# Make my Ilangi breed, please.



## SULLY1000 (Aug 23, 2003)

I have a mega group of F1 Ilangi. There are 65 fish in a 210g, 7 foot tank. All fish are 3-3.5"+, with some at 4". At any given time I have between 5-10 males colored up like crazy, with lots of fish with subdued coloration.

My question is two fold I guess.

I have witnessed multiple attempts at spawning, but have yet to see anyone holding for sure. I would also like better coloration out of my group.

Tank is filtered with a very large wet/dry and an fx5. I feed primarily Dainichi Veggie FX and some spiru flake/wafers. I change between 80-100g of water every 10 days.

My tank background is dark and substrate is mixed black/white sand. Lighting is two 4 foot powerglo bulbs, normal output.

I am considering lightening up my background and will increase my lighting twofold.

My water is fine, IMO, as I have other troph groups breeding well. Water is hard, ph is high, and temp runs at 77-78 deg F. I raised 2/3 of this group from 1" fry and the others were added several months ago. I have never lost any of these fish to bloat or disease. Lost two only because they decided to jump through and explore the "outside world". Too dry for them in retrospect...

Any one else here have trouble getting large groups to breed? Would anyone else here split group up a little smaller?

Fire away. Let me have it.


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## jetchanic (Jul 14, 2008)

I would not split the group up. Def. put more lighting on the tank and change alot more wather. Every time i change the water on my troph tank they always start breeding. I change the 70% of the water ever 4 days.


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## exasperatus2002 (Jul 5, 2003)

slip them some spanish fly....... jk give them time & good water. Try playing with the photo period.


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## SULLY1000 (Aug 23, 2003)

How well does the spanish thingy work? I have never heard of it before. Is this a European fishkeeping thing?


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## exasperatus2002 (Jul 5, 2003)

jk = just kidding. spanish fly was a substance I heard of in high school that was used to make your girlfriend/date "in the mood". not like that date rape drugs kids use today, this was just rumored to make em easy not knock em out.


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 11, 2006)

Might be male heavy colony if you raised them from young.

Try increasing the water change amount and frequency and see if that helps.


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## SULLY1000 (Aug 23, 2003)

exasperatus2002 said:


> jk = just kidding. spanish fly was a substance I heard of in high school that was used to make your girlfriend/date "in the mood". not like that date rape drugs kids use today, this was just rumored to make em easy not knock em out.


I know. I was just joking back. I highly doubt the effectiveness of it. Urban legend l'm betting. That's another thread entirely and probably not for this forum... 

I will try to bump up my water changes and plan on lighting the tank up more. It's certainly possible that group is male heavy. I have no desire to pull 60+ Ilangi and vent them at this point. May give em' a few months and see what happens. On a good note, stocking is heavy enough that I have very little, visible signs of aggression.

Thanks for all input so far.


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## exasperatus2002 (Jul 5, 2003)

wow 65 of em. maybe they need a little privacy?


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## SULLY1000 (Aug 23, 2003)

Maybe too large of an audience. I agree with your point. :lol:


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## NorthShore (Feb 3, 2006)

I actually managed to get my wild red rainbows to pick up the breeding pace by reducing the water changes. Yep, I said reducing. I went from 50% weekly to 50% bi-weekly and it has made a huge difference.

I know I normally advocate for super-stability with tropheus, but I think sometimes shaking things up is what gets things going. My WC Chaitika just wouldn't spawn very often and I also saw very little agression. I think there's a corrolation between the 2.


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## TitoTee (Feb 18, 2006)

I admire you for not claiming that your group is Wild Caught =D>


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## SULLY1000 (Aug 23, 2003)

Why would I? They aren't.

Trolling???


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## redrum (May 15, 2008)

Does Bi-weekly means twice a week or once every two weeks? I think it means twice a week. :-?


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 11, 2006)

I believe bi-weekly is once every two weeks.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

> Does Bi-weekly means twice a week or once every two weeks?


According to Webster's online, bi-weekly can mean both depending on whether it's used as an adjective or a noun. Clears it up for me, how about you. :roll: In it's context here it obviously mean every two weeks.

A 'fortnight' or 'fortnightly' would be more typically used to specify a two week period.


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## NorthShore (Feb 3, 2006)

I meant once very 2 weeks.


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## julieduchromis (May 6, 2008)

In my opinion your water temp could be increased to 80 or even 82 to get them to spawn more readily. Seasonal thing you know. 77 is kind of cool for lake tang. a winter time not spring.


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## punman (Oct 24, 2003)

Ad Konings on pg 21 of Back to Nature Tanganyika, says the average temperature of the lake is 26C and says we should keep the tanks somewhere between 25 and 27 (77-80.6F)
26 is 78.8 F


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## BrownBullhead (May 15, 2005)

Wouldn't "semi-weekly" be used to indicate 'twice in one week'? I immediately assumed "bi-weekly" to mean 'every two weeks'. Think of "semi-annual" (two times per year) versus "bi-annual" (every two years).


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

These terms (bi annual bi weekly etc) have ambiguous meanings (due to misuse?) avoid them and use long hand (twice a year/every two years, twice a week/every two weeks).
I got that from the Guardian how to write clearly book :wink:
Do not know if Temperature makes much difference, I think its about getting the females ripe with eggs (un bullied and well fed) without the males getting so much they get fat and infertile (Fat deposition around the gonads (or rather the one working gonad) in males has been shown to cause infertility in Mbuna for sure).

Though my group of Tropheus are so poor breeders, as yet, I am lucky if I get bi-annual spawns :lol:


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## Mathijs Doomen (Oct 31, 2008)

I, have 25 sins 03-2008 and now a 75 give them plenty single rocks, plants wood and every 4 weeks 50% new water i have a 500 gallon tank and a biofilter


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## katytropheus (Jul 13, 2008)

I think there is some merit in reducing the colony--hate to do it with Ilangi's. I have a ton of Cherry Spots in a 375 gallon and they have definitely slowed down on activity--there is a lot of interruption in the breeding process with everyone defending like ****. I am feeding Dainichi as well and wondered if a tad of something new would crank it back up. I would say the number and ratio may be an issue. Like you, I am not going to the net and start venting. On the Ilangi coloration, from pictures I have seen, the percentage that are like the Ilangi on the front of the Dainichi is really small. EK who posts on here has a super colony with colorations on some fish that rival that. Of course, his tank maintenace and overall fishkeeping routine are pretty much unmatched.


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