Woohoo!!! Breeding Malawis?

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Hairy_Trev

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Partly in celebration (?) but also to seek opinions from more experienced aquarists, I think my Peacock Malawi are breeding, but it's not how I expected things to be and seek knowledge from the more enlightened ones on the forum...

Just before Christmas, I decided to convert my largest tank (200 litre) into a Malawi tank, and although some said it was too small, many advised me that it was suitable as these fish need to be overcrowded. Everything was set up and 15 fish were ordered (with caution) from a mail order supplier in a single batch. Although I don't like to bomb a new tank with lots of inhabitants at the start, on this occasion I felt it adviseable. Having a group of fish establish themselves and then add more would be likely to have the later additions to be bullied as intruders. It seems I was wrong in this and I sadly suffered 11 casualties, but the supplier were sympathetic and with a degre of guarantee, gladly replaced the deceased, in a more cautious manner... now for the interesting stuff...

I had originally ordered male/female combinations of 6 colour varieites (12 fish), plus 3 additional females... one of which was my beautiful lady 'Nagara'. This was one of the original survivors and took on the dominant role, which continued wwith the addition of the replacement fish. Although she chases some more than others, generally things are looking good... but tonight....

I noticed 'her' and a smaller Red Blotch to be circling each other, vibtrating fins, shaking enthusiastically in one particualr area of the tank. It appeared that the smaller red fish was nuzzling and 'kissing' the underbelly of Mrs. Nagara... All other fish have been chased away and are cowering in the corners, reluctant to come near, and any intruders in their love nest are quickly repelled!!!

Now... it was my understanding that a male will dig a hole or depression in the sand, the female lays eggs in it and the male then returns to fertilise the eggs, which she then picks up and carries in her mouth... but their behaviour seems more like Cory breeding habits... With most of my fish being well coloured, I've generally used "egg spots" on the anal fin to be a guide to gender... Mrs. Nagara shows none... but certainly has extreeeeeemely bold colours... a beautiful dark, but bright metallic blue.... is 'she' really "Mr. Nagara"? The Red Blotch often swims very slowly along the rock surface as if spawning, but no sign of any eggs... she is also looking very tight-lipped, suggesting that it's holding eggs or fry.... Is it poosible that the Red (which I'll now call "she") has taken eggs into her mouth, and is now encouraging the Nagara (Now "He") to eject sperm which she can use to fertilize in her mouth?

Summary of Facts....
What I beleived to be the dark blue female Nagara, I now think is male
The Red blotch I thought was male is actually female...
The red blotch appears to be holding it's mouth tightly closed (To prevent losing it's contents?)
Also, the red appears to be encouraging the other to eject sperm...


Please tell me your thoughts...
 
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From the behaviour of the fish in the video, the blue fish is male, red fish is female. Although it's a bit hard to be 100% on the female due to my old computer freaking out over YouTube videos.

Typical breeding behaviour has a pair circling each other while the female releases eggs. She collects them up in her mouth and tries to grab the egg spots on the male's anal fin. The male releases sperm when the female touches his anal fin and she inhales the sperm, which fertilises the eggs in her mouth. This continues until all the eggs have been released and then the female swims off to find somewhere to hide.

The female holds the eggs and babies in her mouth for about 3 weeks before she lets them out to swim around. The babies can be fed newly hatched brineshrimp and microworms at this stage.

The females don't normally eat when holding eggs or young in their buccal pouch (sack in bottom of the jaw designed for holding the eggs).
 
From the behaviour of the fish in the video, the blue fish is male, red fish is female. Although it's a bit hard to be 100% on the female due to my old computer freaking out over YouTube videos.

Typical breeding behaviour has a pair circling each other while the female releases eggs. She collects them up in her mouth and tries to grab the egg spots on the male's anal fin. The male releases sperm when the female touches his anal fin and she inhales the sperm, which fertilises the eggs in her mouth. This continues until all the eggs have been released and then the female swims off to find somewhere to hide.

The female holds the eggs and babies in her mouth for about 3 weeks before she lets them out to swim around. The babies can be fed newly hatched brineshrimp and microworms at this stage.

The females don't normally eat when holding eggs or young in their buccal pouch (sack in bottom of the jaw designed for holding the eggs).
Thank you for the feedback Colin... much of what you said is what I beleived to be the case, although I thought the male fertlized the eggs where she lays them and THEN collects them in her mouth...

With regards to your other observations... The blue one I purchased as a Nagara from a supplier to be a female, although the depth of colouring being so vivid gives me doubts. Also such long a nd flowing dorsal fin suggests male, but no egg spots on the anal fin.

The behaviour witnessed and sown in the video would seem to support your comments about the female encouraging the male to release sperm. I've also noticed that the red fish now appears to have a slight 'swelling' in the throat area which I beleive is where she keeps the eggs and fry? She is also being very tight lipped and doesn't seem to be taking any notice of food...

You think I can be optimistic? Will she release the fry in the safest place she can find or just let them go and say "you're on your own now chaps!!!"?
 
Female peacock cichlids (Aulonocara sp) are never colourful like the blue one in the video. Most females are silver/ grey and while some might have a little bit of colour, they are never bright blue. That amount of blue is a male.

The female will let the babies out each day for a little while. If something threatens them, the mother will open her mouth and the babies will swim back in for safety. Over a week or two, she will let them out for longer and eventually they swim off on their own.
 
Typical breeding behaviour has a pair circling each other while the female releases eggs. She collects them up in her mouth and tries to grab the egg spots on the male's anal fin. The male releases sperm when the female touches his anal fin and she inhales the sperm, which fertilises the eggs in her mouth.

😳🤢 thank goodness I'm not a Peacock Malawi...
 
Female peacock cichlids (Aulonocara sp) are never colourful like the blue one in the video. Most females are silver/ grey and while some might have a little bit of colour, they are never bright blue. That amount of blue is a male.

The female will let the babies out each day for a little while. If something threatens them, the mother will open her mouth and the babies will swim back in for safety. Over a week or two, she will let them out for longer and eventually they swim off on their own.
I agree with the comment that females are usually a very dull colour, silver or grey... this is what I've always beleived... but the supplier made the claim that they are able to sex the fish with reasonable accuracy at the size I was buying, and that the females still show good colouration, although maybe not as bold as the males... I had wondered if they had added male hormones into their tanks to enhance female colouring... many have faded a little but still distinctly coloured... some show egg spots and others don't....
 
If the fish have lost some colour, the breeder might have been feeding them colour enahncing food, or your water quality is not good, or they need better food and more variety of food.
 
Woohoo!!! It's now been over three weeks with no further developments, so last night I cautiously (to avoid any distress) managed to isolate the female into a breeding enclosure. (a fine mesh net box over a plastic frame).
My theory was that with 10 other malawi going crazy, and the force of the pump, she was nervous of releasing her offspring into such a dangerous area.
This morning shows my theory to have been largely correct, and there was Mum, still in the breeding net, along with about 15 little babies! Mum has now been removed and hopefully the babies are going to be safe for a while in the breeding net!
The Mum is now back in the community tank and looking thin having been on starvation for clse to a month... how long before I can expect her to start feeding again and how long before she may spawn again? Will she go back to the same partner?
 
You should leave the mother and babies together until the babies are no longer allowed back n her mouth.

She should start feeding in the next day or so.

She might breed again now she has lost her kids. You do not want that to happen for at least 1 month otherwise the females can die of starvation.
 
OK... Everything seemed quite tranquil and when I netted her back out of the breeding trap, she showed no signs of concern for her kids, and didn't try to protect them again by scooping them up into her mouth again.

When I have 11 malawi in there, and this is the only sign of courtship and mating behaviour, I'm not particualrly expecting her to jump staight back into bed... She's not seeming at all weak at the moment and hopefully a few feeds inside her will help her through when she feels ready...

I'm just itching to see what colour the babies develop when the parents were two different strains. I'm feeding the babies for now on micro granules... very finely crushed flake food.

I've heard something before that the gender of babies is effected by a water parameter... not sure if it was Ph... if it's high you get mainly female and low for mainly male offspring (or the other way around)... do you know anything of this or am I just likely to get a fairly even split of boys and girls?

Also can you give any idea of what I might expect for a growth rate? How long before they're one inch long, and two inches in length for example...

Just gave the adults a feed this morning and she tucked in very enthusiastically!!! Showing promise for me!
 
Fish that come from soft acid water can show a higher proportion of males or females depending on pH, but it's not commonly seen in fish from hard water with a high pH.

I was breeding killifish, South American dwarf cichlids, barbs and rainbowfish in soft water with a pH around 7.8-8.0 and was getting around 80-90% male offspring. Other people tested this and had the same results.

With Rift Lake cichlids, I always kept them in hard water with a pH above 7.8 and always had similar numbers of male & female offspring.

-------------------------
The babies can reach 1 inch long in 2 months or less, and 2 inches long in 3 months if they are fed well. However, they need lots of good food and lots of big water changes.

I fed my baby fish with a dry food, then microworms, then newly hatched brineshrimp. They were fed 3-5 times a day and given as much food as they could eat. The babies need to look like pregnant guppies after feeding.

Keep their water warm (28C).

Big daily water changes.
 

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