# Venustus breeding



## abugjo (Aug 8, 2005)

I bought a male Venustus a while back he was vented at the time and just recently I bought a gravid female for him. He does not seem interested in her at all he is about 4 inches. I was just wondering how long will it take her to drop her eggs and if he is not interested will she have problems? I am really worried that she may become egg bound and I cannot find out a lot of information on the subject. She looks like she may explode she is holding so many eggs. I am just worried about her well-being and I cannot figure out why he would not be interested in her. I have them housed in a 120 gallon Hap/Peacock show tank. There is a lot of activity in this tank.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Malawi are harem breeders, maybe he needs more females. How long have they been together?


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## FishAreFriends (Dec 23, 2004)

If he is in a 120 with other haps and peacocks then expect to have a cross breeding occur. And adding more females isnt going to help if you are trying to strictly breed venustus, as the dominant male in the tank is most likely going to breed with a female is who ready to breed. Your best bet if you are trying to breed the venustus is to setup a species only tank and have one male for about 3-4 females.


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## abugjo (Aug 8, 2005)

I do not know of any species that would cross breed with a Venusutus. Right now there is a Tawain Reef and S Fryeri in the tank as far as Haps the rest are peacocks. They have only been toghether for about 3 days. My concern is for the females well being. She is so full of eggs she looks like she is in pain and is having a hard time swimming. I wonder if the male is to young still he just does not seem insterested. I have had these fish in the past and they usually are very agressive towards the females he barly even looks at her. He is the most placid venusutus that I have ever had. Any suggestions would be great.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Haps will crossbreed with pretty much any other hap, especially if there are not sufficient females. Is it possible she has bloat or a disease instead of being gravid?


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## FishAreFriends (Dec 23, 2004)

Is the venustus the dominant fish in the tank? Yes or no? And to say you dont know of any fish that will cross with a venustus is really putting a blanket on the subject if you will. I have witnessed haps breeding with peacocks and vice versa. If it lays eggs, you will most likely have a hybrid happening if you dont control whats going on. As for your female being so fat that she looks to be in pain, maybe she has bloat or another such illness. In all my years of breeding, females never looked to be in pain or have problems swimming at all. This should be cause for concern. Seeing is how you have only had her a few days and you put her into a tank with other males of different species, she may be really stressed. This could be the issue.


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## abugjo (Aug 8, 2005)

He is not the dominat fish in the tank that right is reserved by the Tawain reef. And i am sorry that you think that I was putting a blanket on my statement that I did not know Haps and Peacocks could cross breed but I was unware of that. I have never seen or heard of that until now so that was a true statement. Even though it shows my ignorence. Still no one has answered my questions how do you treat her if she is egg bound or what happens if she will not drop her eggs? Also what is the breeding size for a male Venustus? I know that they do not usually breed until they are older but at what size usually is that?


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## PGA material (Apr 3, 2003)

4 inches is a juvie venustus IMO. I have been raising a trio out and my male is about 5 or 6 inches now and just starting to show interest in the females.


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## fox (Jun 11, 2009)

We have a female at around 6" or larger and a male at 8" or larger. The male colored up nicely around 4" - 5 " but never showed any interest in spawning until over 7".


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## cichlidpastor (Jun 20, 2009)

fox said:


> We have a female at around 6" or larger and a male at 8" or larger. The male colored up nicely around 4" - 5 " but never showed any interest in spawning until over 7".


I would agree. I have a male and 2 females and the male shows no interest in the girls at all. Actually they used to pick on him. And now they ignore him. And he ignores them. But he's only about 3.5", the females are 4.5." In fact, my male is actually kind of wimpy. But I am sure that when he hit hits 6" or so he'll come into his own and then the ladies better watch out :drooling:

I'd give them some time.


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## abugjo (Aug 8, 2005)

Thanks every one for the advise I went a head last night and took her out of the main tank and put her in her own just to make sure she is not ill and also give her some time to drop her ages and become less stressed. I will reintruduce when she is not gravid on the chance that it will help her be less stressed. The one big thing that I think helped her not get beat up is that she was the largest fish in the tank at just under 7 inches. This time will be good for her thanks again.


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