Cichlidcraze
01-04-2014, 08:27 PM
Hi all. I just wanted to share a fishy story.
So a couple of years ago i used to breed Malawi Blue Dolphins and Kadangos.
One time i had a spawning with a pair of Blue Dolphins and a pair of Kadangos a couple of days apart so I decided to put both females into the same 7.5 gallon tank to brood in peace. Now Blue Dolphins are notorious for spitting the eggs during transfer so the method i used was to wait until night time, leave the tank hood open, switch off all the lights and wait until they are fast asleep. I would then turn the room light on and scoop the female into a jug with my hand and then transfer her to the brooding tank. She usually never even came fully awake during this procedure.
A couple of days later i noticed that the Blue Dolphin was not holding anymore, so i moved her back to her group. My Kadango still had a mouth full of eggs.
21 days later the Kadango spat out 32 fry. 27 of them were about 8mm long and had the adult female colours (dark grey body with red fins). The other 5 were only half the size and were silver with black spots. Now, during her spawning there was a male Red Empress interfering the whole time and i suspected that the 5, odd fry, were hybrids. Some Malawi cichlid species are close enough to interbreed.
Of the 5 odd fry, only 1 survived the first week. This lone survivor became my personal favourite underdog, as it really had to develop a tough attitude due to the competition it had to face for food against its much larger siblings.
After six months the baby Kadangos were pushing 4 inches and the odd baby was barely 2 inches long, but still going strong.
It was only at this point that the question of "whos your daddy?" was finally answered. The little guy was no hybrid, but a pure bred Blue Dolphin.
The female Blue Dolphin must have spat the eggs out, and the Kadango must have picked them up and finished brooding. She even accepted them back into her mouth for the first week.
And thats why i think cichlids are cool.
Cass
So a couple of years ago i used to breed Malawi Blue Dolphins and Kadangos.
One time i had a spawning with a pair of Blue Dolphins and a pair of Kadangos a couple of days apart so I decided to put both females into the same 7.5 gallon tank to brood in peace. Now Blue Dolphins are notorious for spitting the eggs during transfer so the method i used was to wait until night time, leave the tank hood open, switch off all the lights and wait until they are fast asleep. I would then turn the room light on and scoop the female into a jug with my hand and then transfer her to the brooding tank. She usually never even came fully awake during this procedure.
A couple of days later i noticed that the Blue Dolphin was not holding anymore, so i moved her back to her group. My Kadango still had a mouth full of eggs.
21 days later the Kadango spat out 32 fry. 27 of them were about 8mm long and had the adult female colours (dark grey body with red fins). The other 5 were only half the size and were silver with black spots. Now, during her spawning there was a male Red Empress interfering the whole time and i suspected that the 5, odd fry, were hybrids. Some Malawi cichlid species are close enough to interbreed.
Of the 5 odd fry, only 1 survived the first week. This lone survivor became my personal favourite underdog, as it really had to develop a tough attitude due to the competition it had to face for food against its much larger siblings.
After six months the baby Kadangos were pushing 4 inches and the odd baby was barely 2 inches long, but still going strong.
It was only at this point that the question of "whos your daddy?" was finally answered. The little guy was no hybrid, but a pure bred Blue Dolphin.
The female Blue Dolphin must have spat the eggs out, and the Kadango must have picked them up and finished brooding. She even accepted them back into her mouth for the first week.
And thats why i think cichlids are cool.
Cass