Benny Posted May 13, 2002 Report Share Posted May 13, 2002 i have recently acquired 2 orange chromide (the smaller chromides get to about 4") I am wondering if it is possible to sex them and has anyone had experience breeding or keeping these fish? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted May 13, 2002 Report Share Posted May 13, 2002 I have not had any personal experience breeding these fish but can tell you they are hard to sex. The female is more cloudily coloured and doesn't have any red in the edges of the fins (according to a book I looked up). The breeding water should be 26 - 28C, pH 7.5, dCH 2 deg, dGH 10 - 15 degs. Add 1 teaspoon salt or seasalt for every 10 litres of water. Fry will die if the chemical composition is not right. Fish spawn on uncovered stones, level or upright surfaces. Female lays 200 to 300 eggs, one beside the other. Eggs have a short stalk and incubation is 4 days. On hatching the fry are transferred to pits excavated in the bottom of the substrate. Both parents care for the eggs and later the fry with the male chiefly guarding territory. Fry are typically yellow black. Occasionally they feed on mucous produced by the parents. For the first 14 days, filter water through active charcoal and check pH. Then replace quarter of the water with fresh water, and later a third to a half. These fish are sensitive to chemicals. Hope this is of help to you. Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benny Posted May 13, 2002 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2002 thnks for the info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajbroome Posted May 14, 2002 Report Share Posted May 14, 2002 Benny, Paul Parsons spawned the true Orange Chromide (Etroplus maculatus) several (ie more than 10, perhaps closer to 15) years ago. Try contacting him perhaps ( http://paul.aaquaria.com/Enter.html or [email protected] ). Mostly what we see in the shops these days are the gold form of this species (IMHO) unfortunately. See: http://www.aquahobby.com/orange.html for some info on breeding. I did see some 'Green' chromides (E. suratensis - being sold as 'pearl spotted chromides or some such name) at Wet Pets over the weekend. You don't see them very often. Andrew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benny Posted June 4, 2002 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2002 my chromides have just layed eggs on a rock and are guarding them! what amazing luck i had, that I got a male and a female. they have been guarding the rock against intruders for about 2 days now and appear to have dug a pit near the rock. for those that want to know my pH is 7.2 and I have 1tsp of salt per 10 litres, suprisingly the other fish seem to like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benny Posted June 4, 2002 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2002 are cichlids good parents? will the fry get eaten- although the chromides have attacked and scared off the much larger guant gourami with ease. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajbroome Posted June 5, 2002 Report Share Posted June 5, 2002 Benny said... > my chromides have just layed eggs on a rock and are > guarding them! what amazing luck i had, that I got a male > and a female. Well, until you see actual fry you only know that you've got at least one female. Sometimes cichlid females will 'pair off' if there is no male present and go through the motions of laying eggs and guarding them. Of course, if there is no male then the eggs wont be fertile... > for those that want to know my pH is 7.2 and I have 1tsp of > salt per 10 litres, suprisingly the other fish seem to like it. The pH sounds good for chromides and I bet they'd tolerate a lot more salt without too many problems. This may not apply to other fish and plants though... Good luck. Andrew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajbroome Posted June 5, 2002 Report Share Posted June 5, 2002 Benny said... > are cichlids good parents? Many cichlids, chromides included, can make very good parents. Ultimately though it's likely the fry will get eaten by other fish in the tank or by the parents themselves if they decide to spawn again. IMHO, it's always best to breed fish in their own tank rather than in a community set-up. If it were me, I'd set the adults up in a 2ft tank with water conditions similar to the original tank. Move the adults into this new tank, feed well (deally live foods) and maintain the best water quality you can. The adults will most likely spawn again within a few weeks if all goes well. Then you can let the parents care for the fry if you want to take the risk or else move the adults back to the main tank and raise the fry seperately. It depends on how many fish you want to raise I guess... Andrew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benny Posted June 5, 2002 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2002 regardless of what I do it is still quite entertaining to see what the male(I think) does to protect the eggs. he has already had a fight with my tough siamese tiger and he didnt come out on the worse end. Infact he took a few scales off the siamese tiger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benny Posted June 16, 2002 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2002 oh well it all fizzled out. They moved their eggs to their pit and the next day they were gone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted June 16, 2002 Report Share Posted June 16, 2002 Hi Benny, Try them with half a terracotta plantpot, it might give them a bit more security. Best to place it out of sight and strong light if poss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benny Posted June 17, 2002 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2002 yeah will do. they turned into a nice little pair now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cuviceps Posted June 20, 2002 Report Share Posted June 20, 2002 Hi there, I bred these beauties in 2001, contrary to other comments they don't need salt in the water but it may help. I used only live food, daphnia, whiteworms, brineshrimp etc to condition them. Mine always laid eggs in a teracotta flowerpot upsidedown, they were secretive but good parents. I used to get upwards of 50 fry surviving each batch. Raised on brine shrimp solely. Mine were the true green form not colour morph(not E.suratensis) as a matter of interest came from Pets Palace,Nelson. Flew them on a plane to hamilton no problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benny Posted June 20, 2002 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2002 how big were yours? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted June 20, 2002 Report Share Posted June 20, 2002 Good to see you on the forum at last Cuviceps. The old terracotta plantpot works just about every time :) What other fish have you bred ?? Bill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cuviceps Posted June 20, 2002 Report Share Posted June 20, 2002 They were approx. 7-8cm . Could not distinguish sexes though. To Pegasus about 30 ish fish look under Waikato Aquarium Society on FNZAS Breeding Site - Damon & Pamela Flett. Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benny Posted June 20, 2002 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2002 do ypu have any ideas on why they appeared to eat the eggs? The eggs were vibrating a lot and then the next time I looked at the tank they were gone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cuviceps Posted June 20, 2002 Report Share Posted June 20, 2002 they thought it was live food, if you've used live food recently they may have mistaken eggs for FOOD. My Miccrogeophagus ramirezi(Butterfly Dwarf Cichlid) use to do this all the time. Be patient sometimes 4-5 spawnings before a successful hatching. are you sure they haven't sucked out the fry and moves them to a pit somewhere, alot of dwarf cichlids do this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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