# Breeding Red Rainbows - Any Tips?



## kilroy111 (Sep 25, 2006)

Hi all,
A couple of months ago, I got my hands on a small colony of WC Kasanga Red Rainbows. By their size, I would estimate they are 12-18 months old. I believe I have 2-3 males and 8-9 females (I got first pick!)
I have read a number of threads on different forums about the RR's being poor breeders. I have also read that some people have had good success with them. I know the colony is a bit young to really get into stride, but I find it strange not to even see the odd 3-4 day mouthful. There is plenty of spawning activity, but they are just dry runs with no eggs being dropped.

My water on this tank is crystal clear. Nitrates <20ppm. I am doing weekly changes of 50% as well as adding my usual buffers/salts. I have a couple of Eheim 2217's and a 2000 lph internal filter. The RR's are showing great colour and I could watch them for hours. I have 5 colonies of Tropheus including the RR's, with two of the other colonies breeding well and the other two colonies still growing up.

Just wondering if anyone has any tips for getting these guys breeding? Any success stories would be appreciated.
Cheers
Shane


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## Heyguy74 (Aug 11, 2005)

Just give them time. How big are they? Do the same thing you do for your other tropheus.


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## NorthShore (Feb 3, 2006)

One of life's mysteries, lol. Mine spawn in batches. I haven't seen a mouthful for 2 months now so I'm expecting a run soon where many females will be holding, just like the last time.

I'm growing out about 30 fry and I'm going to create a second colony with these guys, but keep it at 2 males max.

My current adult group is made up of 7 males, 15 females and 3 sub-adults of which sex is yet to be determined.


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## geoff_tropheus (Feb 13, 2003)

In a small colony of 12 Rainbows your odds are definately stacked against you.

What size of tank and what kind of decoration do you have in the tank?

By any chance can we get a tank shot?

How are you estimating their age? By size or how long you've kept them? When getting WC it is very difficult to tell age.

What foods are you feeding?

To what pH are you buffering too and what are your heaters temps set at?

Are there any other tank inhabitants in this aquarium?

Thanks for any answers..

Geoff


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## kilroy111 (Sep 25, 2006)

geoff_tropheus said:


> In a small colony of 12 Rainbows your odds are definately stacked against you.
> 
> What size of tank and what kind of decoration do you have in the tank?
> 
> ...


Thanks for the info guys.
Geoff, the colony size is not my doing, I was told I could only purchase 12 as the other 12 were on hold for someone else. As it turned out, the importer made a mistake and I could have had myself a bigger colony of RR's.

The tank is a 6x1.5x2 footer (~450L) and there are two rock piles at either end. Substrate is PFS and I use aquasonic buffer and african conditioning crystals for a pH of 8.4, kH of ~12, gH of ~16-18. Temp is 25-26C.

I am estimating age by their size compared to my other variants which are F1's and other WC's. They are between 3 and 4 inches long I think puts them in that 12-18 month range in my experience.

They are the only inhabitants of the tank except for a sole young BN catfish.

They are fed a combination of NLS 1mm Cichlid Formula and OSI Spirulina flake twice per day, enough food for a 30 second frenzy...

I don't have a FTS at the moment, it is hard to get one in the garage/fish room due to the space requirements. I have it set up as I have most of my other tanks. 1 rock pile at either end, stacked about a foot high. So there is almost 4 foot of space between the two piles. Aggression is also very low in this tank compared to my nangu or mpulungu.

hope that answers your questions.
thanks
shane


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## xchimbax (May 18, 2003)

kilroy111 said:


> kH of ~12, gH of ~16-18.
> shane


Shane try the GH 10 and KH 18 
Also females need to be conditioned to produce eggs, so u might have to add another feed or bump up your 2 daily ones 
Nitrate should be 10ppm or under, water changes play a big part in this

HTH


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## geoff_tropheus (Feb 13, 2003)

You might try a different rock setup where one side is shorter than the other, and contains some sloped flate pieces.

Also, if your fish are 3-4" most are not in a breeding size yet. I would wait for about another 1/2 to 1" in size overall on the colony before they start producing for you.

Best of luck man..

Geoff


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## kilroy111 (Sep 25, 2006)

Thanks guys. I guess I am being a bit impatient, but my other colonies have bred at that size or at least had proper mouthfuls. I have previously gone for a gH of around 10-12 and kH around 18-20 and I have since found that a lot of people are running their tanks the other way round with kH 10-12 and gH 18-20. I've slowly changed my buffer/salt routine to accomodate. My other new WC colony (Chilambo / Nangu) bred straight away and I have fry from two females already growing up. Those wilds are a fraction bigger though. The RR's I have have already been conditioned quite well, I will just have to wait and see...
thanks for the input.
cheers
shane


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## philfarm4 (Jul 12, 2004)

Don't stress Shane,my RR's might decide to give me some fry one day also and mine were supposed to be breeding adults when i brought them 12 months ago.had a few mouthfuls but they decide to spit all the time.

Phil


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## kilroy111 (Sep 25, 2006)

I have one mouthful now Phil. It isn't a big mouthful, but a mouthful nonetheless. I first noticed it about a week ago. Still holding now, so we will wait and see.
cheers
shane


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## kilroy111 (Sep 25, 2006)

Quick update,
I have 3 holding females, 2 of which have been stripped of a total of 12 fry (some still left but will wait a couple of days to get the rest). Very happy!!


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## parrdog (Apr 29, 2004)

Congrats mate, that's bloody unreal!!

Jamie.


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## kilroy111 (Sep 25, 2006)

thanks mate!


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