Multifasciatus Not Breeding

[ctrif]

I have 5 multis in their own tank. Complete with a variety of shells and crushed coral. They dig, they burry there shells but no breeding. I haven't seen any share a shell, though sometimes they swim up to each others shells and the owner will defend it.

Anything I can do to entice them? They have grown larger since I first got them so I am sure they are mature now. Not sure how to tell males from females. Maybe I was really unlucky and got 5 of the same sex?

Mel

 

[Fella]

I have 5 multis in their own tank. Complete with a variety of shells and crushed coral. They dig, they burry there shells but no breeding. I haven't seen any share a shell, though sometimes they swim up to each others shells and the owner will defend it.

Anything I can do to entice them? They have grown larger since I first got them so I am sure they are mature now. Not sure how to tell males from females. Maybe I was really unlucky and got 5 of the same sex?

Mel

How big is the tank?

Mine didn't breed for a couple of months, but then I moved the tank setup around. I changed the single group of shells into 2 groups, broken by line of sight, at opposite ends of the tank. Within less than a week I have had 20+fry.

I think it would be unlikely you got 5 males, or 5 females. Do any of them look considerably bigger than the others? They would be the males if they do, typically.

What shells are you using also? Water parameters ok? any other tankmates?

 

[freddyk]

I haven't seen any share a shell,

These guys don't share shells, so don't worry about that.

Of course, ensuring you have males and females is the first thing, the difference being as fella states. Water parameters can have a big affect on breeding. Make sure your ph is above 8, and your gh is above 10.

 

[finfare]

I have 5 multis in their own tank. Complete with a variety of shells and crushed coral. They dig, they burry there shells but no breeding. I haven't seen any share a shell, though sometimes they swim up to each others shells and the owner will defend it.

Anything I can do to entice them? They have grown larger since I first got them so I am sure they are mature now. Not sure how to tell males from females. Maybe I was really unlucky and got 5 of the same sex?

Mel

I'm in the same boat at you. Have about 5 multi's. They spawned for me only once. Not again.
The first time they were in a heated tank. About 80F. Now they're in a the same size tank at 73F.
They have the same shells as before. They're doing well, but not increasing in numbers. I'll guess
at this one. Maybe a higher temp. or better food (I feed mine a high quality "chunky" flake.) I'm
also going to add some larger shells in case the original ones have become to small for them.
The multi's have become a bit larger. Try one step at a time and see what happens: maybe
some live brine shrimp; or an increase in temp; larger housing. I'm still new at these East-
Africans. They are a very different fish from the tropical "norm" type of fish. I really like my
multi's, but if you have a chance at some occelatus "gold" grab them! Frequent water changes.
but not major water changes are also suggested by a lot of web sites.

I hope one of these work for you.

finfare.

 

[ctrif]

I have 5 multis in their own tank. Complete with a variety of shells and crushed coral. They dig, they burry there shells but no breeding. I haven't seen any share a shell, though sometimes they swim up to each others shells and the owner will defend it.

Anything I can do to entice them? They have grown larger since I first got them so I am sure they are mature now. Not sure how to tell males from females. Maybe I was really unlucky and got 5 of the same sex?

Mel

I'm in the same boat at you. Have about 5 multi's. They spawned for me only once. Not again.
The first time they were in a heated tank. About 80F. Now they're in a the same size tank at 73F.
They have the same shells as before. They're doing well, but not increasing in numbers. I'll guess
at this one. Maybe a higher temp. or better food (I feed mine a high quality "chunky" flake.) I'm
also going to add some larger shells in case the original ones have become to small for them.
The multi's have become a bit larger. Try one step at a time and see what happens: maybe
some live brine shrimp; or an increase in temp; larger housing. I'm still new at these East-
Africans. They are a very different fish from the tropical "norm" type of fish. I really like my
multi's, but if you have a chance at some occelatus "gold" grab them! Frequent water changes.
but not major water changes are also suggested by a lot of web sites.

I hope one of these work for you.

finfare.

Thanks everyone for your info. I have since tested the water and gh.

ph is about 8.3
gh is 18 (could be 19 lost count). Is this problem?
Temperature 22 celcius

Tank 65 litres. There is 1 other bristlenose in it to keep the algae down. On the last clean I moved a couple of shells and will add a new large one tomorrow.

 

[cometcattle]

Your temp (22 Celsius) seems rather low.

My Mutlties have been breeding like rabbits at about 26 - 26.5 Celsius. My Ph is about 7.6 - 7.8 out of the tap, and I've never tested gh. I feed O.S.I. Cichlid flake and Hikari frozen bloodworms as their primary diet.

If you have pics, we might be able to sex them for you.

 

[aberdeen aquarist]

There is 1 other bristlenose in it to keep the algae down.

that maybe your culprit, multies have very small fry and the bristlenose may have eaten any it found. when i say small fry, i mean miniscule, like 1mm long when hatched, and they look like black specks of dust on the substrate.

other than that, are all your fish the same size, if so chances are they are all the same sex, my males were about 1 1/2 times the size of the females.

 

[ctrif]

There is 1 other bristlenose in it to keep the algae down.

that maybe your culprit, multies have very small fry and the bristlenose may have eaten any it found. when i say small fry, i mean miniscule, like 1mm long when hatched, and they look like black specks of dust on the substrate.

other than that, are all your fish the same size, if so chances are they are all the same sex, my males were about 1 1/2 times the size of the females.

I don't think so because I haven't seen much pairing. Most of the time they swim up to someone elses territory raise their fins at each other and then swim back.

I tried taking photos for sexing but it was too hard. Might try again with another camera later.

On the next water change I will try to increase the temperature.

 

[Snowie]

What size are they? Aren't multi females a lot smaller than the males?

 

[finfare]

The Multi's I have are about an inch and a half. The dominant male is a bit bigger than the rest.

I believe the rest to be females and non-dominant males. I'm new to these East Africans, so I'm

just reporting what I've observed. I've a long way to go before I'll understand alot of their behaviors.



finfare:

 

[aberdeen aquarist]

can you tell us if there is a significant size difference in your fish, that is the easiest way to tell male from female.

 

[Missus]

In our multi tank, they started breeding like crazy once the females each had their own territory and group of shells sorted out. A bit of tank rearrangement and the next thing you know we've got tons of baby fry swimming around!

Before that the females spent most of their time swimming up to each other and fighting over territory, I guess once they didn't have to do that they could concentrate their energies elsewhere

It's not anything I've read anywhere, it just seems that the tank rearrangement and the fish breeding were linked in some way