I have a holding peacock!

[howmanyds]

Wasn't planning to breed my aulonocara, so I have at least six different species in the tank separated into a male side and a female/unknown side. Well, apparently one that I thought was a male because he/she was doing some chasing on the female side and because a colorful dot was just emerging on the chin, was actually a female.

And now she's holding, though she's just two inches long - I didn't even know they could be sexually mature at that size!

So the problem is that it's likely a mixed breed, unless I got lucky. My kids are excited to see the fry, but then what do I do with them? I can't have another colony growing in my tank - the point was to have all males once I can gender select out all the females to keep the males' temperaments in check.

Also, once the fry emerge, what do I feed them? I have a fry- box to keep them safe if that's what I should do. In which case, when do I put the holding mama in there? I think she's been holding for about a week.

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

I personally strip them after they've been holding for about two weeks or so. When they look like they are going to explode that's when I strip them. At that point the should be big enough to eat crushed flakes. Then what you want to do with them is up to you. You can try to sell them as hybrids or cull them off. I keep my hybrids to see what they will look like right have two bumblebee hybrids growing out. They look like a bumblebee but have way more strips so I'm intrested to see what they will look like.

 

[howmanyds]

What does "cull them off" refer to?

I know I've asked this in other threads but are there other signs I can look for in the small female or in the fry to have a clue what breed she is? The daddy is that big blue and orange guy that I've posted about that I originally thought was either a cobwe blue or a green face (from the north where their faces are actually more blue, I think).

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

Not really no there isn't away to tell the species of a female. Culling would be humanely killing.

 

[howmanyds]

I was planning to catch my holding mama on Friday thinking that three weeks would be a safe amount of time. Unfortunately, when I did a 50% PWC today, she released at least some of them. It looked like she kept some in and had released them from stress. One of the males was chasing her. She's also very small so maybe it was as long as she could handle.

I didn't get a good look at the fry but they were about 5 mm long and about 5-10 in number. I'm not sure if the mom scooped them back up, but she didn't stick around where she left them and soon they were gone. I saw both a male peacock and a young (1.5") julidochromis magara go after them with open mouths. Would either of these guys actually eat the peacock fry?

The mom appeared to still be holding as I refilled the tank, but several hours later at feeding time, she joined in the frenzy and there's no trace of the fry. .

Could she have swallowed them? Released the rest and they got eaten? Would a compressiceps eat fry (I know they like eggs)? How about juvie synos?

Despite not planning for this breeding to take place I'm a little disappointed that we can't at least see what sort of hybrids we created.

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

Compressiceps and calvus are specialized fry hunters. Also all your other fish will gladly eat fry if they can get them. I would try to catch her and strip anything else if you want them otherwise you'll probably get none. I have holding females all the time. I got two fry out of my tank that's it when I did a rescape. I'm guessing each female drops on average of 20 or so. The survival rates not great when in the main tank and I have more hiding spots than most tanks

 

[JRcichlids]

humanly killing lol i dont and wouldnt cull fish if the fish are healthy what diffrence does it make what breed they are. fish interbreed in the wild all the time people say hybrids are a discrace to the hobby and it winds me up as they usually own a hybrid fish . like a baloon molly or a parrot cichlid. but at the end of the day everyone has there own opinion on things. but i dont think killing something how ever it may be done is right as its a living thing reguardless of what itis and what it looks like.

not an argument just an opinion and its a good talking point i think

 

[howmanyds]

Yeah - we were definitely not going to go that route. I'd gotten excited to see what sort of hybrids we'd created.

So disappointed she spit before I could catch her.

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

Yeah - we were definitely not going to go that route. I'd gotten excited to see what sort of hybrids we'd created. So disappointed she spit before I could catch her.

Yea you can get some cool hybrids but when you have 200 hybrids raising them all to adult size isn't normally possible

 

[CameronCade]

humanly killing lol i dont and wouldnt cull fish if the fish are healthy what diffrence does it make what breed they are. fish interbreed in the wild all the time people say hybrids are a discrace to the hobby and it winds me up as they usually own a hybrid fish . like a baloon molly or a parrot cichlid. but at the end of the day everyone has there own opinion on things. but i dont think killing something how ever it may be done is right as its a living thing reguardless of what itis and what it looks like. not an argument just an opinion and its a good talking point i think

I agree. My newborn fry might be mixed but idc. I am still raising them.

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

I agree. My newborn fry might be mixed but idc. I am still raising them.

Again how many do you have? 15? What are you going to do with 15 adult fish you most likely won't be able to sell because of their hybrid genes. I hope everyone sees the purpose of culling

 

[CameronCade]

Again how many do you have? 15? What are you going to do with 15 adult fish you most likely won't be able to sell because of their hybrid genes. I hope everyone sees the purpose of culling

it's possible she mated with another lab. But either way I am not killing them. Letting them go in the big tank is practically killing them knowing 95% won't make it. I have a few hybrids and I love em. I already talk my LFS and they said they would take em.

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

I have hybrids too, but selling them especially as non hybrids could mess up the gene pool. Please make sure your lfs does not sell them as yellow labs if you aren't 100% certain.

 

[CameronCade]

I'm def not gonna sell them as "pure" if their hybrids. I'm not that kind of person. I'm in the hobby for fun. Not for money.

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

Good to hear many people think all this money can be made and lose the fun in the process. I was trying to say make sure the lfs doesn't switch the name on them after you give them up.

 

[Freakgecko91]

The problem with selling or giving away ANY hybrids is that information gets mistold farther down the line. Say someone buys those hybrid (NOT mixed breed. Cichlids are species, not breeds, huge difference) fry and forgets the name. So they do some research and thinks it looks close enough to one of the parent species and sells/gives away those fish as that species. You can only prevent the first owner from calling them pure, not others down the line. Culling is indeed humane and any reputable breeder practices the culling of Undesirable fry, as it keeps bloodlines and species as pure and clean as possible.

If hybrid fry are a possibility within a tank like this, I recommend not stripping any holding females and letting "nature" takes it's course. Any that survive will join your colony, and there won't be the possibility of 50+ hybrid fry making their way into the fish trade, no matter how localized and small it may seem. This is the easiest way to cull fry and I will 100% recommend and insist upon it, to ensure your children and their children have these same species when they are your age.

 

[CameronCade]

Nope. Sorry.