Again, not the best pics but thought you guys might like to see some pretty little parents guarding their eggs!

They really show amazing colouring once they mature, and are quickly becoming one of my favourite fish of all time.

Right before the spawn...




During the spawn - notice the eggs on the white rock below them:




I absolutely love these little ones, and they've finally won over Pete, too!

If you don't have any, clear out a tank and make room! You won't be sorry!

Kim

i have two, but think they may be same gender as they never hang out with each other and fight when they do come in contact. How do I sex them?

Great pics, Kim and congratulations on the spawn! the Clap

What will you do with all those fry? blinky

Yeah, how do you sex them? Hmmmm

I can't sex them...

yodahorn, if you still frequent CF at all, pm blairo1 with pics and he'll tell you what you've got, or post pics here and Klaus may be able to tell you.

The only time I know who is who is when I see HER laying eggs and HIM fertilizing them! Giggly

By far, one of my favourite tiny cichlids!

How long have you had yours? Do they get along? How big are they?

Kim

preacherboy, I just give them all away!

They take forever to grow out. I have ones that are about 7 months old now that are only about an inch.

Kim

I've had them about 3 weeks. They are just over 2" long. I saw them fighting the other day and they hang out in opposite corners or 1 in the cave and the other on the other side of the tank.

They are a cute couple, Kim. I can't remember, are these your only spawning pair?

I wasn't so lucky with mine. I ended up with three males. One didn't make it, but I still have the other two. They don't like each other, but as long as the smaller one stays on his side of the tank, he isn't picked on by the other.

Yodahorn and preacherboy, one way of sexing them is by their vent area. These are my males. Can you see that tiny little thing sticking out?





I believe the females will be more rounded and not as severe an angle, but Blair has an article or topic on CF that does a nice job of explaining it.

Looks like some really nice colour on that one, Aura!

Perhaps the reason I can't sex mine is because I can't see that??? I should really wear my glasses more often!

Aura, we have two adult pairs. I just picked up 4 random rams and got lucky and they paired off. This pair are really good parents, my other pair is not so good. Everytime they spawn, you can literally watch them pick a fight with each other after they are done. I think they have a love/hate relationship...Within 48 hours the eggs will disappear, I assume they are eating them.

I've heard that it's really hard to get a pair that are good parents, so I guess I got lucky with my one pair. They will guard those eggs/fry against anything in the tank...

I have alot of rams in the tank this time, since I've introduced that first bunch of fry that I got 7 months ago back into the tank. It's very busy and very active, and I really like the look of it.

I'm still looking for more silk plants to put in there with them!

Kim

Wow, these little guys must like the TLC they are getting in your house the Clap the Clap

The fry are tiny black eyes at this point and have been moved twice. They are now in a pit they dug out in the sand, near the rock where the eggs were laid. By tomorrow they should be free swimming.

Their biggest threat is one of their older siblings, who seemed determined to check things out for a couple of days, but the parents must have made a believer out of him, because they now have the entire end of the 55G to themselves.

It will be interesting to see how and if they survive in this tank with all the fish.

I'm going to hold off on removing them this time and see what happens.

Kim