herefishiefishie

the kribs was 1 that I have read on, its also known that most marine fish especially in the tropics are hermaphdoditise. Frenchy

also, does anyone have theories on ph or temperature effecting sexes. eg; kribs,Pelvicachromis pulcher, acidic bath produces males & neutral water produces females. anyone breeding these???? Is this true???? Frenchy

now if i listened to the misses :roll: I would hate to see what fish I would have get her to have a look at a grown up female Festae, give you an excess for a bigger tank too. Frenchy

Yeah sorry Doc, just not a fan on hybrids, Hope you enjoy the hobby, sorry dont know to much about them.. frenchy

good tank mate, hmmm anything big enough to eat them.. Frenchy

havent seen 1 off them in years, Frenchy :roll:

Ira don't need them here on the Gold Coast :lol: Frenchy

Has anyone had any experience of this or tried any experiments???? I had some xmas fulus(victorian cichlid) had a colony going & wanted to add more. A store had 3 left all colourful, but I bought them all anyway. Thought I would off load excess males at a later date. The 3 & original male all bashed & chased each other(normal), to my suprise a few weeks later 1 male who at this stage had dropped its colours was holding, I was suprised for 2 reasons as(1) it was a male & (2)the agro it had taken, its gill & jaw were damaged from fights. so 2 weeks later stripped the now her & the result= fry. I have had a similar result with Burtoni's, placing bigger fry those colouring up into the established colony, to find some of these later on down the track holding...... In theory, Usually the larger fry are males & smaller females,assuming growth is slower in females. but is it?? "the fish that grows faster becomes males" note;no matter how well you feed fry there is always a difference in growth. I have since read that George W Barlow has done experiments with the Midas cichlids & the raising & seperation of fry, his result; the fish did not start of as m/f, "instead they became m or f depending on their relative size." so I plan to do the same experiment with the salvinis(yes to much time on me hands) Has anyone had any experiences with this???? Frenchy ps; also from the same book he had 2 orange chromide girls spawn successfully. -protogynous hermaphrodite???

Never used this type of kit, but clear usually means no ammonia present. If you have good circulation, sample can be taken from anywhere. Results wont be any different in such a small body of water. Frenchy

Welcome Tee Cee, are there any decent fish stores in North Canterbury???? Used to live in Kaiapoi for a while myself, though that was 6-7 years ago. Frenchy

I have 4 in a 4 footer , 18-20 cm. I have noticed 1 gets picked on everynow & then, just has the odd mark on its fins. Plenty of logs,tubes in the tank. I have seen some set up with just pairs, mixture of sizes & a few of the same size, so I suppose it just depends on the fish; Trail & error. :roll: Frenchy

I have swords in with mine, at the moment they havent touched them, well the adults anyway Frenchy

Yeah NZers are good for business, I sell Kiwi Confectionary over here on the coast, all the ex-pats love me. Frenchy :lol: ps; to right about the heat loving it.

Hello Marty, right about the still learning.. :roll: seems never ending some times.. Frenchy

live food, meal worms..... blood worms. they get to about 50 cm for communities; have fish of bigger size,neons & the like can end up a good food source. If wanting info on breeding or set ups for these guys . [email protected] Frenchy

Bummer. Frenchy

To combate that problem. Hmmm (a)start befriending staff, arse kissing if you like, works good here with the aussie ego's. :lol: The result hopefully you get to look at there order lists, seeing prices is a bonus too some shops here the staff/owners only know common names,if that (b) create confusion, throw heeps of scientific names & mention heaps off money, they'll show you what they can get then too. "Beware the shop though that knows nothing, people will know this & flog there shit onto them, eg; lfs here on the coast selling Protomelas(r.empress) as Peacocks??? (r.eureka) :lol: Frenchy :roll:

Blood worms work for mine coll ah, I have a mate that can pat his oscar too, he loves it & same for the fish... Ghosties arent as shy as people make out, mine forage around the pebbles alot of the time. They have to be 1 of the coolest fish around!! Frenchy

Sweet, I like the julies to have a pair of reganii"kipilli", started with 5, sold 1, other 2 oops, they are agro towards others of same species. :evil: yet ignore everthing else. :roll: julies are tangs too. they're going into 2 footer with a pair of Hecqui's(spelling?????) b4 the end of the week,they're in 4 footer with others at the mo. I am lucky enough to work at a l.f.s,(local fish shop) here on the coast so can see lists from 3 or 4 suppliers & I get first dibs at the trades in too. Can be hard though when you have no room in the tanks at home , nice couple of calvus in too :-? , then again trade in julies & hecqui's???? hmmmmmmm, but again with salvinis breeding, will need 2 footer for fry :roll: other 2 footer chock full already with malawi fry, & ghosties are looking keen too.....................with all this juggling I should be in a circus. plus there is a shop in Brissie who has fantastic connections with everything rare ,catties,tangs....... Wonder if the g/f would like a tank??hmmmmm :roll: You have some beaut malawis there too Carly, breeding colonies???? or for display, red fin kadango males are sweet looking, I tried breeding those but couldn't find any girls who could handle the man, he's now at another l.f.s, in there display tank, so still see him & others once a week. ps; do many people play guess this fish????? Frenchy

I usually have a good survival rate with these(touch wood) :roll: good to have something other than the mouthbrooders giving it a go... Frenchy 8)

To help combate this try buying african cichlids with genus,species & a third name usally LOCATION. Over here newer lines of africans come with all these details;where older lines of cichlids tend to be sold off with just genus & species. As we now know that certain species have different varients, they are usually now imported as such. Good Luck Frenchy

Cheers for the replies, hmm Alan we have a few different varieties of cichlids & catties over here, I dont have a list but there is a good deal on offer. Some american cichlids may be taken off the list, as a few are out in the dams & streams. :roll: Yeah tank wise its 1 6ft, 4 4fts,2 2fts. no more room oh & Gold Coast. If wanting to check out a cichlid site, pub5ezboard.com/bqldchiclids, yes I know they spelt cichlid wrong, free to join & 860 members, good for a bunch of queenslanders. Yeah Goldie my sister & co are still in Christchurch they are quick to note how hot it is there at the moment. Caryl what Malawis do you have , are there much on offer in the way of tangs, victorians & malawis there???? Cheers, Frenchy.

with some Salvini fry, took smaller female out a few days ago as the pair have really started to chase her, yesterday morning woke up to fry swimming around. sweet, always good when these guys breed. Frenchy.

could do the old eggs in a drink bottle, just hope I don't get thirsty... :roll: Frenchy 8)

plenty of shells, fav for housing in. use rocks & plants.... try for calvus nice variety, I used to use guppies as live food, the babies are quickly stalked, Constant water changes, high ph. I never used pellets on mine I have seen some dislocated jaws caused by pellets, use live brine shrimp, high quality flake, never fed mine blood worms either,(not a fan of B/W) comps are slow growing best kept with other smaller cichlids.not agro for a cichlid!? Defend themselves well, bend there body to expose sharp fins.... if buying them small get a colony, set up camp & when they do pair up or tell the sexes apart- next summer you can seperate them. They are a cool species of fish to keep once settled(can take time), love the way they stalk & hover. Glad I kept 1 The 1 problem for me was spare time when breeding my male comp liked the fry to much :roll: Frenchy 8)