[54zamboni]

i have a group of 22 young duboisi's which have just started breeding -- 3 females have held, all at the same time, 2 of them for at least a couple weeks, so i'm assuming they released the fry, but I can find no survivors. there are also 11 utinta cyps in with them, and its a 60"x24"x24" tank they are in (for now), with 2 large pieces of holey rock and a few plastic plants. the cyps hold to term routinely, but i've never had fry survive. the pieces of holey rock have larger holes only. what do people use to give the fry places to hide -- a pile of smaller rocks with a few crevices? would i be correct to assume that once the fry have survived a few days or a week that the adults would be more accepting of them and less likely to eat them? anything else i can do to help fry survive, other than strip the females?

 

[geoff_tropheus]

As many small nooks and crannies you can create with your rock work is going to help the Fry survive the first week or so after release.

After that I have seen them pretty much survive to acceptance.

You can strip females but that has issues. It's really how bad do you want to save fry and what your willing to do, to make it happen.

 

[wild wally one]

I would try to keep the trops by themselves. Each species should have their own tank. This will give you more success for the fry to survive. If your trops are young, it takes a couple of times in breeding to get the knack. I am keeping Three diffrent species of trops myself and in their own 130 gallon tanks. With lots of rockwork you should'nt have any problems in keeping fry. It's a beautiful site when you see the fry amongst the adults!!!!

130g- Tropheus moorii Illanghi (26)

130g- Tropheus moorii Orange Flame (25)

130g- Tropheus Halembe Duboisi (29)

 

[frschul]

A couple of mounds of river rock will work wonders....
The fry will dart in and out of all the little crevices that would be created
by using river rocks... Mounds could be 3 - 4 inches high...
Land scape-ping places sell river rock not Home Depot or Lowes.
Just pay for the minimum qty(maybe the min. 1/4 yard)... you will not need all of it,
give some to your buddies ....It's cheap enough....(about 25.00).
You could get the River Rock at 3 inch size.
I filled up (3) 18 gallon Rubber Maid tubs ... and left the majority of the rocks
as I could not take a 1/4 yard in my SUV.... LOL

You might also consider stripping the female anytime after 15 - 20 days
from the holding female and the tumble the eggs.

Like what was mention above by geoff_tropheus:
I believe letting the female hold to term and then spitting the eggs
is just too hard on the female... because they eat little if any food
during this period of time that they are holding the young. They have to
dodge their tank mates, loss of strength, etc.

 

[24Tropheus]

Final option. I use it with my Tropheus. Use brooding tanks. Females are allowed to hold to term (netted out of main tank at night after holding for about a week.) and left in rocked 3 foot tanks for the rest of the duration about 32 minus 7 days) and fed on flake food happily taken over the eggs and young. Left to look after fry until fat enough to return to the main tank 1-3 weeks after first release, while you happily watch em raise the fry and fatten the female up again on NLS pellets etc babies get crushed flake plus tank algae. Pop the female back into the main tank at night and/or after a good clean up and rock move, they usualy settle strait back into thier original position in the hirachy and breed again soon.

Sure you get less fry this way but the females have time to regain weight and seem to enjoy bringing up the young, females seem for me to last longest this way. And to my mind it is the closest we can get to natural upbringing for the young in captivity. (Wild females seeking out places to be alone to raise young)

All the best James

 

[Pali]

Only me thinking this is a 2 year old thread - he prolly found out how to keep his fry by now?

 

[24Tropheus]

Only me thinking this is a 2 year old thread - he prolly found out how to keep his fry by now?

Sure hope so. Prolly does not even keep Tropheus anymore. :wink:

All the best James

 

[frschul]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[24Tropheus]

On a serious note. Why leave the females to be harassed by the males for a week before removing em? Sure this is fine for experienced breeding females.
Answer unfirtilised or rubbish eggs will be lost before a week. About five days on average.
First breeding is a bit more of a prob you may in tanks of less than 6 foot and get over harrassed young females and need to give her some protection from the males regardless of weather the young have any chance of survival (She and her breeding success over a longer period is I think more important). First brooders in my tanks tend to get removed ASP from the rough and tumble of the main tank. Any fry they release in a brooding tank just a bonus as they breed too young for their own good on far too many occations.
Stripping is of caurse an option for any female that looks too week to hold to term. But then it does not always work unless you have a recovery tank.

Big groups in big tanks you have no prob you can kind of leave em to do thier thing given enough rock cover but in tanks of under 7 foot by 2 foot by 2 foot you kind of have to kind of have manage these things.

All the best James

 

[54zamboni]

well, in answer to the question, i did get rid of the duboisi's quite some time ago. when i had them, they continued to breed, and the fry would be hunted down relentlessly, even after adding mounds of additional hiding spots. my colony of F1 ilangis --- approx. 45 in a 180g have no fry survival either, without stripping, which i've found too much work to catch the holding females, so i just enjoy the tank and let them do their thing . . . in the case of the ilangi's, i've never actually even seen fry -- by the time i notice the female(s) is no longer holding, the fry have disappeared. i do have petricolas and eret. gobies in with them, so they may be responsible . . .