chas84
17-06-2009, 14:31
A few weeks ago i decided to move away from the typical community tank setup, and focus on keeping larger fish that will hopefully produce offspring - it's the ultimate of fishkeeping, especially watching cichlids look after their young.
So off I went to the LFS here in Centurion (Exclusive Pets) and got 2 x Firemouths, 2 x Convicts and 2 x African jewels. I chose the Firemouths and African Jewels for their colour - they appear really awesome under my tanks light. I know from experience that convicts breed like mad - so my idea was to keep them in the tank, letting their young be "live food" for the other cichlids.
When shopping again at another LFS here in Centurion (Pets and Plants), I got a 25cm Hifin Pengasius for R110, as well as an African Knife fish and 10cm Synodontis cat... I figured they'll make nice mates for the cichlids...
Last Monday morning I awoke to the lovely sight of babies - I was so excited... My African Jewels had spawned and I didn't even know it - there weren't the usual signs of aggression or demarcated territory. The male AJ was missing - I figured the female probably chased him away from her and the new babies...
A couple of days later I noticed the two convicts were also missing. :eek: It was strange. While feeding the fish (earthworms was on the menu that day) I noticed the Hifin Pengasius wasn't interested, but his belly was big - very big! My only conslusion is that he had the AJ male and the two convicts for lunch.
I was very upset that the AJ was gone, as I was already busy setting up a 3ft tank for the AJ's to breed. After reading up on the AJ's, I read they're on the blacklist and figured it's probably meant to be that "daddy was eaten" - I'd hate to sit with hundreds of fish that I can't do anything with...
So I decided to leave the babies in the main tank and mom's still looking after them very well. There's about 30 or so left, which will probably get even less as the weeks go by, but it's fine. I've gotten two pairs of Kribensis and hope to get those breeding (Looking to get Rams and Keyholes soon).
So off I went to the LFS here in Centurion (Exclusive Pets) and got 2 x Firemouths, 2 x Convicts and 2 x African jewels. I chose the Firemouths and African Jewels for their colour - they appear really awesome under my tanks light. I know from experience that convicts breed like mad - so my idea was to keep them in the tank, letting their young be "live food" for the other cichlids.
When shopping again at another LFS here in Centurion (Pets and Plants), I got a 25cm Hifin Pengasius for R110, as well as an African Knife fish and 10cm Synodontis cat... I figured they'll make nice mates for the cichlids...
Last Monday morning I awoke to the lovely sight of babies - I was so excited... My African Jewels had spawned and I didn't even know it - there weren't the usual signs of aggression or demarcated territory. The male AJ was missing - I figured the female probably chased him away from her and the new babies...
A couple of days later I noticed the two convicts were also missing. :eek: It was strange. While feeding the fish (earthworms was on the menu that day) I noticed the Hifin Pengasius wasn't interested, but his belly was big - very big! My only conslusion is that he had the AJ male and the two convicts for lunch.
I was very upset that the AJ was gone, as I was already busy setting up a 3ft tank for the AJ's to breed. After reading up on the AJ's, I read they're on the blacklist and figured it's probably meant to be that "daddy was eaten" - I'd hate to sit with hundreds of fish that I can't do anything with...
So I decided to leave the babies in the main tank and mom's still looking after them very well. There's about 30 or so left, which will probably get even less as the weeks go by, but it's fine. I've gotten two pairs of Kribensis and hope to get those breeding (Looking to get Rams and Keyholes soon).