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NLaferriere

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Everything posted by NLaferriere

  1. Thanks Harold. Ya I've read that the cichlid hosts will wise up. I was thinking of keeping the cuckoos separately until I feel the female is gravid and ready to go. That way too I can focus on fattening them up without the presence of cichlids. Tough to condition the cats when the cichlids eat everything before it gets to them. lol I'm wondering too if the female cuckoo is separated and allowed to get gravid, if when she is put back in with the males if they'll just get to it or if they "need" cichlids spawning to trigger them. I guess I have some experimenting to do! =P Will document any progress/findings.
  2. Am looking to try to get a group of Paralabidochromis sp. "Rock Kribensis" and a group of Haplochromis sp. "Ruby Green". Can't seem to find any locally.
  3. Hey, So I have spawned Cuckoos in the past but always with cichlid hosts. I've heard of people spawning them successfully without a host and wondering if anyone has advice or experience doing this!? I have a small group of 1F 4M and I'm thinking of selling off 2 of the males to leave a reverse trio. The female is the most dominant fish by far. If I separate her with a divider I can target more food to her directly and start conditioning her. The cuckoos I have are nearing breeding age, approx 2.5 years old (3+ inches) I'm thinking of doing the method normally used for spawning S.lucipinnis/petricola, with the clay pot over a grate/marbles and a clear glass dish underneath. This would allow them to spawn in private but I could still look for eggs in the bottom of the glass dish. Any advice on this would be great! Cuckoos were definitely one of the most fun species of fish I've spawned and it'd be great to not have to sacrifice my cichlid fry and get a larger yield of cuckoo kitties. Nick
  4. Thanks RD. Two more females are starting to plump up. Shouldn't be long before the breeding factory begins. lol I might move out some of the Cuckoo Cats to another tank so they can spawn undisturbed. The male was busy and I want to get a few batches of Ruarwe going first before kitties. I'll probably sell off two of the cuckoo males (1F 4M) and separate the female so I can condition her up. Then I might try the non-host method of spawning them. I've heard that they don't need a host in order to spawn.
  5. Nice! That's awesome you have a survivor!
  6. First spawn today from these guys. The largest female (approx 2") spawned with the dominant male. I doubt she'll hold to term on her first go at it but I'm glad to see they're figuring things out.
  7. NLaferriere

    Hello

    Welcome to AA! Whatcha keeping?
  8. Very quick video of the labs to show the colour. You can see the White Labs and Cuckoo Cats I'm growing out as well. Tank is pretty bare as far as decor goes as I'm wanting this to be a breeding tank not a show tank. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMKVhkarU7c
  9. Just ordered a set of the LED's from eBay to do a light canopy build. Will post pics of the process and the results once they get here.
  10. Ya they're not easy to find unfortunately.
  11. If you're wanting to keep it as a show tank then decorate it much like Jason suggested. This makes it nearly impossible to catch females or fry but looks cool if you have some fry survive and grow up with the rest. If you want to maximize fry production then sparse decor is better that can be easily removed to retrieve females without too much stress. Best to do this after dark too so the fish are lethargic.
  12. Couple mediocre pics from tonight. No flash was used and this is pretty close to their actual colour. The only post-editing I did was crop the photos, didn't touch saturation or enhance the colour at all. Male Female
  13. Pseudotropheus saulosi in Red Deer, AB http://www.kijiji.ca/v-fish/red-deer/saulosi-cichlids-for-sale/1132855552?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true
  14. Likely too late now but I'm always looking for Pseudocrenilabrus multicolor victoriae. Had some a long time ago and they were one of my all-time faves.
  15. Setup looking good. For breeding, if all goes well you'll need two more tanks...a fry tank for newly released fry and a grow-out tank where the older juveniles can go. Secondly, you'll want to choose species that you can get rid of, otherwise you'll be stuck with them. A good idea is to talk with your local fish shop and ask them whether they would take juveniles (1.5"+) and what kind they would want. Typically they want fish with colour as fry and fish that aren't crazy aggressive. If you're selling yourself again you'll want to choose species that you can get rid of and this is even more crucial when selling to other hobbyists. For example, having a large group of standard electric yellows that are mediocre quality will be a hard sell to other aquarists. But if you can get high quality from a reputable breeder/supplier then you're golden. Lastly, don't buy from a local fish store for your breeding stock. Your best bet is to contact reputable breeders/suppliers like "fairdeal" on the forum. Here's a good cookie cutter style stock list for you: Species List #1 (choose one of the following species) -Pseudotropheus cyaneorhabdos (Electric Blue Johannii) 12+ juvies to try to get 2 males 4 females -Pseudotropheus demasoni 20+ juvies and take out any extra males...ideally you'll want 3 males total in the end -Cynotilapia sp. "Hara" 12+ juvies to try to get 2 males 4 females -Cynotilapia zebroides/afra "Cobue" (fairdeal has these) 12+ juvies -Pseudotropheus saulosi 12+ juvies to try to get 2 males 4 females (don't mix with Yellow Labs) -Metriaclima callainos (Cobalt Blues) 12+ juvies -Pseudotropheus acei (fairdeal has these) 12+ juvies Species List #2 (choose one of the following species) -Labidochromis caeruleus (either Yellow or White) 12+ juvies -Labidochromis perlmutt (fairdeal has these) 12+ juvies -Pseudotropheus socolofi "albino" (don't mix with Electric Blue Johannii) 12+ juvies -Labidochromis hongi (fairdeal has these, don't mix with Cyno.sp."hara") 12+ juvies -Labidochromis chisumulae (don't mix with Ps. saulosi or Ps. demasoni) 12+ juvies Or you can substitute one species of mbuna for a species of Hap depending on which species of mbuna you decide to keep and what species of Hap you want. Anyways, just a run-down on some ideas. Check Kijiji as well as I remember seeing some of these above fish available.
  16. Don't sell fry unless you have only two species in the tank and they are not closely related. Females can have egg spots too. Demasoni and Kenyi is a bad mix. The male demasoni and female kenyi look similar and you'll run into problems. If you want to get into breeding get rid of all the fish you have and start over. I recommend getting at least 12 juveniles of two different species to grow up. Take out any extra males until you have a desired ratio. I like to have 2-3 males because this forces the dominant male to show off his dominance and takes his attention away from the females and onto other males. Also, I like to have 2 females per male at the very least. So 2-3 males with 6-8+ females would be ideal. If you want to breed demasoni you'll want to over crowd them and have approx 20 juveniles to start with. Also you'll need a lot of rock work to break up sightlines.
  17. Photo #1 - Cynotilapia sp. lion Photo #2 - Hybrid Photo #3 - Pseudotropheus acei
  18. Are you wanting a breeding tank or no breeding?
  19. Nice! Was good to hear there's some high quality yellows still kicking around. Wouldn't mind finding some stock from that original group. I have two good quality females but I've been holding out for a stunner male for them. They're in a separate tank from the Ruarwe.
  20. Thanks mate. Was in Pisces today and their "Yellow Labs" were some sort of hybrid. Mouth was too wide to be pure strain. Sucks when big megastores like Pisces are selling sub-par fish to the masses. This is exactly why I will only buy quality stock from reputable breeders/shops.
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