14 replies to this topic

[Patrolling Paddy]

I thought I would ask the question before it becomes an issue.
I just read that Labidochromis caeruleus and Metriaclima estherae can cross breed so I was wanting to find out if any of my other tanks mates may do the same? Mine is setup as a display tank and I have aimed for an all male setup but the stocking started with nearly all at around the 30-40mm mark so sexing was a bit of hit and miss. I have no intention to be breeding, however so long as they will not cross breed then I'm not going to panic about it if they do.
Here are my tank occupants

Labidochromis caeruleus x 4
Metriaclima callainos x 4
Metriaclima estherae x 4
Pseudotropheus sp. Acei Msuli x 4
Cyrtocara moorii x 9
Nimbochromis venustus x 4
Placidochromis phenochilus Mdoka x 9
Placidochromis sp. Blue Otter x 8
Protomelas sp. Taiwan Reef x 9
Protomelas taeniolatus x 8
Auloncara jacobfreibergi Firebird x 5


Cheers

PP

[gibbs]

Protomelas sp. Taiwan Reef x 9
Protomelas taeniolatus x 8
Definately

Placidochromis phenochilus Mdoka x 9
Placidochromis sp. Blue Otter x 8
Definately

Nimbochromis venustus x 4
Will breed with anything

Auloncara jacobfreibergi Firebird x 5
Will breed with
Placidochromis phenochilus Mdoka x 9
Placidochromis sp. Blue Otter x 8
Protomelas sp. Taiwan Reef x 9
Protomelas taeniolatus x 8

Labidochromis caeruleus x 4
Metriaclima callainos x 4
Metriaclima estherae x 4
Without a doubt a 3 way orgy.

Don't consider breeding anything while your stock levels are as they are. Some people think keeping colony's in large numbers stops cross breeding, it may reduce the chance slightly but it does not eliminate anything.

[Patrolling Paddy]

Well it looks like I have some sexing to do before they start.

My numbers are high due to the size of my tank, as said I have no intention to breed them. What is the best way to deal with any cross breeding that may occur if I do have females amongst them? At what size do they start trying to breed? And at what size can they be sexed?

If it's easier is there somewhere that has this info so I can read up on it?

Cheers

PP

[ruffaz]

this is one of the reasons i like to keep colonies of the one type to keep fish true to the lines but i some times wonder if lfs would just sell what ever they had even if they knew they were cross breed

[gilz]

just keep them all in there and dont separate or attempt to sell the fry. they'll most likely all get picked off if you have that many large fish in there.

[Bowdy]

Once one of your fish have a mouth fill fish it out and sell the female easy.

[Blakey]

just kill any fry

[gibbs]

Or just let the girls spit in the tank, the fry can be snacks and wouldn't last long.

[sandgroper]

When mixing fish in a community tank keep 1 male to several females,choose fish from different family groups, different colours ,sizes, shapes and markings. For example i keep Labidochromis caeruleus, Pseudotropheus demasoni, Cyrtocara moorii, Melanochromis auratus, Thorichthys meeki, Pundamilia nyererei, Julidochromis marlieri, Neolamprologus leleupi, Tropheus duboisi, Altolamprologus calvus, Synodontis polli, Botia macracanthus, Pangio kuhlii, and Epalzeorhynchos bicolor all in a 700 liter tank. Most of these fish breed all the time except the last 3, kuhlii loach, clown loach and red tailed shark. So it can be done you just have to do the research cheers steve.

[Patrolling Paddy]

I realise about the male to female ratio thing for breeding, however as stated in my first post this is a display tank, I have no intention of breeding. I have tried to get all males but at the sizes I have stocked at it was not garunteed on sex.
I don't want females and will likely sell them on if identified.
The intention of the post was to see that if I did happen to have females, would they cross breed and how to deal with this.

When I am next on break I will try to sex my fish and replace any females with males. I had a quick attempt yesterday but trying to catch them is very tricky when they have 1500L to escape into. When venting I read that the oo is male and the oO is female, is this correct? I had trouble clearly identifying the difference, does this become more defined as they get older or is it pretty much the same?

Cheers

[gibbs]

Correct Paddy. oo is a male, o0 is a female. Makes sense considering a female has to push out an egg making it nessicary to have a larger papilla then anus.

As Malawi's get bigger it is easier to vent. A hap of more then 6 or 7 cm should be easy to vent

[golden_dase]

oo is a male, o0 is a female.

What if it's o0o ???

[Patrolling Paddy]

Bisexual???

[knock]

male olo
female ()

[Poncho]

hermaphrodite