Nanochromis parilus breeding

[fredmir1]

Do Nanochromis parilus bred the same way as Nanochromis transvestitus ??

Thanks

George

 

[Woody]

Parilus breeding

Hi George

I found them basically the same except that parilus doesn't require the acidic water that transvestitus requires. For parilus I found that the water should be soft and around neutral. Soft water is very important if you want to spawn them.
They also have a very weak pair bond. The female needs plenty of hiding spaces to get away from the male. Breeding is best accomplished in a tank with no other fish since their intrusions often breaks the pair bond.

Woody

 

[Nebraska_cichlids]

Hi Woody:

I have been keeping both parilus and transvestitus for a few weeks now. They are doing really well, but no signs of spawning yet. When you say "soft" and "acidic", how soft and acidic do you actually mean? Do you have numbers for me? Thanks.
Along the same lines: when you recommend not to keep any other fish with the parilus, do you mean not even dither fish?

JZ

 

[fredmir1]

Can I breed the in a 10 gallon tank??

george

 

[tjudy]

Male parilus can get pretty nasty towards the female, so I would say that a ten could be a bit small. If you do stay with a ten, choke it with driftwood so the female can hide and stay hidden if she has to.

Soft water has two meanings. The general hardness which is measured as conductivity or TDS 'needs' to be below 100 mS (50ppm TDS). I keep my westies in 50-60 mS. Carbonate hardness (KH) should be at or very close to zero. I use RO water I that reconstitute with salts that have no carbonates. I will come back to the 'need' for low conductivity below.

pH with westies is actually pretty easy. The acidity does not need to be much below 7.0. I keep my westie tanks in the 6.5 - 6.8 range, and I do not have any problems. My sex ratios are fine also. If you have a naturally low pH, I would not try to increase it (unless it is well below 6.0). Additives to increase pH usually do so by adding carbonates. As of yet I have not found an easy, effective, permanent and fast way to decrease pH without increasing conductivity. Peat is the stock answer, but if there are carbonates in your water peat will not be very effective. If the water is RO with no carbonates, peat will drop the pH a few tenths.

I read the new DATZ apisto book that I got from Mike, and it states that the conductivity for apistos is not as crucial as the low pH. The authors state that they do not have problems spawning any apisto in a conductivity of 400 mS. For those of us in the midwest USA, 400 mS is still pretty darn soft! The good news is that if conductivity is not crucial we can lower the pH dramatically by starting with RO and adding an acid buffer product. The conductivity will go up, but the pH will drop and stay down. I am experimenting with using Sea Chem acid buffer and RO. So far I have been able to keep the pH in a 33 gallon tank below 6.0, but the conductivity has risen from 50 mS to 200 mS. If the cichilds start spawning I may have finally figured it out.

 

[Nebraska_cichlids]

Ted, how about the tranvestitus? Seems like everybody agrees that the water should be soft and acidic, but how low do you think one would need to go for this species? My females are dancing/vibrating around the males quite a bit, but no spawn yet. What would you think happens, if there is no fry: no laying eggs or no hatching?

JZ

 

[fredmir1]

I bred tranvestitus in a 10 and 15 gallon tanks. My ph was below 6.0 and very soft water as well

George

 

[Nebraska_cichlids]

George: Did you simply mix your tap water with RO for breeding transvestitus, or did you reconsitute minerals by adding carbonate-free salts (as Ted seems to suggest). I do have fairly easy access to distilled water (through work) but don't see myself hauling hundreds of gallons to my residence for all my wessie tanks. I might do it for some of the smaller tanks, though, for breeding.

JZ

 

[fredmir1]

Hi Again

I did mix RO , tap water and I also added Sea chem Acid buffer

My tap water in winter, is PH 7.0 and hardness is 120 ppm and in summer months, is PH 6.6 and hardness 60 ppm

George

 

[tjudy]

Janos... I cannot answer the question as to why your transvestitus are not producing fry, but I suspect that you are getting eggs. My experience with westies is that they will spawn, but the hard part is finding the right mix of water parameters to make the spawn successful. I am having difficulties with P. sub. moanda right now. Lots of eggs.. three clutches since November. No fry... here is the log:

www.tedsfishroom.com/moandalog.html

I suspect that I have either a major water chemistry problem or an infertile male.

 

[fredmir1]

What size are your transvestitus ??

George

 

[Nebraska_cichlids]

Ted: Yes, I also have the suspicion that I have been getting eggs but failed to see them. I havn't seen one of the females for about 4 days now. Might be a good sign?!
I don't think infertility of a single male is my problem as I have two pairs of transvestitus. I think what I'll do is follow your and Geoge's advice and start playing around with RO water and Seachem Acid Buffer in two of my 20G long.

George: You are right, perhaps my transvestitus are simply too young. I'm pretty bad at guessing sizes, but I'd say they are about 1.5 -2''?
My parilus (one male, three females) are quite a bit larger.

Janos

 

[fredmir1]

Hi Janos

I would say that your transvestitus are to young to breed yet??

George