[jamesbong]

I have had 4 Julidochromis transcriptus in a 20 long for almost a year. After a few months of growing them out one was notably smaller and not as aggressive. I believe this smaller one is the male and the other larger three are female. One female is dominant and larger than the others. I still have not had any breeding activity.

Experienced Juli keepers, should I remove the sub-dominant females and leave just the pair? I am seriously considering trying kribensis if I can't get some breeding out of this group.

 

[wryan]

I read an article about polyamory (multiple partners) with Julidochromis awhile back ... the gist of it was a single female with two males and one of the males being larger than the other ... so that the smaller one could hide from the larger male (in a narrowing cavity - multiple pieces of slate stacked on an angle to form a "V") ... this is the opposite of the situation you have (no. of females > males)

You might to remove the ones you deem to the sub-dominant females to another tank and monitor what happens (in both tanks !) and see if can see any evidence of courting behavior.

Keep a close eye on it to make sure things don't go south and be prepared to reintroduce the fish you have temporarily removed.

 

[jamesbong]

Yes, I remember that article. This is the link if anyone wants to read, it's actually pretty interesting. http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/ ... 4207.short

I'm really not sure what my ratio actually is, my best guess now is actually 2M1F and one outcast I'm not sure the gender, I'll just have to wait and see.

That article inspired me so I built a little wedge shaped Juli house with 6x6 slate tiles from Lowe's and some vinyl tubing. After a couple days the littlest Juli is spending 80% of its time in there! It would be great if they spawned in there so I could see the eggs easily.

 

[wryan]

james,

I like it ... :thumb:

More importantly: it looks he likes it ...

Now that I've cleared all the fry out of the tank my pair of transcriptus and done a little clean up and rearranging, the male is busily working away to build a bower under a piece of lava rock.

Hopefully more fry soon.