I have a wild pair of Cynotilapia sp. black mbamba Lupingu.



I've had these two for about 2 - 2.5 years, and they have only spawned once. It took about a year to get them to spawn the first time, and now they have finally spawned again. Tres Bien!

I don't remember what encouraged them to spawn before, but I know what I did this time to get them in the mood. Four days ago, I did a 75% waterchange (I clean the gravel each waterchange), and Clout'd the tank, and stopped feeding the tank. *I Clout'd the tank as a precaution - I've got some fish leaving my tank and wanted to make sure I wasn't passing anything on to the next guy. I haven't had any sickness/disease/signs of bloat for quite a long time - so there was nothing wrong with the tank to speak of.*

The following day didn't do anything to the tank, and didn't feed the tank. Two days ago I noticed the female had fattened up - did some rearranging of the tank and did another water change, and still hadn't fed the tank. Yesterday, the female was still fattened up in the morning and in the afternoon/early evening she was holding.

This female held full term before and I'm hoping she will hold full term again. Unfortunately I really don't have a fry tank setup - but I have some 10's and a 20 I could toss up should really want to keep the fry (I think I want the fry).

I'm starting to wonder if the latest storms have had an effect as well on the fishes' mood. The only other spawn, at this time, is from my Lab. chisumulae, and I've waited for them to spawn for 6 - 8 months. :blink:

Why Spyder

Congrads on the spawn!I find that sometimes certain breeds spawn at certain times of the year despite what I may try to do to encourage them(waterchanges,moving the tank around,earthworm flake etc)then its seems every spring or summer these fish are non stop producing fry.My Periloucus are a prime example they only spawn in April and June .It has been like that now for three years.So with that being said dont worry about when your fish spawn.When they are ready they will do it as you have just witnessed



Again great work on the spawn and lets see some pics of those fry when they get a little bigger

Derek

Congrats, Why Spider!

Very interesting effect from the Clout and water changes!

Derek, its funny that you said some of your fish only spawn in April and June,
maybe that's why my Saulosi haven't spawned now for nearly 8 months.

Largemouth bass only spawn once a year at a certain water temperature so
I guess our beloved cichlids have their own internal regulators for spawning as well.

Thanks for sharing, Why Spider, and let's see some fry pics if possible!

BTW, beautiful fish!

I've only encountered this with one species in the past, and they were Cynotilapias, too.

How large was the last spawn?

I never got more than 10 fry at a time from these full adult wild fish.

Just wondered if your clutches were small, too, Brian???

Kim,

I believe my last spawn was around the 20 mark. For some reason, when my F1's spawned I got more, and they were/are smaller females than the wild (by a good 1" or so). It could also have to do with the age of the fish, when wilds come in, you don't know just how old they are...

That is very true.Having brought in many varients of Wild caught fish most of them would be considered teenagers so to speak.Larry tells me that that is what Stuart Grants Facility collects and ships.

As far as it only happening with Cynos well I cant say that is my experience.I had Cynos,Melanochromis,Metriaclima Pseudotropheus all do this type of behavior.The only one that I havent seen this is in the Haps species

Derek

Well,I find that well fed fish would rather eat!
Leave them alone and forget feeding them for a couple days and they start to breed.
A good water change is always a good bet,,,if you have some fry tanks open (LOL) as this would keep them full.
When I was living in the city and on that water source, I found that while I was filling the tanks on water change days, some fish like Melanochromis started to spawn before the tank was actually full,,,but this never happened with Cynotilapia's here in the country on harder water.
Feed the girls up for a couple weeks,,,do a good water change then lay off the feeding for a few days and see if it happens again!
Now,when I get busy at work,and leave things alone or ignore the fish for a couple days,this is when I find the mouthfuls.Although with the warmer season coming (?) I find that the temperature increase sets them off as well.
When the night time temperatures stay above 74oF I leave the basement windows open all the time.

Cheers,Larry

Well, the female ended up spitting/swallowing, but I had a different Cyno. female start holding.

I've really cut back on feeding, one time a day, feeding only a couple of times a week. I'm still doing waterchanges about every 2-3 days. All the males of the tank are lit up like Christmas trees and acting like they've been munching on Viagra.... On the Floor Laughing


We'll see how things go this week...

Giggly Giggly Giggly Giggly Giggly Giggly Giggly
Ya I bet they are with all that fresh water!
At this point they probably don't even think about food.

Cheers,Larry

Just another good reason to stop feeding - it's just a waste of food...