[jrf]

At what size do non-jumbo Cyps start spawning? Mine are Cyprichromis leptosoma 'Kerenge Island' if it matters. I’ve only had them for about 6 weeks and they’re growing incredibly fast. They were all about 1.25â€Â

 

[triscuit]

The females will spawn when they're 2 inches and filled out some (no so skinny). The males will produce viable sperm when they're a little bigger than that. I've had to separate males and females that I was growing out because the females were too busy spawning instead of growing. The earlier they spawn, the more they're growth will be slowed.

 

[jrf]

Have you noticed any difference in the growth rates between males and females in general? At this point, there’s quite a size difference between my largest and my smallest Cyp.

I was just watching the male some more. In addition to chasing off the competition, when a female (presumably) enters his territory, he pulls up along side her and does a little shimmy. I’m assuming this is the Cyp version of a pickup line?

 

[triscuit]

Not specifically. When I started pulling colored males out of my growout tank, the females started growing faster than they were, but that's cuz they weren't breeding. However, every few weeks, I'd have to go through and pull more males out as they started coloring.

And yes- the shimmy and shake is all about sex and territories. Males will shimmy other males to show aggression...

 

[Riverwater]

I am beginning to see that they are difficult to keep in a school. Last week I lost a female adult blue flash cpy, because a male was chasing her all the time, and she stopped eating, and eventually died. I guess, that means I need to separate aggressive males from females.

 

[Wei Fun]

I think that all depends on the size of tank you have them in and the size of your school, Riverwater. I find they do best in a school, but in a too-small tank you might have issues.

Although they are open-water swimmers, it doesn't hurt to provide some kind of cover/hiding places as well. When you have enough other fish to distract the males' attentions, it's pretty much a case of out of sight, out of mind. For me, it was only the holding females that ever really sought cover.

Back to the original question, my recollection is that mine started spawning about 2" as well. Right about the time the males started to show color. At least at first, spawns were quite small.

 

[jrf]

Out of curiosity, what size tank, how big are they, and how many do you have in your group? So far, my group of 16 in a 48â€Â

 

[Wei Fun]

I had mine in a 36" tank, which, once they started maturing, was just a bit too small. The aggression level wasn't high enough that they were hurting each other, but they didn't seem particularly happy about their accommodations. I was convinced that if I had a 75 to keep them in, they'd have been fine. Alas, at the time I did not, so I ended up selling my group after the first few spawns. My recollection is that I had 8, 3M/5F.