Minimizing cross breeding?

[flymike]

Hi Guys,

Iv recently put together a 120x50x50 tank with sump (275l total)

Id like to put a few breeding groups of haps together, 1m-3/5f.

Currently have 10 Taiwan Reef juveniles, will cut the group down once I know who is what.

I would like to run a Giraffe cichlid group, and was thinking maybe kadango or Al. jacobfreibergi as well.

As Im new to haps, was wondering if these species will l've together with minimum cross breeding?

It is my understanding the females of these look pretty similar,

Is this an issue?

Dose the layout of rock work have an impact on territories when females look similar?

I've googled the hell out of this topic and it seems individual setups get different results, some species cross all the time, wile in other tanks with same species almost never.

Would love to hear how people have gotten on here?

Thanks Guys.

[ryanjury]

Your tank is probably a bit small for mixed hap tank long term they are generally big open water fish, you could probably do the taiwans though I found them to be quite small and peaceful, and kadangos or giraffes when younger I bred my giraffes in a 4ft tank for a while but had to move them to a 5ft.

Regarding cross breeding the only way to guarantee they wont cross breed (ie if you plan to breed for sale) is to breed them in species tanks, any and all mouth brooding Africans can and will cross breed. Fish of the same genus ie red empress and Taiwan reefs, or 2 zebra or peacock species will cross breed more readily than say a hap and a mbuna would. Of course there are exceptions to this, and no one can say what will or wont cross.

Another issue you may have in a tank this size when you start trying to have multiple haps is when they get bigger a dominant one will emerge and he will most likely breed with all the girls or stop smaller groups from breeding.

My suggestion would be to go with a group of haps a group of peacocks and a group of mbuna maybe dems and yellows because these don't seem to cross. The peacocks in this tank set up may get a hard time but might be ok you would have to see how the dynamics work out.

[flymike]

Ryan,

I have my yellows labs in another tank, and plan on putting the dems in with them soon.

So do You think I could run 4 Taiwan reefs (1m-3f) and a small group (1m-3f) of giraffes, without to many issues?

other than when they size up of course.

I may do what you sugested and put together a slightly smaller species only breeding tank, for when I want it.

[smidey]

i have a tank that size and kept a breeding group of adult red empress and i don't think it will work having giraffes in there as well. Because the fish get so large they take up a lot of the space available, then when they breed they will defend their female and breeding area from all other fish. That won't leave much space left and having another few large fish to offset i think it won't end well. these will easily get to 20cm and the tank is only the equivalent of 6 fish in total length so not much o work with.

[ryanjury]

Smidey hit the nail on the head.. Your taiwans would be fine and your giraffes would be fine until they got some good size on them (and possibly even long term). But you wouldn't have much luck with breeding groups in there if you wanted to go with big haps. I have also found that giraffes don't like breeding in busy tanks, well they breed but they are quite big and stupid and if other smaller faster fish are in the tank they sneak in and eat all the eggs so the breeding is unsuccessful.

My suggestion to you would be look at buying a bigger tank say 5x2x2 then you can stick all your haps etc in that, hopefully it is big enough for them to be happy especially with a higher stocking level. Then you could use your 4ft as a breeding tank for the haps.

If you had to stick with your 4ft I would keep all your taiwans and see how they work out, maybe thin out a few males, and your yellows/dems maybe some peacocks, it wouldn't be the best breeding setup but would look good and some of the fish might breed.

[nudge]

+1 to what ryan and smidey have said if you have to stick with the 4ftr forget the giraffes. These guys get way to big, even if you had some short term and moved them on when they got bigger imo you'd miss out on seeing the giraffes when they are at their best at 20cm+. The taiwans with a group of Jacobs and yellows or dems would be cool

[flymike]

Thanks Guys,

I did have my mind set on giraffes, but it doesn't really look like its going to work out long term.

I may look into a group of jacobfreibergi, IF i can find some good fry to start with.

Anyone have anything going??

Also have 2 Aurora males, maybe I should look for some females to keep them company