Breeding Sajica (t-bar Cichlid)

[scrappy]

My Sajica are breeding again, just thought id let you all know and post a picture of the new family (its the first decent picture ive managed to get since the fry became free swimming). Approx 10 days old here.

Currently housed in a growing tank (Juwel Rio 180). Ignore the fact there is no decor other than an old sandstone, i removed them after the fry became free swimming so i could see more clearly whats going on. Dont ask me how many, its impossible to count (and i didnt get ALL of them within the shot).

The orange spots in the sand are tropical granules, they have just been fed and the parents go round picking up the large granules and chewing them up then spitting them back out for the fry to feed off. You can tell whose greedy as the transparent fry always have orange coloured bums... the more orange the greedier they are.
The pit you can see dug at the bottom of the filter housing is the sleeping area for the fry, they are rounded up each night by the parents for a nap.

Female is to the left of the picture, usually a lovely golden colour to her fins, however during breeding and parenting time they turn a pale white transparent colour. Can just about see the males head at the top of the picture, obviously he saw the camera as a threat

Scraps

 

[africantigerfish7]

Congrats, and good luck with the fry!

 

[scrappy]

Heres an update, Sajica fry now almost 2 months old and are about 2cm in length now, starting to display some colour and becoming less transparent

 

[saboy]

are they still in the tank with the parents, they dont start to eat em if it gets crowded ?

 

[saboy]

Since you have experience in sajica's, how come yours are more a dark colour and not colourfull like other pictures i have seen on the net?



Especially the third one from the bottom of this link page

http/tropicalfishgallery.com/species-gal...ids/sajica.html

how do you manage keeping the sand in the tank from getting those toxic gas pockets forming ?

 

[scrappy]

Few Questions there, ill answer them best i can:

Firstly yes at present with the fry coming up to 2 months old they are still with the parents, i did notice some odd behaviour where i thought the female was trying to eat the fry but she was actually picking them up and spitting them back out, trying to keep them in one place, a tiresome and pointless job to be honest as once they are free swimming they want to swim about the tank.

There is a reason why my fish look darker and thats because when Sajica breed they go a very dark colour to almost black. The female in particular loses all her yellow flecks from her fins and the fins actually go a whiteish transparent colour. They will return to their normal colours again if I seperated the pair.

As for the pictures on the link you asked about, all but the first & fourth pictures are of females, easily spotted due to the bright yellow flecks on the fins, they are obviously not breeding stock used in the pictures as the fish do get an orangy glow about them when not breeding. The males are normally much larger than the females at full size.

(You may be able to spot from the latest picture taken today of my fry that they are starting to get the orange glow on them, especially on the fins). Remember all these fry are female and hence will look more yellowish than anything else at this stage and up until 6 months old, the sex will change as the fish develop to maturity.

Finally the sand, yes it does need doing, i stir it with a rod every water change, to be honest i dont get much pockets forming anyways as i tend not to overfeed the fish, its caused by uneaten foods sinking into the sand and rotting.

Hope it helps

 

[saboy]

Thanks for answering , sajica's are great ! Would you know if they go with severums ? do they readily breed for you ?

 

[scrappy]

Yes they are fine with Severums, Sajica are pretty friendly and peaceful fish, but fierce when breeding (when my Sajica spawned they chased off Jack Dempseys & Green Terrors).

They breed easily and often with good clean water. They look after their fry very well and even if you dont supply fry foods the parents will eat cichlid pellets, crush them up in there mouth and spit it out for the fry to feed off.

 

[vancouver]

I wish I could find them around here... they seem like really cool fish. Nice looking fry too

 

[scrappy]

Its odd because apparently they are not that commonly found for sale anywhere, but they are not expensive fish, i paid £3 for each one.

 

[vancouver]

Well they're supposed to be easy to breed.. so I don't know why they wouldn't be more readily available.. There are a few fish like that around here.. I saw rainbow cichlid once.. $20 each.. most people pay $3-$5 each for them, but I guess the suppliers that ship here don't carry them.

 

[jayjay]

both my sajica's are getting to about 2 inches more likely 1.5, at what size can you tell if their amle or female??

how big are your adults?

i thinking of gettimg some more of them as i realy like them.

in my lfs they have a tank full of them and their £4.70 each i think. some of them have really orange fins and some don't.

in the same lfs they have rainbow chiclids for £2.50 each i've got 7 in my tank and they breed for me.

 

[scrappy]

It becomes obvious which sex they will be at around 2". All Sajica will look an orange-ish colour to start with and then at around 2" the males will develop a blue/purple edge to the fins which will spread to the whole of the fins over time. The females when they become sexually mature at about 2" or so will develop a goldish fleck in their fins (you would notice the difference between the orangey and gold colour if you saw them together). This is when they are easily distinguishable. When breeding the female in particular will lose the golden flecks in her fins becoming more a white/transparent-ish colour and the body turns a very dark shade of charcoal (almost black).

Sajica will lay the eggs on a vertical rock and they will dig a pit, the reason for the pit is when the eggs start to wriggle and hatch, the Sajica will pick them off the vertical rock they were laid on and spit them into the pit, they will then feed them by feeding on normal foods and crushing the foods up in their mouths and spitting it out into the pit in a more or less powder form for the fry to feed on. Its great to watch the cycle on a daily basis

My Male is about 4.5" now and the female about 3.5", they have a little growing in them yet

 

[jayjay]

cheers for your help identifying them. i'm not sure if mine are male or female still though lol. i'm thinking if getting 2 more ???

 

[~T~]

Nice sajicas, I have only seen them for sale once here and would love to get more.I take it your not in Scotland I wish I could have bred my male cos he was a real beaut(probably the fish I miss the most)although he did father fry they were to a pink con that was supposed to be in his tank as a grow on