# Brichardis won't breed...



## ShiroYuki (Jan 29, 2013)

Hello

My name is Herman, I just joined this forum today to learn more about specific breeds of cichlids. First off I have a problem with getting my brichardi cichlids to breed. I've had them for a year and a half now...

My setup:
-40 gallon tank
-waterchanges weekly with gravelvac
-ph lvl of between 7.5-8.2
-aquascape is filled with white aquarium sand 2mm granule size and lots of coral rocks which form a network of caves/crevaces
-filtration is with a airpump coupled to a reactive charcoal filter, and a electrical underwater pump

Inhabitants:
- a male and female brichardi(they may need couples counceling) :/
-the male is 4inches from mouth to tip of tail fin
-the female is 3inches from mouth to tip of tail fin

Feeding program:
- I feed them cichlid bits in the mornings and bloodworms or brineshrimp in the evenings

In detail explanation of the problem:
They seem to flirt and nip eachother playfully all the time, the build their nests(move sand out off the nest) but when the female starts laying eggs the male eats them...I've tried to divorce this couple and get them to pair with other brichardis but my efforts were futile...

Any help would be appreciated 

If I learn how to upload pics I will soon enough

Thnx in advance
Herman


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

I read elsewhere that your tank doesn't get above 75F. Is this true? What is the temperature normally?


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## Frazee86 (Aug 1, 2010)

Does your Ph fluctuate between 7.5-8.2? Or is that the best guess of what it is? If its always changing between that range wouldn't think it would be to good for the fishies


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## ShiroYuki (Jan 29, 2013)

Hello guys, thanx for replying...seems you guys are too hardcore about fish to greet first?

Yes it never goes above 75, I've read somewhere that 72 is optimum for breeding? Is this correct or do I have to make adjustments?

As for the pH, I'm guessing, because over here the LFS does not test water...I have these pellets to make the tank brakish, it says 8.5 but I'm not too sure if the tank is actually 8.5 atm. I crush the pellets and throw the powder into a stocking which I tie off into a ball and place near my mechanical filter in the tank...

Herman


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

Brackish means salty water. While there are some "salts" in lake Tanganyika, most of it isn't of the "salt" type and if the tank is anywhere near brackish it is a surprise if they are still alive. Lake Tanganyika has a temperature range of 75-84F where the fish live. Your ideal temperature is 78F. If you've been keeping that low, it is probably inhibiting the fish from spawning.

You shouldn't be putting in additives, and guessing as to what the ph, salt or other things are. If your tap water is above 7.6ph, I wouldn't be adding in anything to the tank.


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## ShiroYuki (Jan 29, 2013)

The additives are for african cichlids, I meant brakkish as in higher ph, sorry for the misunderstanding

My tap water is neutral to slightly acidic fogelhund. Must I only add stuff to take out the chlorine in the water then?

As for the temp, I will raise that a few notches to between 75-80

Thanks


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## Floridagirl (Jan 10, 2008)

78 is a good temp, IMO. Here is a link to an inexpensive cichlid buffer.


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## ShiroYuki (Jan 29, 2013)

Thanks


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## finnyas (Nov 11, 2002)

Hi,
Yep I would only add chlorine/chloramine remover to your water pre addition to tank. When I had my brichardis initially I had a problem getting them to breed as well.
I was cleaning the tank with water changes as frequently as you. When I reduced the water changes to once and month and only kept the glass clean then the brichardis started breeding like crazy.
It might sound crazy but my experience says they need a bit of a "dirty" tank. 
Give it a shot see what happens.


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## Frazee86 (Aug 1, 2010)

I would also invest in an at home test kit to test your water so you arnt guessing what your lvls are. For instance my Ph out of tap is 7.8 after it sits for 24hrs it's 8.2. I tested it by sitting it in a cup with an airstone. If your changing the water in large amounts and the Ph is going up and down they may be unhappy enough not to bread for you


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## ShiroYuki (Jan 29, 2013)

Aha!  thanx guys! This helps a lot!

One thing that cracks my noodle, the behaviour of the male, why would he eat the eggs as soon as the female lays them ? Stress maybe? I can't see why though, they have a whole room to themselves for privacy almost the whole day long when I'm at college ?

I'll get a test kit and test the water, also do less water changes...

What do you guys feed your brichardi's?

And also how do I upload photos, or should I upload with photobucket and post links to the photos here?


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## ratbones86 (Jun 29, 2012)

i feed mine a high protein cichlid pellet and also you can feed them mysis shrimp brine shrimp and other foods like that but only maybe twice a week as a treat


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## Floridagirl (Jan 10, 2008)

We suggest you upload your images at one of these web sites:
http://www.imgur.com
http://www.photobucket.com
http://www.flickr.com

Next steps

1. After the upload is complete, view the photo you wish to post here. Right-click on the picture and then select Properties. Copy the Address (URL).

2. On this board, above where you type your message, click on the IMG button and paste the URL between the tags:

Code:









3. THEN, before you SUBMIT your post, be sure to PREVIEW it first. You should see the image. If not, double check your code.


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## ShiroYuki (Jan 29, 2013)

Thnx floridagirl,

@ ratbones, bloodworms any good?


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## ShiroYuki (Jan 29, 2013)

Okay... Murphy is a real *******...(Murphy's law)

I have eggs on the side of their cave !!! Its about time!!! And this happened before I planned to do the stuff you guys told me to do lol...I think these guys knew it was now or back to the lfs hahaha

Ps both of them seem really dedicated parents 

I'm not going to disturb them now...I don't want them to eat the eggs because of stress

I will post pics soon,

Herman


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## Cooder (Jul 19, 2011)

Oh well thats good, definitely leave them alone with the eggs.

Frozen bloodworms are ok, but dont feed live ones and dont feed them too often, live worms can sometimes carry diseases. if you feed them alot they can get a bit fat.

Also, on Photobucket, on right hand side when you view your image there is a little window with Image Links at the top. Click on the IMG link and it will be copied. straight in your post, copy that link in and your image should show, the easiest way i know.


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## ShiroYuki (Jan 29, 2013)

They ate all the eggs...


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

ShiroYuki said:


> They ate all the eggs...


Quite normal for the first spawn or two. At least they've started.


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## Darkskies (Mar 17, 2012)

If you're not particularly attached to these fish you can return them to the LFS and buy 6 new brichardi. Let these grow up in your tank and once they get to breeding age it will be more of a surety that they'll have formed a strong pair bond. It's not very often that Brichardi continually eat their eggs. It might be some idiosyncrasy that's specific to the two fish you have(or just the male anyway). Brichardi are supposed to be very easy to breed, even in water with lower pHs and temperatures.


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## ShiroYuki (Jan 29, 2013)

Thank you guys

@ darkskies I think you are right, I'm going to give them another week or two, if they don't spawn again and actually hatch the eggs this time, its the lfs for them, and I will have to order others. Thanks for the straight forward answer I needed.

Herman


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## ratbones86 (Jun 29, 2012)

dont feel bad man i bought 6 brichardi and they killed of the 3 extra males and i'm left with 1 male and 2 females and they haven breed yet. its all about time. Takes practice for them to get it right. at least yours have tried lol mine are about 6-7 months old so i still have a litl while yet before they start breeding for me.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

ShiroYuki said:


> Thank you guys
> 
> @ darkskies I think you are right, I'm going to give them another week or two, if they don't spawn again and actually hatch the eggs this time, its the lfs for them, and I will have to order others. Thanks for the straight forward answer I needed.
> 
> Herman


I'd give it a few months before exchanging them.


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## ratbones86 (Jun 29, 2012)

like fogelhund said give it another month or two. Don't give up on them. It takes pratice. You wouldn't give up o your wife if she couldn't do it right the first time now would ya? lol i know its not a good analogie but it works lol.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

Congrats! They will fill the tank soon! Once this spawn is over and the eggs are fry, I would suggest putting some slate caves in there. They love it!


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## ShiroYuki (Jan 29, 2013)

O wei...its been a while now and there's no sign of any spawning going on, the male did have a big "fight" with the female, luckily only a small section of her tail fin got ripped off. Since then the female and the male changed their "caves"...the male now lives among the rock pile and the female lives in the big cave. They seemed to have made up and the male got real anxious last week and started spitting sand out of the big cave and cleaning one side of the cave wall...but that is all...these fish really twist my noodle...really nothing like my wifes african jewels...she bought two and after half a day they had eggs, never stopped breeding since...

I really don't think its a matter of maturity, because the male is almost 4" long and the female is 2 and a half"...

Some people say change water infrequently others say do it frequently, etc etc...what I get from this info is that they shouldn't at their "age" have a problem spawning whatever I do, I keep the ph and temp stable, I keep the tank clean, I feed them high protein crisps twice a day in small amounts, and on fridays they get freezed blood worms to up the protein in their diet...its not like I'm horrible to them...

I'm phoning around for a lfs with a breeding pair, or a couple of juviniles around 2" long


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## ratbones86 (Jun 29, 2012)

I have a trio in my tank and the other female had been hiding up by the top of the tank so i'm thinking mine are starting to get ready to breed just might of gotten a non paired group is my guess


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## ShiroYuki (Jan 29, 2013)

Can't be it started off with four brichardis almost two years ago, those two picked each other and almost killed the other two before I could get them out of the tank and back to the lfs...ai


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Oldest trick in the book. Suprised no one has mentioned it.
Pop some young ones in with the pair.
Usualy kick starts breeding. Next is food prawn eggs often kick start breeding.
Not that I particularly like the idea of breeding em in any old water at any old temperature (kind of making life hard for yourself) and kind of worried your female is so very small. Usualy quite hard to sex and very similar in size.

We are talking Neolamprologus brichardi yes?

All the best James


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## ShiroYuki (Jan 29, 2013)

Hello James

Thanks for the tips, and yes neolamprologus brichardi


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## anthraxx4200 (Aug 16, 2012)

the two single tricks i have for getting my tangs to breed (protein type diets only, never got troph's) is either hatching live baby brine shrimp which is easy to do and theres plenty of info for making your own online. or to get yourself some hikari discus formula. i know it sounds off but the high protein diet, great mix of stuff also, plus the color boosters (tangs can be bland imo) can REALLY boost em into overdrive. *** used it on all my tangs pretty much forever now, works on brichardi, shellies, & julies. even if you have to order it give it a shot, i know u and your fish wont be dissapointed. i will caution you, once they go for this stuff they may not take other pellets (its a softer pellet and they seem to prefer it)


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Interesting I have not tried Hikari discus food with less veggie Tangs. Could well be great I dunno.
Many guys stick with NLS in the US and New Era - Red in the UK but those being so expensive dunno may be worth a try. 8)

All the best James


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## ShiroYuki (Jan 29, 2013)

Ran into a problem the other day, the male kind of rejected the female, he pushed her into the top right corner of the tank, so I took both fish out in seperate containers, and decided I needed to clean and re-decorate, I replaces the fine silica sand with fine black sand and rearanged the decor, then I introduced the female, and gave her two hours to settle into the tank before introducing the male, now they're flirting again, and seem all lovey dovey...anyhow...their "lovenest" will be crashed soon by 4 new bricardis I've ordered from the lfs...

Any advice on how to introduce the new fish so that I can maximise the chances of a new pair bond forming?


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## ratbones86 (Jun 29, 2012)

Leave lights off for about 3 hours or longer to calm the fish to to start their night cycle. Then float your fish. You'll probably have a problem introducing new fish with them already having their territory now. Might wanna rearange it again when u put the new fish in with the lights out. Then once u get them in leave lights out for another couple hours then turn on and see how they did lol.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

I would take out the existing fish, and isolate them, particularly if they are bigger than the new fish. The existing male might lay a beating to all the new fish.


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Fogelhund said:


> I would take out the existing fish, and isolate them, particularly if they are bigger than the new fish. The existing male might lay a beating to all the new fish.


Sure he will. But that maybe just the thing to seal the pair bond. Dunno if having probs with an undersized mate he may select one of the newcomers. N.brichardi lives are pretty violent untill regularly breeding and raising young. Even then there are young contenders to deal with. Kind of why I like em in bigger tanks. Dom pair breeding, others just helping if they know whats good for em.
You can breed em as just pairs removing all young but its not how they evolved to breed and live.

All the best James


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## ShiroYuki (Jan 29, 2013)

Would taking out the current female and placing her in another tank the day before I introduce the new fish help?

Its okay if a male gets chased out, I will get him out before he gets torn to shreds and put him with the current female, that i placed in the other tank. Any fish that gets chaced out aka rejected will be put in the other tank, if he rejects all of them i will try to form a pair bond with a new male if i get any....getting them the day after tomorrow.

Thanx for all the info and help, will kkeep you guys posted 

Herman


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