Julidochromis Hybrids

[fry_lover]

HELLO HYBRID FORUM!!!!!

I started the thread off in the African Section http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=211423&hl=

to try and get some specific knowledge on Julidochromis. I have bred Marleiri before, but now i have hybrid fry from Marleiri and Dickfeldi.

My debate is this....

There are in with Malawi and thus far mum and dad seem to be doing a good job with the fry. I would esitmate the fry have only been free swimming for 4-5 days so they are still tiny, BUT the fry are beginning to venture out a bit and sometimes it looks (just for a second) like mum and dad are letting them fend for themselves.

I wanted to leave them in there, and see if they successfully raised then and if they DIDNT i would know the intervene next time as i want to see how these fry come out and grow them on for myself.

So i am wondering if i should syphon some out now? I can see about 10-15, and i figure i could grab about 7-10 and leave the rest to mum and dad.

A tricky operation! But i would just hate to find out that all the fry got eaten.

I am being impatient and not sticking to my original plan of "leaving it be".

Even though the tank is 48x20x22 and both parents are currently guarding i just cant see the fry surviving with over 30 Malawi in the tank? There is quite a bit of ocean rock and lava rock, but not enough to sustain the fry i fear.

And i am just wondering, will the Julidochromis be up to the job of rearing them to a size big enough for them to be ok?

Who knows? Gosh, thats the tough bit......

I also dont like the idea of syphoning fry, i have done it lots of times with convicts and always lose about 10% of the fry in the process.

 

[fry_lover]

UPDATE (long post, possibly of interest only to me )

Well, last night i needed to take out the Malawi i am moving on (Kenyi x3, Chipokae x1), i thought it was as good as time as ever to nab the Hybrid Fry as i want to grow them on, and i didnt want to leave it to "mother nature" so to speak.

Anyway, thought i would syphon them out of where mum is guarding them, after a couple of efforts (and i could have sworn i got some but i didnt) i had to go into "plan b" and start moving rock and use the net. The rock was all coming out anyway to catch the fish i needed to catch.

Ooops, i dont know why this came as such a suprise to me, but as soon i moved the lava rock they were near, all they fry bolted and it suddenly became "every fry for himself"

By now all the other fish were getting suspicious about the movement and before i knew it i had fish chasing fry everywhere, and i was GUTTED, figured i'd blown my chance.

From what i had seen, there was about 10-12 Fry available, i know Julie's can have very small broods, so this seemed about right

Anyway................ i went from thinking i was going to get ZERO (which was gutting as i have been watching them everyday, waiting for the time to grab them for my growing on tank, which would then hopefully encourage the Julie's to breed AGAIN), to getting 11 in total

Basically i got x6 after i had moved all the rock out of tank, obviously the fish are so rattled by having all the rock taken out and too busy to chase fry, so in the middle of the all the mayhem i netted 6 fry, and was delighted just have got x6

Then to top off an evening which had gone from "gutted" to "happy" i put all the lava rock in one 50 litre bucket and all the ocean rock in another 50 litre bucket.

The bucket with Lava Rock also had about 1" of water in (not intentionally)

After i put all the Lava Rock back in tank, i was just about to chuck the 1" of water back in tank, when i noticed some movement, its was a Julie Hybrid Fry, and not only that i found x5 bringing my total tally to x11

I guess the fry hid INSIDE the Lava Rock so to speak? How they managed to stay in the Lava Rock and survive as i whipped it out the tank and virtually through it in the bucket is a mystery. As you may know, Lava Rock is very light, hence why i was throwing it around a bit and into the bucket.

I know its only fry, and only x11 and only hybrids, but this is a little "project" for me now, and at one point last night i thought it had all gone "belly up"

So now, if i grow these x11 or how many of them into a decent size, i will always remember the night i done my "smash and grab" raid on their parents I am hoping they will breed again, and this time i might leave it longer to see if the they end up guarding the fry successfully to the 1.5 to 2cm size.