1/2waysgood

Just reading an interesting site that mentioned females flirting with the male. Apparently, the females, if keen, tend to have vertical stripes instead of the horizontal ones so commonly seen. News to me!

'K. So my fish are just over 4 weeks old. They seem to be around 1cm and although I don't have many (removed the female before all the eggs were released so as not to have too many....) they're doing well. Would just like to know when the fry start getting their colours?

My boy didn't seem fussed on building until I put in some broken leaves that were floating around my largest tank. That, mixed in with a little light on the tank seemed to do the trick. Only problem now, is the water is VERY green for the babies. LOL! :lol: :lol: :roll:

Things seem to be going well apart from Princeton (the Daddy) still not eatting. I'm a little worried???!! :-? Think I'll take him out Friday morning, as this evening, there were only a few that he was still tending to. I honestly can't believe that these fish do so much for their young - considering guppies and the like! A M A Z I N G . Still can't see that many scooting around but I guess I'm just grateful that I had the honour to watch something so specacular. Apart from seeing Chin's fantastic fish, the joy must surely be in the experience of breeding. (Purely from a fish lovers view, of course.) Looking forward to seeing what ratio of male:female I get, plus the colours. Oh, and interesting point! ! ! Must have had a mozzie larvae hiding (somewhere!) in the tank..... Watched Princeton suck him up and then shoot him into the now (sad) bubblenest. Should have seen the mozzie's proformance! Classic..... :lol: :lol:

Many thanks for your responses. Always nice to have a wise word from the wise. Thanks heaps Adoge, and hope to keep you posted on the outcome of the wee beanies. I'll check out the sites you mentioned now. Ta!

Can't help you there! Have you been in touch with any of the TM crowd? Hope you find whoever owes you the food.

7 swimming now. Where do the poor fathers get the energy!? I mean, the ceaseless up and down, up and down..... Doesn't look like he's eatten over the last 3 days either, what with fixing up the nest and then the little guys breaking free this morning. Guess tomorrow will shine a little more light on the situation. 8) Desperate to do a water change..... Was gonna do it the day of the 'tangle'. Too late now, I guess. How long should I wait? Until the fry are free swimming?, instead of the up and down..... :roll: ??? (lol)

Oneday I'll come up with ANOTHER type to really get the world excited! In the meantime, I'm pretty happy with looking at the beauties on here. Well done!

Excellent. I've been checking on them on and off since getting home from work and seems they're slowly beginning to swim. A m a s s i v e 3 at the last count.... 8)

Cheers guys! The babies were out this morning and Mr Fish was doing a great job catching and spitting the babies back up into the nest. Of course, it didn't seem to work so well as the wee blighters kept coming out! :lol: I noticed quite a number lying on the bottom of the tank so was puzzled for a while. Seemed they'd wiggle around once 'Dad' swooped near while others were darting all over. Introduced some air as I remembered about the whole laberinth thing but am wondering if perhaps I was a little too late for some of the fry? Do the rest of you add air as soon as the fry are out or are your tanks already circulated for the occassion? I expect a few fatalities but would love to have a decent success rate for a first time breeder of fighters. Any info is ALWAYS a help!

V E R Y cool. 8) Question:- When did the first cts appear? Is it from some sort of genetic mutation which people enjoyed and bred from, or a natural occurance? (Er, just curious..... :roll: )

'K. First time with the s/fighters breeding and so far, so good! I awoke yesterday morning to see my male and female making contact for the first time, and the first few eggs trickling out of her. Naturally, I lay there for an hour or so...... amazing stuff! ANYhoo, she has since been removed and he is being Mr Protective. However, he doesn't seem to be eating. Is this usual? Also, there's been a few people here asking as to what possible colour variants there will be with their successful breeds. Can anyone help with mine? Male - Red with a few lines of blue - typical stuff, really... Female - Cambodian looking, but with a body more yellow rather than white and orangey-red spots. (Also have her brother who is part crowntail.) Parents are unrelated! ! ! Sorry, have not set up for the photo thing yet. (lazy, eh?) OH! And apart from brine shrimp and infusoria, what else can be taken by the fry?

Brought one today.. Bread - THE SOUND OF BREAD Argh, I know, old. Hate being youngish and finding pleasure in the old tunes. Before that it was The Hollies, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Neil Diamond. Whoops! Did I say Neil??? (Too damb right! ! ! ) :lol:

Argh.... Last time I said something corny in a pub I said "You thirsty?, Suck on this..." Stuck my tounge out and BOOMPHA! I had him.., hook, line and er, hmmmm. ( I wasn't going home lonely... ) Hahahahahahaha!

Congrats!? Argh, no. I'm sick of frick'n eggs all the time.... Just got another tank but as it's planted, I'm not gonna run the risk of having the keyholes in there. They dig waaay too much! And as for putting Pecka in there, he'll destroy the plants aswell. (sigh) I have a 'hospital' tank for my plants that have come back from the dead, and yet another tank with b/acara babies in. Neither of them will be suitable. And I'm sure I have to stop buying tanks at some stage, eh? 5 tanks in this room alone. It's hard saying "goodbye" to a friend (!?), but at least he's still alive and will end up in a happy home, hopefully

Good to read. Will be setting up a moss wall myself in another few months.

(Aaaah - good! This has been moved to be in the right category :lol: ) They were at it again last night. The cichlids had a lay (again) and Pecka wasn't happy. They fought for at least 20mins, of what I saw and it seems the fighting is getting worse.... Gonna have to get rid of Pecka. For the best.

I picked up a new tank over the weekend and it's SOOOO hard picturing it all with fully grown plants. I've got 11 different types of plants in already, with more turning up in the morning. (Most are still in pots so I can move them around until I sort how I want it to look!) Funny though, everyone I've told is keen to come around and have a look. Never really thought that 'non-fishy' types would show so much interest. Even have a friends aunty coming tomorrow with her camera. Didn't expect that! Good luck with the whole set up. What kinds of plants/fish are you hoping to put in?

Crazy as...... It's the morning, I feed the fish..... The adult keyholes come out for a much, as does pecker (the plec) when all of a sudden- - - - - B A N G ! ! ! The cichlids start nipping pecker, which he really does NOT like :roll: , then blow me down with a frick'n Nth Is. storm, the pleco actually LATCHES on to the other fish and whoa....... they didn't like that... Freak'n weird but good to see pecker standing up for himself! Has anybody else seen a 'pecker' attack any other fish before? The latching on was really serious..... he held on for a good 10 seconds while the keyholes spazzed out (as would I...). Still can't really believe what I saw as they get on so well together, well, from what I actually see...

I've noticed that mine seem to get on better when the females aren't so close to the males. I had to 'put down' one of my ladies today due to some kind of whacking she received from another cichlid (which made her VERY unhappy and unable to swim well...) but the males left seem to be much happier. I suppose that if you don't want the nuisance of breeding, keep the males by themselves and make sure that they really are males! 8) (Nothing worse than thinking you have something only to find out it's not.....)

Classic....... That's an absolute hummer!

I learnt a valuable lesson today.... I feel stink! Okay, I guess it's not the worst but even so.... Have you ever been driving down the road and thought you saw someone you knew walking/cycling along it? Hmmmmm. I had that today... I was in the passenger seat and thought I saw a good friend not far ahead, so desperately wound down the window and proceeded to yell out "MMAAAAAAWWWW! " (Very similar to a sheep/cow in anger..) It was NOT my friend, and the poor lady I made animal noises at looked aghast. I knew as soon as I had done it, that the damage was done! Crap! Did I feel lowwww! ! ! ! :oops: Oh, and how red is a beetroot? :roll:

Boiled egg yolk. Not too much, but a squeeze between your fingers to loosen up the particles works well for the fish. Good for their protein too.

Whoops! No knowledge here! Well, maybe from the others Hope you enjoy yourself with us..... Lots of experienced fish fruit and even more experienced nuts. :lol: :lol: Enjoy yourself!

Awesome! Have a nice wee 'mask-man' here that I picked up in Cape Town if you want. Have had it packed up for yonks and just found it again yesterday. Nothing flash, but apparently tribally made and I had problems getting it thru customs in Joho. May make a nice addition to your other features? Would be nice to know that it's being veiwed