elusive_fish Posted April 8, 2009 Report Share Posted April 8, 2009 Hi all, I have 7 small lionheads in my 4ft aquarium (thanks Navarre!) and I'm wondering if the are already shacking up. The biggest is a male of around 6-7cm and it has claimed the far left hand of the tank and been fairly cranky about keeping the tankmates out. Ive never kept lionheads before, so I figured that males just must like to claim a piece of turf. As it turns out, there is a small lionhead that it also sharing its territory - it looks to only be about 3cm long. It stays almost entirely in a nook in the bogwood, while the male is busy shifting rocks around... surely its too small for these two to be breeding already? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted April 8, 2009 Report Share Posted April 8, 2009 I am unsure what size they start breeding as I got my pair as an adult male/female and it took them 2 years to get over themselves (or me to notice them getting friendly) and start breeding. But good signs would be a bigger and smaller one hanging around together keep an eye on things and if the tank isn't too heavily populated they might even raise some babies for you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsmith Posted April 8, 2009 Report Share Posted April 8, 2009 Hi all, I have 7 small lionheads in my 4ft aquarium (thanks Navarre!) and I'm wondering if the are already shacking up. The biggest is a male of around 6-7cm and it has claimed the far left hand of the tank and been fairly cranky about keeping the tankmates out. Ive never kept lionheads before, so I figured that males just must like to claim a piece of turf. As it turns out, there is a small lionhead that it also sharing its territory - it looks to only be about 3cm long. It stays almost entirely in a nook in the bogwood, while the male is busy shifting rocks around... surely its too small for these two to be breeding already? Nope, that's breeding behaviour. They can breed surprisingly small. If it's staying in the nook, expect it to be about 10 days before they lay, then another 5 - 7 before you see fry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted April 8, 2009 Report Share Posted April 8, 2009 yes they start young had 3 in the big tank originally now about 12 have survived the big fish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elusive_fish Posted April 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2009 If they do start breeding, I cant imagine them effectively keeping their tankmates at bay. I may have to set up my fry overflow tank sooner than I expected! haha Im still having a hard time picking the difference between males and females at the sizes they are (2 - 7cm), but im pretty sure a couple of the bigger fish are females. I guess he just happened to like one on the smaller end... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted April 8, 2009 Report Share Posted April 8, 2009 plenty of rocks small caves and gaps and some will survive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsmith Posted April 8, 2009 Report Share Posted April 8, 2009 I've got 14 adults in a 3ft tank, there's 4 pairs in there. I have 4 different lots of babies and 2 lots of eggs right now, and about 100 babies ranging in size from 3cm - <1cm. I haven't seen any get eaten, but I have no doubt that some of the slower ones have been gobbled up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elusive_fish Posted April 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2009 I've got 14 adults in a 3ft tank, there's 4 pairs in there. I have 4 different lots of babies and 2 lots of eggs right now, and about 100 babies ranging in size from 3cm - <1cm. I haven't seen any get eaten, but I have no doubt that some of the slower ones have been gobbled up. Wow, thats quite the lionhead production line you have going there! Hmm, sounds like lionheads arent that interested in eating fry of their own kind... my problem is they share a tank with some greyshakeis, johanis, and a couple of random other malawi cichlids. Oh well, I guess I just watch and see what happens... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsmith Posted April 8, 2009 Report Share Posted April 8, 2009 They are exceptionally good parents, mine keep the babies in their cave for about 10 days after they're free swimming and then once they release them, they take them back to the cave at night for another week or so. Mystic and the others are right, if there's just a male, he'll be establishing a territory, but if there's a female it's probably breeding behaviour. If you have lots of small spaces for the babies to hide in, some should survive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elusive_fish Posted April 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 Yeah, these two are shacking up. But seriously, you should see the size of the female... she is somewhere between 2 and 3cm long. I have 7 lionheads of various sizes in my tank for just over a month and the males are becoming quite apparent with darker colours and more of bump. There are two other territories being set up and its quite funny watching the border disputes between them. May be other couples forming for all I know. I do like lionheads, but I think I have a few too many So mystic, let me get this straight, you're saying the older batches of babies will actually help defend any new fry? I thought my kribs were good parents... but they totally turned on the older siblings when the new eggs were being laid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elusive_fish Posted April 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 Yup, you got that straight. Mine do. :-) Thats awesome... must be amazing to watch. Must also mean you get at TON of little lionheads Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elusive_fish Posted April 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 Surely there is a market for them... I've seen that at pet stores locally anywhere from $19 - $45 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquatopia Posted April 11, 2009 Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 Oh yes there is, if you have the space to grow them, and if yur LFS will buy them from you. Those that WILL buy them will pay say $2each, and sell them for $15-20 each! Thats a disgraceful mark up, even considering they may lose some. Could you not negotiate payment as store credit instead ? Even if it meant store credit for other fish at retail price - it might be a way of encouraging some of the LFS's to ask for some of the rarer / more expensive fish we all want and love. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted April 11, 2009 Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 that's a pretty big markup if they get them for 2 bucks... more than the usual. (you're selling it to them a lot cheaper than the wholesalers Mystic!) :lol: but considering there are other overheads to be considered - its only a wee bit more expensive than I would have thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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