JORG Posted January 25, 2009 Report Share Posted January 25, 2009 (edited) Protomelas sp."spilonotus tanzania liuli" are one of my all time favorite haps. Late in 2007 I was lucky and found a wild caught group that consisted of 1 male and 7 females. I placed them in a 220 gal tank as the males can reach 10 plus inches when full grown. Here are some pics of the male. Getting fry from this fish has been challenging at first all was good and I had a 100 plus fry in a grow out tank. Then one day I spotted a Red empress sneaking in during breeding and helping out with the fertilizing every time the liuli left to chase away other fish. I removed the red empress and caught and stripped all holding liuli females and culled all eggs and fry that I had thinking it would be easier to start over and not have to worry about hybrids. So naturally the fish decided to take a break from breeding at the same time. While waiting for them to start breeding again the 10 Champs that shared the tank with them put on some size and presented a new problem. Everytime the liuli's would breed the champs would steal all the eggs. Here's a pic you can see a champ right in there looking for eggs. Yesterday while watching the champs on the egg hunt again I had an idea And separated the liuli's with a peice of plexi glass no more free eggs So hopefully I will be able to get some sucsess with their breeding now --here's some pics of them breeding with a little less company Edited January 28, 2009 by JORG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
African_Fever Posted January 25, 2009 Report Share Posted January 25, 2009 Jorg that is truly a stunning male! Almost makes me want some Malawians again! Best of luck with getting some fry some them; more people need a fish that nice in their tanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrick Posted January 25, 2009 Report Share Posted January 25, 2009 Beautiful fish Jorg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boom Posted January 25, 2009 Report Share Posted January 25, 2009 Amazing fish and great pics Jorg. I love it! Boom :boom: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Posted January 26, 2009 Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 Very nice Jorg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JORG Posted January 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 Thank's for the compliments------ Funny thing happened today another female was ready to go but I had trouble isolating them with the plexiglass barrier so I went and had a shower thinking I would do it after. When I checked on them after, the female already had a big mouth full and the male was not letting anyone near his spawning area. I don't know for sure but maybe the barrier yesterday reminded the male of the proper procedure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishful Thinking Posted January 26, 2009 Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 Great shots! I love how you can see the eggs on the sand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RD. Posted January 26, 2009 Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 That is indeed a very stunning male. Great shots of an unusal sequence of events. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDFISHGUY Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 That male is stunning! I've kept them before but they don't reach their potential in an all male tank. You've got a rare gem there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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