[jaq855]

I have a 75 gal Malawi tank w/ yellow and white labs and Ngara Flametail peacocks. The labs breed readily and I want the peacocks to breed also. I have 3 males and 4 female flametails. It seemed like the largest of my yellow labs was disrupting the peacocks' displays towards the females so I moved 1 male and 3 females into a 30 gal tank about a month ago, but they haven't spawned.

These are the water conditions:
temp: 79-80 degrees
ph: 7.1-7.2
kh: about 100 ppm

I change 10-15% of the water every other day.
I feed them flakes and pellets mostly and also some frozen krill or frozen brine shrimp.

If you have any ideas to help the breeding process, please respond.

 

[Joea]

It's difficult to say why they're not spawning. Sometimes you just have to patient. The smaller confines may be a contributor. How large are the Peacocks?

It's also likely that you're getting hybrid fry keeping two variants of L. caeruleus together. I wouldn't distribute any of the fry unless you get rid of one.

 

[why_spyder]

It's difficult to say why they're not spawning. Sometimes you just have to patient.

I agree.

Lately, a new technique (to me) has helped me to get several of my mbuna to spawn lately. I've been feeding once a day for 2-3 day incriments, and then not feeding for a day or two, alternating this pattern. During this time, I've been doing 50-75% waterchanges every 2-3 days.

It sounds a bit excessive - but I've been very pleased with the results.

 

[cichlidaholic]

I've also found that anytime I move fish, it tends to disrupt their spawning patterns for awhile, so this could be a factor as well.

Were you aware that the white labs and yellow labs would crossbreed?

 

[why_spyder]

I've also found that anytime I move fish, it tends to disrupt their spawning patterns for awhile, so this could be a factor as well.

I agree. If they were in the mood before, they may not be now. However, I've also had things go the other way, where moving them inspired them to spawn - this doesn't seem to be the case with you at this time.

 

[copasetic]

maybe your every other day water change is just too often for them.. I have a wild caught colony of flametails with same ratio.. I do my water changes once a week and it seems like they breed within hours of the w/c they love it.... Try cutting back to larger 25% changes less often.

 

[TheeMon]

i find a 50% water change and a decor change works wonders for "setting the mood"

 

[lotsofish]

My peacock male dug out an area below an arched plastic rock to provide a spawning site. He moved a large amount of sand down to the bare tank bottom. After that, spawning was pretty regular.

 

[jaq855]

I didn't realize it was a problem when variants of the same species crossbreed. I thought it would just produce possible coloration differences. Are their any other negative effects beside altering the colors?

Also, the peacocks are two years old, the male is 5" and the females are about 4".

 

[DJRansome]

Yes, the lab fry from a caeruleus/perlmutt cross would be hybrids.

 

[copasetic]

Are their any other negative effects beside altering the colors?

you could start a great debate on that one

Also, the peacocks are two years old, the male is 5" and the females are about 4".

Peacocks are seasonal breeders but tis the season!!!

 

[jaq855]

there aren't any pelmutts, they are white caeruleus and yellow caeruleus

 

[Joea]

there aren't any pelmutts, they are white caeruleus and yellow caeruleus

Two species from different locations or "variants" will produce intra-species hybrids, but hybrids just the same. In this case, they would be even more vilified simply because the fry can often be sold as one or the other, leading some buyers down the road thinking they're buying pure Nkhata or pure Lions Cove, when in fact, they're purchasing neither.

 

[DJRansome]

Sorry I thought Nkhata's were blue. And the only Labidochromis that was close to white was the Perlmutt. Ah the dangers of common names.

 

[Gibbs]

Hey JAQ.
The first thing i would do is remove 2 of the flametail males. If not 2 atleast 1. Sometimes ratios in such a small compound can conflict against breeding due to males spending more time on keeping the pecking order intact. Besides that, the 3 males would harasing the females pretty bad, right?
Keep up water changes and dont over feed. Dont hesitate to miss a few days of feeding here and there to spark spawning.
Flametails are generally mild mannered, but when it comes to breeding and they are serious about it, the labs that they are housed with should easily get pushed out of the dominant males territory.
Patience mate. Treat them well and they will reward you with cute little peacocks :thumb:

 

[SpeedFreak]

I didn't realize it was a problem when variants of the same species crossbreed. I thought it would just produce possible coloration differences. Are their any other negative effects beside altering the colors?

Also, the peacocks are two years old, the male is 5" and the females are about 4".

there not like dogs. God knows i love my black lab mix but when it comes to cichlids anything thats a hybrid is no good. it screws up the colors for everyone else. there seems to be enough problems with overbreeding and everything from what i read. mixing hybrids in there just destroys everything. if your keep the fry then thats fine but make sure you keep them to their deaths!!!...lol sounds like you want to breed so get rid of one. i originally wanted white a nd yellow labs until i was warned. if you dont want fry then just get some of the egg stealing cats to take care of them. sorry its 310am and i dont want to look up their real names... syndotis i believe. probably spelled wrong. goodluck either way