Oh Nuts, What now?

[2ManyHobbies]

So I have a male P. Sacrimontis that had been really bothering the female Sacrimontis. So, I added some female P. Pulcehers to help distract him per suggestion. Well, I just looked in the tank and there are fry everywhere! And one of the female pulchers is helping to keep the fry nearby. To me that should mean that she is the mom. Should the Sacrimontis and the Pulcher be able to breed with each other???? Arg! What now? Should I give up on the Sacrimontis breeding with each other? What about these hybrid fry?

Travis

 

[aquaticclarity]

They could be sacrimontis fry that the pulcher female took over and is treating as her own. They could be hybrids-I've never kept different species of Pelvicachromis together long term or at least in spawning conditiond to have a cross happen-but I would think it would be possible.

Grow up at least some of the fry. I'd love to see them as young adults. Bring some along this summer to fishfest if you still have some! I have a thing for "natural" crosses and trying to learn a little about the deeper genetics/species relationships within a genus.

Jeff

 

[westafrica]

Hi!

Hybridation is definitely possible. What is the behavior of the sacrimontis male towards the guarding pulcher female?

 

[tjudy]

Hmmm... I have never had any pelvicachromis hybridize in my aquariums, though it has happened for other aquarists. I think that P. sac. and P. pul. are very similar.

Did you purchase the P. sacrimontis as "P. sacrimontis' or as "Giant Krib', 'Scarlet Red Krib', 'Super Red Krib' or something similar? There have been a lot of dark, colorful P. pulcher in the hobby over the past couple years, and I could see someone mistaking them for P. sacrimontis. The P. pulcher from Isokpo looks a lot like P. sacrimontis too. Do you have a picture of your P. sacrimontis?

 

[aquaticclarity]

Ted,

His sacrimontis came from me-the green strain we saw on our first stop in Minn. (actually while we were still in WI) They are wild caught fish. The pulcher also came from me and are F1 stock from my unknown location of wild P. pulcher.

Jeff

 

[tjudy]

See.. this is why I like screen names that are recognizable.

 

[jmtrops]

I have had it hapen. I had small group of sacrimontis that turned out to be all females so I put them in a tank with a bunch of extra fish. I also had some male albino pulchers in their and one of the albino males spawned with one of the sacrimontis females. The fry had no deformaties and were fertle.

Jim

 

[2ManyHobbies]

Hi guys, a quick update.

Parents and fry are doing well. Growing fast on BBS and flake. The mother guards the fry quite a bit while the father chases everyone else away. Even the female Sacrimontis is chased quite a bit. Moving forward, once the fry are older I am thinking about taking out the mother and see what happens. I have two other female pulchers in there (three total + female Sacrimontis)- it will be curious to see if the other females pulchers step up the plate. I am looking forward to see what the fry look like!

 

[jmtrops]

When I crossed them it was accidental. You have the green form of sacrimontis? They are nice and you don't see tank raised ones that often so I would recomend not messing with the pair too try to get a hybrid. Have you registered the sacrimontis in the West African Cichlid Program?

Jim

 

[2ManyHobbies]

When I crossed them it was accidental. You have the green form of sacrimontis? They are nice and you don't see tank raised ones that often so I would recomend not messing with the pair too try to get a hybrid. Have you registered the sacrimontis in the West African Cichlid Program?

Jim

Jim- I most certainly was not trying to create a hybrid- it just happened with what I thought would be some dither fish. I would very much like to get some F1 fry from the Sacrimontis. After these little ones are no longer under parental care I will be pulling the female pulcher and hope that the male Sacrimontis will be accepting of the female.

And yes, I have registered. Thanks and best regards,

Travis

 

[jmtrops]

Hi Travis, didn't realize it was you. I thought the female that spawned was the sacrimontis not the pulcher and you were going to pull her so you could get the hybrid, sorry. Since your male is a willing spawner he should pair up with the other female once you pull the pulcher.

Jim