Well My Better Half Was Right...

[N0body Of The Goat]

Having not long come back from a long day at work, I have been greeted with the first look at my Lionhead Cichlid pair's babies!

They have a very mottles look for most of their body, with distinctive vertical barring for their rearmost third(ish). I still have not figured out how to embed video clips from either my yfrog or youtube accounts, so here's a link to a 2 minute clip of the yongsters adventuring out from underneath the Juwel chamber in the Rio240...
[video]http/yfrog.com/mymvi1119z[/video]

The most fry I've seen at one time so far is five, but in theory at least 20 eggs were spawned!

I might be looking for some homes for these youngsters in a few months

 

[Harlequins]

Congrats cute fry,here's them making it too adulthood

 

[fluffycabbage]

babies!!!

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

A proud mum was out with her youngsters this afternoon... At least 13 of them!

http/yfrog.com/7fmvi1120z

As a precaution, another species has been moved out of the Rio240, this time the wonderfully inquistitive Golden Wonder Panchax (gone into 5x2x2 tonight), who mum and dad realised were a threat today and so were darting off the tank floor to attack any killi near the water surface!

This just leaves the Yellowtails; Garras; Hypoptopoma; African Butterfly (who despite being predatory will not leave the surface, so he is fine); the two unpaired female(?) Lionheads (I really want to get them out of the Rio ASAP and quite possibly need a new home long term).

 

[Harlequins]

Aww they're so cute,fab video

 

[rdp50734]

Superb! Glad they bred! I have 3 males and 1 female and they dont seem to be interested yet! If you need a home for the females give me a shout! Congratulations on the babies!

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Thought I'd do a few update pics, two months on. These guys have grown so much in such a short space of time, the biggest must be close to 3cm SL and are so stocky compared to my Pearl Danio fry (from the summer) at that age! The survival rate has been pretty good too, I counted 11 just before grabbing the camera this evening, which is not bad at all considering I was only ever aware of 13 to begin with and I sadly saw one die in front of me when it was ~2 weeks old. There may well be 12 in there, as it is so rare to see them all grouped together anything like the photos (and upcoming video) I got tonight...











Not the best of photos, as I am awful at keeping on top of algae outbreaks on the glass since the Hypoptopoma catfish had to be moved out along with every other fish and eventually the overly aggressive "dad" who tore "mum"'s fins to shreads (she is still in there, spends an awful lot of time under the Juwel filter where the fry hatched out).

In another months time, when these guys are 3 months old, I am going to to be looking for homes for these youngsters. If anyone is provsionally intrested in rehoming any of them, get in touch via PM or add to this thread

Edit: Video clip added... http/yfrog.com/85l5ez

 

[Carlovel1]

They look very healthy
Will you sell them on?

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

I'm more intrested in knowing they goto fish keepers who know their requirements, than making profit as such. I'm not expecting any local fish store to be intrested in giving me credit for them, going on the negative repsonses I had to looking at rehoming my Barilius in the summer, so it will just be about covering the cost of a dedicated animal courier like APC (which I will need to ask "VickiandKev" about).

The tank should have moderate-strong (8-15x actual water turnover) current (with plenty of water surface rippling for high oxygen saturation); ideally something close to 22C (although they can cope with warmer temps, this does lower the oxygen saturation potential); no other cichlids present (usually quite skittish for cichlids); at least one cave per fish as they mature; something close to 15" square of floorspace per mature fish; a school of peaceful yet sturdy "dither" fish like Yellowtails or Congo Tetras (although non-native Buenos Aires and Colombian would probably be fine too)... And going on the parents, be ready to evacuate every other fish in their tank in the event of fry!

 

[Harlequins]

wow they have done well,well done you

 

[rdp50734]

They are looking good mate! Cant believe the speed they are growing! Mine seem to have stopped! But big bumps!

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Thanks for the compliemts!

This "pack" are like a flock of vultures, they eat so much food and then still act as if I've been straving them for days! To grow so quickly, their metabolism must be really high (guess to minimise predation threat as youngsters in wild), they were close to 1cm long within a week of coming out of the "cave"