Nanochromis parilus update

[cosmiccow]

Well its been a few months since I bought my trio and I thought I would give an update.
I seperated one of the females because I thought the other two would pair together. She unfortunately did not last with my Mbuna's. I was housing her there temporarily and I guess I did not get her out soon enough.
The other two did not spawn and the male showed agression towards the female. This week the male went on a killing spree and killed a few tetras and barbs and finally yesterday I found the female dead.
I have caught the male and he is in a breeder net untill I figure out what to do with him.
Great fish but very frustrating to keep! :frown:

 

[bigbird]

hi, sorry to hear of the loss of your fish. I have not kept them before so hopefully others in the forum can help. I hope you find somebody to take your male or a solution that you can keep him happy. cheers jk

 

[Arcadianred]

Hi,

I'm suprised by the aggression you mention. I popped a male and female together about 2 months ago and aside from a little initial sparring they have got along fine (did have some pencils as dithers in with them at the time). They spawned about 4 weeks ago and are currently both together raising the 50 to 60 young they now have. I did have to remove the pencils after the spawnig as they would have been killed.

The main thing I have noticed in compariosn to Apistos is they have huge appetites.

Mark

 

[ste12000]

Mine were extremely shy and never ventured far from the back of the tank!! The pair bonding is very weak with these fish and if the female is not ready to spawn the male wants her out of sight and out of his breeding territory..Too small a tank usually causes the most grief.
Mark what are your sex ratios like?? My batch of fry was only small(25) but i got 90% females..Unfortunatly the male died when i moved him into a bare growout tank to free up some room so i could not repeat the spawning and try for larger numbers! Ive since picked out the best pair from my fry and they will be ready to spawn in a few months time...

 

[Arcadianred]

Hi Ste,

They're not sexable yet as they are only 4-5 wks old. They are still in with both parents who are now starting to get a little more timid and are showing signs f spawning again so I may well have to move/split them up soon. The pair bond looks pretty strong at the moment though. Keeping my fingers crossed for a good sex ratio - any ideas on the causes of the skewed ratios, is it temp like apistos which is the cause?

Mark

 

[ste12000]

Hi Ste,

They're not sexable yet as they are only 4-5 wks old. They are still in with both parents who are now starting to get a little more timid and are showing signs f spawning again so I may well have to move/split them up soon. The pair bond looks pretty strong at the moment though. Keeping my fingers crossed for a good sex ratio - any ideas on the causes of the skewed ratios, is it temp like apistos which is the cause?

Mark

Im under the impression that in West African species Ph plays a bigger role than temp in creating sex ratios...to tell the truth ive only ever had one really skewed brood in my years of breeding west africans.. this was with a pair of P.Taeniatus 'nigerian red'. This was 95% male, PH was standard tapwater of 6.7 and very soft, the tank was low down on the rack so slightly lower temp of 74-75f.
Other broods from , P.Pulcher, P.pulcher 'Albino', P.Taeniatus 'Bipindi', 'Moliwe', 'Lobe' have been split 50-50 and in the same water conditions???

I dont think there is any exact science behind it, If there is i have'nt learnt it yet.