Breeding Green Terrors

[jahouli]

So, I had a Green Terror that I was unsure was male or female. It's colours were strikingly male, but it's body shape was female. I took a gamble and put another younger male in the tank with it. They've been getting on well for a couple of months. 3 or 4 days ago though the female became fairly aggressive towards him, and he's sporting a few wounds. Yesterday I noticed the female acting strangely above a flat rock only to discover she'd laid loads of eggs. After a quick bit of research - I became worried for the rest of the fish in the tank (loaches & catfish) so I dashed out to the shop and spent a ridiculous amount of money on a 165l tank to house the terrors and eggs in for the meantime....

...the female is acting very lovingly towards her eggs, but has again become very aggressive towards the male (when in the community tank the male was defending the eggs too). Should I leave the male in with her or put him back in the community?

...also - stupid question I'm sure given that I've just bought a tank in which to keep the fry alive - what do I do with them?...Like I said, I haven't thought it through.

 

[bricko]

Not sure GT are really a community fish TBH, hence the name. I personally would leave them in their own species tank with maybe some other hardy NW cichlids. Are you sure they are GT and not blue acaras?

I have no personal experience with GT breeding but most cichlids have very good parental skills, personally I would just let nature take its course in your new tank (did you cycle the tank BTW?) If you have lots of fry which survive then I would look at doing quite a few regular water changes 2 x 25% min per week to ensure the is no stunting of the fish. I believe juvenile fish excrete a growth hormone into the water and can cause stunting at high levels if not kept in check with regular watwer changes.

Once the fish have reached a certain size +1inch then you could give them to your LFS in exchange for store credit or something like that.

HTH,

Bricko

 

[jahouli]

Hmm. Yeah, they're definitely green terrors. Kind of thought about keeping them in a species tank, especially since the aggression I witnessed yesterday. I guess the 165l will have to do for now, and I'll upgrade when they mature. I'll see what happens with the fry.

Thanks

 

[england]

hello mate
ok what is the current community consist of?
with the fry,if you have then bring them up by all means and speak to you local fish shop about either buying or taking them from you

have you read up on them before purchasing them?
a good bit of info http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=138802

you will need to upgrade soon to atleast a 55us for a solo terror, they are aggresive, as they sound juvi then you wait til they mature
http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=2435


http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=2437

 

[jahouli]

Hi Nelly,

Thanks for the info.

All my fish are juveniles at the moment. My aim was to double the tank size by April next year (to coincide with moving into a bigger house). The community tank is 240litres. There are 6 one year old clown loaches in there - who seem to have no conflict with the terrors (the big female gt even seems to dance with them), a couple of talking catfish, and a couple of golden nugget plecos. The only fish that has any injury so far is the smaller male green terror. I've just moved him back into the community tank as he's spent the last 12hrs crammed up behind the powerhead in my new breeding tank to try to get away from the mean female. I'm thinking I'll leave him there until he grows a bit, and think about upgrading the 165l to a 400l species tank instead.

I've had the female 6 months - she's about 6 inches, and the little guy I've had a couple of months but he's half her size. I'm surprised they've bred...only a couple of her eggs have gone white so I'm guessing they're fertilised.

 

[jahouli]

So my GT's eggs have hatched. I saw a few wriggling in the gravel in a small ditch she made, but now I don't seem to be able to see any. Do they work their way through the gravel to hide, or should they be there on the surface? I'm especially worried as the lfs advised me to put in an undergravel filter so they wouldn't be sucked in through the powerhead intake, but I fear this has trippled the chances of them getting sucked in.

 

[england]

no they either hide low low low to the gravel or in and around objects,look were the parents are they shouldnt be far, maybe the parents have eaten esp if first time breeding,
you really need a breeding tank layed out with either an undergravel filter or a sponge filter as yes they will get sucked into the normal filters sooo easily,,,
undergravel and sponge filters both work via a pump which you use for the bubble walls, i have the sponge one in my brisltenose catfish tank,,
see the link to see a sponge filter<scroll down about half way
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...;hl=bristlenose

 

[jahouli]

I feel terrible for doubting my green terror mum now. She hasn't eaten them, and hundreds of babies have emerged from the gravel....hope she doesn't kill herself trying to headbutt us every time we walk past the tank.