[Tweedy918]

I noticed a month ago I'd had some mating action happen in my tank. It was really odd, since I thought I had only males, but I couldnt fight what I was looking at- 2 baby fry. I eventually figured out my smaller peacock wasnt a fellow, and figured the other fishlets got picked off.
A few weeks ago, maybe 2 to 3, I thought I saw her holding again, but found her the next morning dead as a doornail. So imagine how surprised I was to find a tic-tac sized baby roaming around. I broke the tank down to substrate and netted out a dozen yougsters. They look exactly like the only remaining fish from the first batch only smaller, and clearly have some peacock in 'em. Could the fry/eggs have come from the dead female possibly? Hybridization maybe? Im clueless here... Here was the stock list at the time...

N. venustus
Red Empress
L. textilis
N. brichardi
N. Lelepui
J. Marlieri
2x A. hansbaenschi

 

[cichlidaholic]

If there was a lone female in an all male tank, it is very likely that she was killed while holding. The males would harrass her to death.

It's impossible to say who the father was, though. If the venustus or red empress were tougher than the male peacock, they could easily be hybrids.

Kim

 

[DJRansome]

Tic tac size fish are not newborn, when spit they are the size of a grain of rice. Probably survivors from the first batch.