Can these peacock cichlid eggs hatch?

[Jacky12]

My sump tank is full of eggs. I have rescued 6 guppy sized babies from there in the past. I have no idea if they hatched in Mom’s mouth & went over the weir or what. I put them in a smaller tank until they were too large to eaten by the other fish & then moved them to the upper tank.

 

[Colin_T]

Mouth brooding cichlid eggs can hatch without the parents incubating them. Most people put them in a hatchery made for artificially rearing mouth brooding cichlid eggs but you get the same results having the eggs in a fine mesh net suspended in some tank water with an airstone bubbling away gently. If the net gets tangled up, put a small marble or smooth weight in the bottom to stop it moving around.

The eggs can also be left to roll around on the bottom of an icecream bucket or other type of container and they hatch too. However, there is more chance of them getting fungus if they sit on the bottom of the container.

 

[Jacky12]

Thanks, Colin. I’m lazy & not particularly anxious for more Blue Dragon Peacocks. Think I’ll leave them in the sump and see what happens. How long would they need to hatch, assuming this batch is fertile?

 

[Colin_T]

About 7-10 days to hatch and a few more before they start to swim about.

 

[Jacky12]

Wow, that’s quicker than I expected.

Check this out. Barbarians.

 

[Colin_T]

Egg hatching time is temperature dependent with warmer water causing faster development and earlier hatching.

That dyed blood parrot cichlid is horrible. The people involved should be sent to the sun (I'm trying to be polite).

 

[Jacky12]

I keep that tank ~73F. They came from a previous owner who kept his house at 70F 24/7 and didn’t use tank heaters.

People into BRP seem to like hybrids. A guy in my new group bred a Texan American with a BRP. It has the coloration of the Texan, but that tiny freakish mouth and round RBP body. I do not approve of all this.

 

[Andy Sager]

Wow, that’s quicker than I expected.

Check this out. Barbarians.

Sadly, fish abuse has been going on for decades. From the painted glassfish to the tattooed fish, they were created because people wanted something different from natural and bought them up. It's also why we have red swordtails and all the colors that came after them. ( They are a man made hybrid of a wild red platy to a wild green swordtail. ) Today's hybrids include the parrot cichlids( and all their offshoots), The redtail/ shovelnose catfish hybrid, Redtail/ Marble catfish hybrid, Flowerhorn cichlids, many African cichlids, Guppy/ Endler mixes, Muppies ( Molly/Guppy hybrids), and more. There's just no stopping them if people are willing to buy them.

 

[Jacky12]

It is indeed unfortunate. I did not buy these RBPs, they were given away by owners who didn’t want the fish.

Some say guppies & endlers are the same species. I keep both, in separate tanks. My edlers are bottom dwellers, whereas the guppies are upper. Neither group breeds as both are kept with tetras and other larger fish that must be eating the fry.

I didn’t know there were so many hybrids. I find those flowerhorns grotesque & didn’t know they were hybrids.

 

[Andy Sager]

It is indeed unfortunate. I did not buy these RBPs, they were given away by owners who didn’t want the fish.

Some say guppies & endlers are the same species. I keep both, in separate tanks. My edlers are bottom dwellers, whereas the guppies are upper. Neither group breeds as both are kept with tetras and other larger fish that must be eating the fry.

I didn’t know there were so many hybrids. I find those flowerhorns grotesque & didn’t know they were hybrids.

Oh the list is long. Some of the colors of Mollies were done by mixing Sphenops with another type, Platies can be hybrids, There's a hybrid Texas Cichlid x Jaguar Cichlid, Convicts with Severums or firemouths.

As for the Guppy/ Endler issue, just because they look alike does not mean they are the same. Cardinal Tetras look like Neons but they are different. There are 3 species of Rummynose Tetras ( Hemigrammus rhodostomus, Hemigrammus bleheri, and Petitella georgiae) which look similar but are different. With DNA available today, it would seem that if these were actually the same fish, it would have come out by now.

There is also now a HUGE effort to make hybrid saltwater fish. This has some pluses and minuses in my book. Natural wild hybrids do exist and we got good money for them when we were able to get them. But again, these were fully wild hybrids. To me, that makes them more special. These manmade hybrids imo fall into the category of " just because we can does not mean that we should." ?

 

[Andy Sager]

And now they are hybridizing kinds of Bettas. ( i.e Alien Bettas) It will never end.

 

[Jacky12]

I don’t have a problem with hybrids that are healthy and attractive. I have some locally bred gorgeous peacock OBs. They are pink and blue with those characteristic OB markings. I had to remove a large male OB from the peacock/OB tank who wasn’t doing well. I added four female OBs and he’s thriving. They have five 3” long kids now, all peacocks, no OB markings. They had a second batch that disappeared, must have been eaten.

Hybrid dogs, called Designer Dogs, are very popular. I have a French Bulldog/Pug mix. He is energetic & affectionate & one of the best dogs I’ve ever owned. This dog averages around $1200 as puppies, but he was over a year old and the owner had to sell him when when she became ill. I got him for $350 as the premium prices are for pups. I wasn’t necessarily after a discounted dog, but he was adorable & irresistible in the Craigslist ad. Numerous Designer Dogs aka mutts are bred & I have no problems with this or some hybrid mutt fish.

 

[Andy Sager]

I don’t have a problem with hybrids that are healthy and attractive. I have some locally bred gorgeous peacock OBs. They are pink and blue with those characteristic OB markings. I had to remove a large male OB from the peacock/OB tank who wasn’t doing well. I added four female OBs and he’s thriving. They have five 3” long kids now, all peacocks, no OB markings. They had a second batch that disappeared, must have been eaten.

Hybrid dogs, called Designer Dogs, are very popular. I have a French Bulldog/Pug mix. He is energetic & affectionate & one of the best dogs I’ve ever owned. This dog averages around $1200 as puppies, but he was over a year old and the owner had to sell him when when she became ill. I got him for $350 as the premium prices are for pups. I wasn’t necessarily after a discounted dog, but he was adorable & irresistible in the Craigslist ad. Numerous Designer Dogs aka mutts are bred & I have no problems with this or some hybrid mutt fish.

As I said, as long as people are willing to buy them, hybrids will be created. The big part is having people understand that these hybrid fish are not wild so they should never release them into their local waters.

 

[Jacky12]

I wonder where released tropical fish, hybrid or not, would survive. Certainly not in my icy neck of the woods. Maybe parts of the South? NY State has banned Dojo Loaches as an invasive species and I have to again wonder how big of an invasion one would see in a state with such frigid winters & often under blizzard warnings.

How do you like my new avatar? Know what those are? A local guy breeds them. I bought 6.

 

[Colin_T]

Designer dogs are not hybrids from mixing 2 different species. Most dogs are the same species, just different breeds caused by man inbreeding to develop certain traits.

Chihuahuas, African painted dog, Asiatic dog and Australian dingos are different species of dog and can hybridise with domestic dogs, which are 99% wolf. But dogs like German shepherds, border collies, great danes, papillons, Jack Russel terrier, cocker spaniels, etc, are all the same species so crossing them with each other isn't an issue and can actually help reduce the number of genetic disorders some of those breeds carry.

What needs to happen is governments around the world need to get together and outlaw the breeding, production and supply of deformed animals, birds and fish. If people are going to hybridise a fish, it should be normal shaped and be able to swim, breath and act normally. This would stop the Asian fish farms from pumping out mutated fish like balloon fish that suffer internal problems and can't swim or act normally due to their deformed bodies. It would also stop people breeding cats, dogs and other animals that have short noses and can't breath properly, uneven length legs that increase hip and back problems, etc.

This is slightly off topic but my state government recently asked for ideas about e-waste (unwanted and broken electronic devices) and how to deal with it. I told them to enact laws saying all electronic devices sold in this country should last a minimum of 20 years (like they used to last century). Then the suppliers in Asia would have to make better quality products that wouldn't end up at the tip after a year. I doubt the government will enact those laws but governments need to get off their backsides and start making laws to stop e-waste, polluting vehicles, and deformed animals. If the government doesn't make the laws, nothing will change because some people have no ethics or morals and don't care about anything but money.

 

[Jacky12]

You are correct, Colin, I made a poor analogy, but these Designer Dogs do scandalize the purists. And I agree with your viewpoint in the case of deformed and unhealthy animals.

Here, we have special free removal of most electronic items; one has to schedule it with the local waste management company & is easily done. One has to pay to get rid of some & other devices can be sold to recycling places.

My Hybrid. He claims to be part Dingo. He steals babies.

 

[Colin_T]

My Hybrid. He claims to be part Dingo. He steals babies.

LOL with a face like that, how could he be guilty of anything

I give you points, he's not an ugly pug. There are some real ugly pugs and they freak me out, but yours isn't ugly.

 

[Jacky12]

He’s 50/50 French Bulldog & Pug. I think he’s better than either breed in multiple ways.
I had his DNA tested, although he was sold as a Frenchie/Pug

 

[Andy Sager]

I wonder where released tropical fish, hybrid or not, would survive. Certainly not in my icy neck of the woods. Maybe parts of the South? NY State has banned Dojo Loaches as an invasive species and I have to again wonder how big of an invasion one would see in a state with such frigid winters & often under blizzard warnings.

How do you like my new avatar? Know what those are? A local guy breeds them. I bought 6.

First off, your avatar are of Koi Angels (super reds). They are actually the result of breeding 7 different lines of Angelfish. If you notice their colors stop being so red, it's because of the food you are feeding. Some of the lines of Koi Angels need food with color enhancement carotenoids in them.

As for where they can survive, I was in my home town in NJ and saw a large Koi swimming in a lake I used to fish in as a kid and had wild carp in. As for where else, just look at Florida's invasive species list: https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/nonnatives/
We are the poster child of bad aquarists performing illegal fish releases.

I have friends in W. Virginia that collect cold water species like White cloud minnows in a local stream. Most any cold water liking fish can survive in wintery weather states.

 

[Colin_T]

If we had non-native fishes like that swimming around here, I would be out there every week collecting them and selling to the shops.

I like the website, "don't feed the wild monkeys". I didn't know Florida was home to wild monkeys, plenty that drive cars and use phones but didn't know about the wild ones