P. taeniatus breeding?

[MikeR]

All:

I think my P. taeniatus "Moliwe" have spawned, but only because I haven't seen the previously dancing female for about 4 days, and the male is chasing everyone else away from the left side of the tank. I've been feeding them frozen bloodworms, live blackworms, and live daphnia. None of them will do more than mouth dry foods.

The other pair is cruising around the tank, with the female displaying sometimes, when they are not avoiding the other male. The tank is heavily planted and 5' across, so they don't get harassed by the male much.

Mike

 

[Mud Pie Mama]

Very exciting! Sounds like Mama is busy tending to eggs/wigglers. I also have the P. taeniatus "Moliwe". Gorgeous fish! They are great parents too. I love watching how well they cooperate.

They love the live worms, but don't spoil them entirely. It's like giving your kids only dessert to eat! Your fish need some veggies too. Mine will take HBH Super Soft Spirulina pellets. As well as New Life Spectrum Cichlid Formula. (Of course not right after feeding them worms.) I usually feed AM and PM. However, if they're being picky. Skip one or two feeding then offer the pellets or flakes. And don't cave-in when they pout. When you go away and aren't looking, they'll start picking for stuff along the substrate. These guys are some of the smartest fish I've ever owned. They are trying to psyche you out! Don't let them run the show; you've got to show them who's boss!

And a new one I've tried: TetraMin Pro Tropical Crisps:
http://www.tetra-fish.com/sites/tetrafish/catalog/productdetail.aspx?id=1276&cid=27
They like this too. This is a type of flake and as it soften and falls to the bottom the fry will be able to pick at it. When the fry are first out of the nest they will be too small to eat the bloodworms and black worms, of course. And mostly only pick at the bottom so may not get to the daphnia higher in the water.

 

[tjudy]

It takes about eight days for P. taeniatus fry to become free swimming. At that point the parents will guide them around the tank, and they will probably be a bit more aggressive towards other fish as well. THe tank size sounds large enough to permit the agression without doing much harm.

I have to agree that the food regimen you are using might lead to problems down the road. There are always exceptions, but i have heard of more problems with live black worms than success stories. In nature these fish feed primarily on plant detritus. I feed mostly vegetable and spiruline based flake foods that I crush up to les than 1 mm in size. IME kribs prefer the smaller particles. Large flakes they will mouth a lot until they fall apart into smaller pieces.

 

[MikeR]

I've tried the Tetramin Crisps, which is the one, besides spirulina flakes, that they taste and reject. I always feed dry food first, and the frozen or live after or on another day.

I'm hopeful that the baby fish will be OK on what is in the tank until they get large enough to try other food than what is on the bottom. The tank is 2'x5' of bottom area, and has been up for about two years with so many plants of a wide variety that I cannot see into the tank unless I harvest some. The bottom has a rather thick mulm that the P. taeniatus fed on for some time while they adjusted to the tank.

I've ordered some frozen cyclops that I hope will help.

The daphnia was ordered as a culture of Moina (which is in the culture tank), which I started in the hopes of giving the baby P. taeniatus something to eat as they grew, but I appear to have a contaminant of perhaps D. pulex. I don't know if the daphnia will keep the Moina from multiplying.

The blackworms are fed maybe twice a week, while the fish do pick on those that live in the substrate as well.

The only other food the P. taeniatus will eat is the bloodworms. I'm thinking of culturing scuds as well. The P. pulcher I had years ago seemed to like the scuds.

I will give the spirulina pellets and Spectrum Cichlid formula a try if I can find some. The LFS in this area are not well-stocked.

Thanks!

Mike

 

[MikeR]

Welp, there are no fry. I'm not surprised, though disappointed, of course.

I've never kept two pair of Pelvicachromis in the same tank, usually just a male with two females. The two females I have now are easy to tell apart because one has two spots on the caudal fin, and she is the one I thought was spawning (had a visible ovipositor just before disappearing). But now she seems to have switched males. Is this common?

The second female was dominated by the spotted female before, but now the roles are reversed.

Mike