my fish at the moment

[Matto]

i currently have 8 red empress ,5 living stonii and 4 yellows in one tank and they are all 3 to 4cm at the moment.in my other tank i have 3 yellows,a male giraffe,male lumphead a female brichardi and a red spot pleco and in my other tank i have a breeding pair of lumpheads.

i am told that red empress and living stonii will cross breed is this true and will i be able to keep living stonii and giraffes together or will i have to sell him?

what i plan to do is to have one big tank with living stonii,red empress and yellows .

what is your thoughts on this?

[smidey]

i have a large fryeri & peacock female in with the red empress male & he did not even look at them, they have been together for around a year & at no time have they spawned. i am unsure about the livingstoni crossing specifically but have found the empress has stuck to his own females.

[ryanjury]

As per usual I would say if you were planning on breeding then do it in a species tank. If they would cross breed or not would depend on dominance if your livingstonii were more dominant then they may breed with all the females in the tank, if the empresses were then they may breed with all the females. Sometimes they might be level and might breed with the right females it is just a guessing game in mixed tanks..

In saying that I would think (but of course you can never guarantee it) that livingstonii x empress would be very distinctive fry and by 1cm you should be able to tell if something is amiss (if you have bred both as pure fish and know what you are looking for).

[Matto]

ok good to know thanks