Thorichthys maculipinnis (ellioti) spawning

FishForums.net Pet of the Month
🐶 POTM Poll is Open! 🦎 Click here to Vote! 🐰

Gem(:

New Member
Joined
May 29, 2020
Messages
25
Reaction score
7
Location
Northern Ireland
Hey all,
Thought I would share my good news with you all.
My 2 beautiful cichlids are in the middle of spawning! I was watching my tank and noticed my female ellioti (Ellie) kept popping up behind the wood. Took a closer look and she's laying eggs! Elliot is following her, fertilising them! Although he seems to be missing them quite a bit but for their first go, they're doing quite well! I am actually so happy I mean, this means they're happy fish doesn't it? I am going to upload a little video of them too
 
Ahh it won't allow me to post the file. Its an mp4 file and I don't know how to get it in an allowed type of file? I will add photos instead...
 

Attachments

  • VideoCapture_20200627-160233.jpg
    VideoCapture_20200627-160233.jpg
    170.9 KB · Views: 95
  • VideoCapture_20200627-160228.jpg
    VideoCapture_20200627-160228.jpg
    160.7 KB · Views: 109
Don't keep too many babies alive because you won't be able to get rid of them. Keep 20-50 young and let the rest get eaten. It sounds horrible but shops will only buy 10-20 at a time and they don't sell fast. If you have 500 young you will need to hold them until you can rehome them.
 
Don't keep too many babies alive because you won't be able to get rid of them. Keep 20-50 young and let the rest get eaten. It sounds horrible but shops will only buy 10-20 at a time and they don't sell fast. If you have 500 young you will need to hold them until you can rehome them.
I am just leaving them to it, it's their first time spawning. There's no other fish in the tank either. I cant see them all being fertilised due to the male missing lots of them. He is a greedy guts and is too busy looking for food lol for every 4-5 times she's circles, he does it once. Typical male, more interested in food. I am just going to see what happens. I will keep the thread updated and will also be looking advice due to this being my first spawn.
 
Congrats :) always exciting - dont worry if they dont get the hang of it this time round they will get there soon. You'll soon see wrigglers and then a cloud of fry surrounding the parents as they patrol around the tank. I would watch the male and how aggressive he could be to the female Thoricthys species as they can be problematic - do you have any other tanks you could put one or the other in if it became an issue?

Like Colin said eventually you will end up inundated with youngsters and they can be hard to move on (especially at the moment).
 
Congrats :) always exciting - dont worry if they dont get the hang of it this time round they will get there soon. You'll soon see wrigglers and then a cloud of fry surrounding the parents as they patrol around the tank. I would watch the male and how aggressive he could be to the female Thoricthys species as they can be problematic - do you have any other tanks you could put one or the other in if it became an issue?

Like Colin said eventually you will end up inundated with youngsters and they can be hard to move on (especially at the moment).
Hi, thanks for the reply.
Yes I have another tank just in case. There doesn't seem to be any issues with them both at the minute. They are getting on and also doing their jobs right. Mum guards and fans while dad checks/watches the opposite side of tank. Then dad will sit with eggs and mum will go eat ( I presume thats what she's doin) if dad comes out to her she runs back to the eggs lol. Its so cute to watch.
I'm gonna see what happens with the fry and how many survive. If the numbers are super high, I will take some out as food, maybe let them raise a bunch that will go to the pet shop or lfs. That all depends on how many survive. I wanted to witness this and for them to have the experience, however I'm not planning on keeping all the fish. So will follow what Colin said yesterday.
 
Cool :) sounds like you are well set up. Keep us updated! Some pics would be cool too :)
 
Congratulations, I also had bread cichlids and they over ran my 55 gallon tank. I had 8 that were rescues and they started to have fry. I ended up giving around 30 or more to the LFS and another 20 to friends. I had over 50 fry that made it to adulthood.
 
Little update-
Parents are still doing well. No sign of aggro between them. Quite a few of the eggs didn't get fertilised as they have gone white. But they are in the most awkward place in the tank that she could have picked. Adding a little photo of the eggs now. Will get a photo of the parents when it's feeding time.
 

Attachments

  • VideoCapture_20200629-120342.jpg
    VideoCapture_20200629-120342.jpg
    142.4 KB · Views: 84
Another little update-

Mother has now moved the eggs to a pit. I can't get pictures as its between 2 rocks in another awkward place. Will keep my eye on the site to see if i see any wrigglers or swimmers over the next few days.

Another thing I find really interesting is how the parents really show their dark bars when they are warning me away. Its the only time I've ever really seen them, especially so dark. I've been keeping the tank covered to minimise stress for them both. The light has been on for them but on low so its not too bright.
 
There's not normally any reason to cover the tank. The fish get use to people moving around and stop caring about you being in the room. If you have the tank covered all the time, the fish become shy and nervous whenever you go in the room.
 
There's not normally any reason to cover the tank. The fish get use to people moving around and stop caring about you being in the room. If you have the tank covered all the time, the fish become shy and nervous whenever you go in the room.

Hi,
It was only for the first day and wasn't all day long. I would cover it for a couple hours then take it off. Hasn't made them nervous. The mum seems to come out to eat better when its covered. They don't see their reflections when its covered so they aren't as stressed. Just thought with it being their first time, I would help reduce stress. It worked though. I could still peep thru and they were settled and guarding while cover was on. When its off they dart about warning off their reflections. Its not goin on today as its been a few days now so I'm sure she's used to parent duties by now.

I fed them some frozen worms last night, mum really wanted them. Dad is very greedy so had to try keep him away so mum could get some.

Any suggestions on what food to get for the fry for when they're ready?
 

Most reactions

trending

Staff online

Back
Top