P. Taeniatus "Nigerian reds"

[Adam - Sydney]

Sorry to keep pestering people on this board with similiar questions, but i didn't know where else to post. My taeniatus have now bred twice, i had managed to keep only 2 of the first spawn, although those two were very healthy. After 3 weeks they spawned again. That was about one week ago. I had about 30/40 fry until 3 days ago. As of 2 days ago the female started displaying again and the amount of fry dramatically decreased. As of today the male is chasing the female all around the tank. I cant find any fry.

Is this common?
What has gone wrong?
Any advice on keeping the spawn alive if they are hiding whist the parents fight? (Ive been feeding them microworms which they all eat)

Any help would be greatly apprieciated as I am still new to the whole breeding fish thing.

Adam

 

[mummymonkey]

I remove one of the adults (usually the male) after the fry are free swimming. They tend to fight over the fry otherwise.

 

[Randall]

Breeding Pelvicachromis taeniatus

Hello Adam,

What size is the breeding tank, please?

Thanks!

Randall Kohn

 

[Adam - Sydney]

It is a 2ft Long 1ft wide and high tank. That is heavily planted with lots of wood. All the parametres of the water are fine

Adam

 

[Randall]

Breeding Pelvicachromis taeniatus

Hello Adam,

From your original post, I thought that the breeding tank might be very small. Given its size, there is not enough room to successfully rear fry with their parents. As you write, one or both of the parents become interested in spawning again, and the existing brood is trapped within the confines of the parental breeding territory. Its no wonder that the fry start vanishing.

For success, you might remove the fry at the first sign of parental courtship behavior, or alternatively, raise the whole family in a significantly larger tank.

Good luck!

Randall Kohn

 

[Adam - Sydney]

What size tank (in feet) would recommend as the smallest tank you would breed them in. My girlfriend is breeding P. pulcher in a much smaller tank and kept 90 of the fry alive for 7 weeks before moving 70 or so to a seperate tank. Is there a large difference in behaviour between the species?

Thank you for your replies, any help is great. When removing fry (which unfortunately going to be the better option due to space constraints) what method do you find works the best? I have previously been suggested to leave them with the parents for 4 weeks, but this time the parents looked like breeding in less that 7 days after the fry were free swimming.

Thanks again
Adam

 

[Randall]

Breeding Pelvicachromis taeniatus

Hello Adam,

Normally, a two-foot long tank (20-gallon long) is sufficient for breeding the smaller Pelvicachromis species, assuming one has a harmonious pair. Also, generally Pelvicachromis species will nurture their fry for about four weeks after the fry become free-swimming. If your pair is not behaving by the book, you can syphon the fry to separate quarters, if they are too small to net out, when the parents exhibit breeding behavior. Alternatively, the whole family can likely be successfully housed in a three-foot long (30-gallon) tank.

Does your breeding tank contain any dither fish (i.e., small tetras or Nanochromis spp.)? Including them may distract the P. taeniatus parents and prompt them to concentrate on their fry longer.

Good luck!

Randall Kohn

 

[Adam - Sydney]

It did before but i came home one day and they were eating babies. I wasnt impressed so they were all expelled from the tank. They were harliquin rasboras. Do you have any suggestions for better dithers. My pair looked after the babies very well when i had them.

Again thanks for all the help.

Adam

ps. Id love some nannochromis but they arent legal imports in Australia =[

 

[Simon Morgan]

Hi Adam,

I've bred these fish in a 2ft x 1ft with a similar problem. I felt at the time that the female was too young and for some reason she came back into breeding condition too soon. I just let them learn the hard way and after a few false starts they eventually figure it out.
I've used Black neon tetras and Pentazona barbs as dithers and Corydoras work quite well too.
A good tip is to set up an adjacent tank - I put a pair of kribs in next to my taeniatus pair so they can see each other. The males go a bit mental but it seems to stimulate them to defend their brood rather than eat it.

Good Luck
Simon

 

[Adam - Sydney]

Thats good to hear. I put in some cardinal tetras and the parents stopped fighting and look to be ready to spawn again. My only worry now is that the female has a sore on her head. Right at the front. I salted the tank, hopefully that will fix it. They are lovely fish, i cant wait til i finally get things right.

Thanks for the support and replies. Little things like that have made a big difference to me.

Adam