[artie1209]

Just for a little background. I have been keeping African Cichlids for 20 years and Tanganyikan's for about 3-4 now. I have breed a dozen or so Malawi species and 2 species of neolamprologus (brichardi and buesheri). I have a small colony of colony of duboisi with a few T Moorii. I know that a 65 is small for a colony of Duboisi...I kind of fell into them and am now in love. lots of over filtration and water changes. I plan to up grade soon to a 125 in the next 2 months. Looks like I have 2 male and 4 female in the tank now and they recently started to breed. I caught the last pregnant female and stripped her of here full grown babies and have them in a floating breeding trap for about 5 weeks now. In the meantime either her or another female released another batch in the tank and i have 4 in the rocks. They are doing fine and are getting bolder by the day.
Here is my dilemma. I have 2 possibly 3 pregnant mothers in the tank now. Two could be stripped now. Am I better off letting them release them in the tank or stripping. I am hoping to be able to eventually integrate these offspring into the colony. I realize I will loose some but would the colony be stronger if I let nature take its course. thanks for your advise in advance.

 

[eeztropheus]

I let my bembas spit in the tank, and I don't think I have lost one yet. As long as there is plenty of cover for the fry they should be fine. I think its more rewarding to see them go from tiny fry to joining the colony all on their own. Not to mention its easier for me.

 

[artie1209]

Thanks for the extra vote of confidence. I got brave this afternoon and put the pregnant mothers back (Unstripped) and released the fry from their breeder trap. The adults swam up to them as if they were going to eat them ... looked for a moment and went about their business. Did a nice water change today and everybody is happy. The young seem to be holding a loose school and the adults pay them little to no mind. Even when feeding. That's a big relief. I am more accustomed to Mbuna, who ofter eat their young. Just another reason to love them tropheus!!!

 

[eeztropheus]

Right on! :thumb: I have fry from 8 months to a couple weeks old and they all seem to stick to their own age group. Even the different variants don't mind the others young. I've heard of some trophs being baby killers, but I've seen none of that with mine.

 

[artie1209]

Just in case someone is following this...
It has been almost a week now and all is well. Although difficult to count it appears that I have had no losses since releasing the fry into the main tank. The pregnant females are still holding. I will update when they are released.

 

[24Tropheus]

Close to wild dubs are usualy excellent pairents and young can be left in big tanks with them. Smaller the group and smaller the tank the harder the job of looking after the young for three weeks post release for the mum. Hard to say how dubs stripped for generations will be as pairents. Big dom males will sometimes chew up poorly protected fry and spit em out even in WC and first generation from wild fish.

Good luck with your naturalistic attempts at breeding em. No way will you equel the amount of young got by folk who strip but I for sure pay a premium for mother raised Tropheus. I think they are a premium product and should demand a premium price. :thumb:

All the best James

 

[eeztropheus]

but I for sure pay a premium for mother raised Tropheus. I think they are a premium product and should demand a premium price. :thumb:

This is something I've never heard before... Are you talking WC or first generation from WC or tank raised fish?

My bembas are all "mother raised" they are also tank raised too...

 

[24Tropheus]

but I for sure pay a premium for mother raised Tropheus. I think they are a premium product and should demand a premium price. :thumb:

This is something I've never heard before... Are you talking WC or first generation from WC or tank raised fish?

My bembas are all "mother raised" they are also tank raised too...

Well all WC will be mother raised as will pond bred. But yep I guess this is very much a minority view. No one has ever asked how my home tank bred Tropheus were raised.
I have only once seen it in an advert for young TB Tropheus that were sold as first generation from wild and mother raised and invited to see the WC adults.
Funny enough I did buy those.
They make up part of my Ndole group.

All the best James

 

[artie1209]

Well it seems that one of the females released her fry about three days ago. I saw one in the tank and one in the overflow to the wet dry. The next day one was dead on a filter tube. Today saw three more venture out of a rock pile. That should be 4 from this clutch. All the fry from the first batch seem to be doing well and growing fast. After a month they are 2x the size of the newly released fry. I will keep updating as things change.

 

[artie1209]

Just to follow things up! So far so good. It seems that there have been multiple releases of fry and with each more babies per. Hope this thread helps someone get brave and let nature do it's thing. good luck.

 

[flyn dutchmn]

Just to follow things up! So far so good. It seems that there have been multiple releases of fry and with each more babies per. Hope this thread helps someone get brave and let nature do it's thing. good luck.

How much rock work do you have in your tank?

I'm nowhere close to breeding, but intend to let the females spit in the tank. I'd like to build 2 or 3 high rock mounds when they get closer to breeding age. I'm thinking each mound would be about 3 or 4 levels of med/large tufu rock.

I'm not sure which tank they're ending up in, at least a 100 gallon.

I've read some people prefer small rock mounds so the males protect a smaller territory.

 

[artie1209]

For now I have them in a 65gal with 2 piles of rock (1 lg and 2 med-sm each pile) with a driftwood bridge. I will try to post pix later.

 

[flyn dutchmn]

Went to the LFS last weekend to pick up lights, they we're sold out. I saw 11 duboisi "halembe" juvies and fell in love with them.

I shouldn't of, but I bought them all. They're currently with my yellow muragos and doing great.

Most likely, they'll all end up in the 140 gallon in the next couple months. Seeing as they are all 2 inch or smaller I'd like to bring both groups up to 22ish before they get close to breeding size.
At that point, I'd like to cull 7 males out of each colony.

In your opinion, would the 2 colonies function well with 15 individuals each in a 140 gallon?