We've been trying to raise up enough Cynotilapia White Top Galireyas to fill a tank and go with just those and the Msobo's in one tank. I thought the colour contrast would be great and the two species would be well suited temperament wise.

We have a trio of wild adults that we've been breeding, and adding the fry back to the main tank as they grow. We've always thrown them back in at about an inch.

There are other adult fish in the tank that we plan to remove once we have enough White Tops and Msobos to fill the tank properly...

Well, last weekend, Pete and I dumped a whole clutch (minus the ones I gave Steph) into the main tank, these guys were about an inch, and should have been fine like the others have been.

Wrong...

The Ps. zebra long pelvic was on a spawning rampage, and when I got up the next morning I found pieces of little White tops everywhere. worry wart!

It looked like they'd been shooting a sequel to "Jaws" in there. Faint

So, lesson learned...If there is over aggressive spawning action in the tank, don't add new smaller fish! That is something I had never really considered or encountered before in adding back smaller fish. I won't do it again.

Kim

Oh no, how awful. :Sad: Isn't it just heartbreaking when you spend all the time raising them and then lose them so quickly - especially when it's something you could have prevented if only you'd known?

I did something similar a while back with several of my albino greshakei. The only way I've been able to successfully add any new fish to my 75 gallon mbuna tank is to add them at around that 1 inch mark. It's always worked before, but this time when I did it, those poor little albinos were slaughtered in short order. worry wart! I felt just awful.

In this case, I'm guessing it was because they were albinos and stood out so much more than others do.

Sorry you lost your babies, Kim.

babies - that's weird, I guess we can't type the word "babie"s without that cute little smilie showing up instead?

Sorry to hear about your loss!

Thanks for sharing and warning the rest of us so
that we can prevent this from happening to us!

Thanks for sharing your story -- like PB, I immediately thought "I gotta learn from this..."

Having read this, I'm going to get my tank setup better defined before I try mixing back in my 1" Lab. Hongi fry, since their parents have rowdy neighbors like an Estherae.

And I'm still mad at myself for mixing in Tilapia mossambicus fry too soon in 1977 and getting them torn up by the ruling BB Zebra. You'd think after 30 years I'd have forgotten about it!

Just thought I would share since I know that many of us are guilty of doing this, and I know that I have even advised people before that it would be okay!

Since adult fish usually don't pay much attention to younger fish, once they reach the point of being swallowed in one bite, it SHOULD be okay.

But, with the zebra bunch in spawning mode, it was a massacre...(Seriously, heads here, tails there, bodies with chunks taken out of them...)

Sad thing is that I knew he was on a rampage before I put them in, I just didn't think he would direct it at the little ones.

There are still 5 or 6 of the little ones alive, and many 1 1/2 - 2 inchers in there, but the spawning is over and things have settled down.

And I will now warn people about situations like this when advising them on adding juvies to a tank! idunno

Kim

My sympathy's are with ya Kim sorry to hear

Its never pleasing to hear a loss of a fish wether it be one going out by way of illness or a masacre.... blinky :Sad:


I noticed recently that I had to remove my hap alhi Juvi's, and Aulonocara Maleri" juvis from my 75 gallon Mbunas tank recently because my Ps Elongatus (Yellow taile) started a Breeding Frenzy!! and was making even my Saulosi Miserable..

The Hap alhi is only in the 75 temporarily as well as the Maleri because Im waiting for them to get large enough so I can put them in my Peacock tank with the other Peacocks. But at this stage they would Chomp them up like they were dog meat.

So all my juvis are currently hanging in 2 breeding baskets in the 75gal Mbuna tank, and my Super Dom Elongatus cannot get to them !!!!
Nanananaa

What a bummer...that stinks. How many did you lose Kim?

Probably 5 or 6...I noticed over the weekend that we do still have a couple of brave little souls making their way around the tank. They don't seem to have learned anything from the initial experience, but with spawning over for a bit in the tank, they probably know it's safe.

I'd just always thought that if they couldn't eat them in one bite, they'd be fine, so I was quite surprised to find the bits and pieces and realize that a chunk out of the middle would do just fine if the adult was angry enough.

A good lesson for me on keeping juvies with non-sexually mature fish!

Kim

Well at least you learned the hard lesson :)

sry to hear that...... :( I had a similar happening, as most of us. I bought 20 Aul. Maleri from Jookz. They were all about an inch. I dropped them in my 90g with the sp44s. I did it at nigt when the lights were out and everything. I woke up to a masacre as well. Body parts everywhere, and even had 2 lying on the floor, the glass tops have a corner where the uptake for my Xp3s are, and it was so bad in there that they found the little open spot and leaped out. I wouldn't want to imagine the fear in the little guys hearts whilst it was going on. I lost 9 in total. Man it was a mad dash for the net in the morning to get the rest out. Only 5 survived when all was said and done.......

So I guess we have all been guilty of this at some point. But even when you do things correct (lights out for 2 days) when introducing new fish, bad things can still go wrong. I swear all sp44 is fight, kill and reproduce..........

Anyone want to buy a small group of sp44s? Giggly

I've done what I did a thousand times...But I could still kick myself over that one!

I really think if the spawning hadn't been going on, they would have been fine, at least until they got their bearings. I still have some really tiny ones in there, and no problems. But if I have another spawn in the tank from some of my more aggressive ones, I may lose them, too.

Kim