funnyman Posted November 28, 2008 Report Share Posted November 28, 2008 Hi, I need some help. I have a small colony of demasonis for 2 months now. most of them are 4 cm, 5 cm at best. Today while cleaning tank, i noticed 1 of them had a swollen lower jaw, like holding something in the mouth. It refused to feed when i feed them. But at 4 cm surely, can they breed at such small sizes? if so, i need some advice about breeding. do i take it out, or should i leave it in the main tank. trying to catch a 4 cm fish in a tank full of rock work would be a b****. cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted November 28, 2008 Report Share Posted November 28, 2008 Demasoni do breed at 4-5cm remember they only get to 8cm or so.. So that is half grown for them. Catching them is a mission thats for sure I have heard of people having success with letting them spit in the tank and the parents don't eat the fry (but that is in a species tank who knows what you have with them.) If you do remove the mother be very careful stripping her they are hard to strip and easy to damage, I wouldn't recommend putting her in her own tank to spit because introducing a female back into a colony of demasoni is very difficult to do without her being killed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funnyman Posted November 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2008 i dont think it will spit in the tank, they are some zebras around. how do those commercial breeding nets fair? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsmith Posted November 28, 2008 Report Share Posted November 28, 2008 You mean put the mother in the breeding net? The babies might get sucked out by the other fish and I don't know if it would help the problem of introducing her back in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixon1990 Posted November 28, 2008 Report Share Posted November 28, 2008 Id just leave her in there, and when she spits just syphon the babies out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malawiman Posted November 28, 2008 Report Share Posted November 28, 2008 Make sure you have coral in the tank so the fry have lots of hiding place and you should save some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted November 28, 2008 Report Share Posted November 28, 2008 i dont think it will spit in the tank, they are some zebras around. how do those commercial breeding nets fair? She will spit in the tank regardless of the other fish its nature and what fish do.. Breeding nets are avaliable however like lmsmith said they will try and suck the fry out of the net and kill them in the process.. You could try a sold plastic one? But I am unsure if the female will loose her place in the colony by being stuck in one of them probably not.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ktttk Posted November 28, 2008 Report Share Posted November 28, 2008 In my opinion, if its not too much trouble catching the female, then I'd say do it and have a go at stripping her - its not too difficult - here's a video that shows you how. I don't have too many rocks in my tank so its relatively easy for me to remove my holding females. Once I have stripped them, I place them in a separate tank overnight to make sure they are ok before returning them to the main tank when the lights are out. Next day, they are swimming around and eating again. I have kept some females for a week before returning them to the main tank and they are fine. Here's a thread I started with some pics of holding females and babies. Best of luck with yours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funnyman Posted November 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2008 so how long would she hold before fries starts appearing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted November 30, 2008 Report Share Posted November 30, 2008 so how long would she hold before fries starts appearing? Would you like fries with that? lol The fry will be ready to be realeased at around 3weeks but sometimes the mums hold onto them for a month or so, it depends if you know when they actually spawned.. ktttk you are very lucky, the 2 times I removed females after stripping for recovery I put them back into the tank rearranged all rocks and did a water change then turned off lights.. Both of them got killed within 2 days. I guess it is all on the dynamics of the actual tank and temperment of the fish etc? Also I have stripped quite a few fish and still find demasoni difficult and daunting, it is hard to know how to hold the fish how much pressure and technique etc.. Usually I say its easy but they're friggen tiny little guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ktttk Posted November 30, 2008 Report Share Posted November 30, 2008 I usually strip mine after they hold for 2-3 weeks - I end up getting little wrigglers with some form of egg sac. Just place these in a net with some air bubbling underneath and they'll be fine. Ryan - the first ever cichlid I stripped was a demasoni and I don't find it too difficult probably because I have had so much practice. It can get a bit finicky at times because you don't want to hurt the fish. I can usually strip one in under a minute now - my first time took about 10 mins!! Poor fish - she's still alive and healthy today tho! I find easier to get the fry to come out by gently pumping the gills (with the holding hand) while holding the mouth open (using a Q tip or a fork) with the other hand. In my 6 foot tank, I think there are about 70 fish in total. When I release my females back in, they sometimes get chased by the dominant males but they usually head to the upper areas of the tank and hang with the other fish. I guess once they have regained some strength after a few days feeding, they'll start scrapping for territory and dominance with the other females. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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