kind of sand is that? I like the way it looks.

 

[Curiosity101]

Bog standard aquarium sand as far as I know. I got it free with the tank from a fish shop that was having a closing down sale. The tank itself was only £26