# Cyprichromis advice- holding females



## lufbramatt (Jun 6, 2011)

Hi all,

In my main tank I currently have 3 of my female Cyprichromis Leptosoma holding eggs. As far as I can tell they have been holding about 3 weeks, maybe more (I was away from home at the start of October so not quite sure when they "did the dance"). On one of them in particular I can see eyes through the stretched skin under her mouth, on another I can still make out the orange eggs so I don't think they have all been holding for the same amount of time. All look healthy.

The main tank has julies, comps, synos etc so no way any fry are going to last long in there.

I'm not quite sure what to do with them, I want to try to keep as many fry as possible. I have set up a 10 gallon tank with some media from one of my filters and it's up to temperature. Should I move the females so they can spit the fry in the 10 gallon? I'm worried that trying to net them is going to really stress the females out. Any tips for netting them?

What's the best thing to be feeding the fry? and how many should I expect from each female?

Any advice on this situation would be much appreciated.


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## webbie (Apr 29, 2012)

Easiest way to catch holding female cyps is after lights out when they settle down,my cyps usually produce 6 or 7 fry each,I feed my cyp fry on hinari first bites for a couple of weeks then crushed flake and frozen Cyclops,best of luck catching the holding females,I was lucky with the last two of my females I just happened to see them spit the young out and they were easy to net


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## lufbramatt (Jun 6, 2011)

I've seen them holding 2-3 times before but due to having a summer full of weddings (including my own) and a funeral I haven't had time to do anything with them so just left them to their own devices, this time now everything has settled down I want to do my best with them. The tank is a typical tang setup full of rocks so catching stuff is a nightmare. I'll stay up late tonight and see if I can catch any of them, but won't spend too long on it if I'm not successful.


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## Jaciesla (May 2, 2012)

Be sure they are full term before you catch them though, or have an egg tumbler handy if they do spit premature fry. Netting them sometimes stresses them to the point of spitting and no one likes dead fry :/ I know from experience with my four. Best of luck to you


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## kienoihn (Oct 20, 2013)

i let my cyprichromis leptosoma black bee held for 14 to 18 days i stripped her, few female i stripped i got 6 to 9 almost free swim but the last few female i stripped each female i got 20 free swim and i fed them BBS 3 times and 1 time crushed NLS grow you can see they grow much more faster in a month they reach 1" hope this will help good luck with your fry would love to see your cyps post some pics if you can.

thanks,
ken


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## lufbramatt (Jun 6, 2011)

Thanks for the advice. Found a post on another forum I made that I had forgot about that was dated 3rd October which must have been when I first noticed they were holding so it's been about 30 days now. Two of them I can definitely make out tiny eyes inside their mouths, so I'm pretty sure they are full-term.

Went to my LFS this morning to get some fry food so that's sorted.

I'll try to get some photos, cyps are really hard to get decent photos of though as they move around so much!


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## lufbramatt (Jun 6, 2011)

Interesting development- came down this morning o see how they were getting on, spotted a tiny fish in the rocks. Took a closer look expecting it to be a cyp fry, turned out it was a baby julidochromis transcriptus  very cute little fish, and completely unexpected. Perfect little replica of the parents with clear black and white colouring already, less than 1/2" long. Think there may be a couple but they're not venturing out very far.


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## Floridagirl (Jan 10, 2008)

I've yet to have any fry make it in my Tang Community tank, without me removing them.


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## webbie (Apr 29, 2012)

Congrats on your Julie fry Lufbramatt,julies tend to be good parents especially the female ,my Regani have produced plenty of young over the last couple of years and the female guards them against all the other tankmates inc my Tret,but cyps just spit them out without any sort of protection ,and because they are left in the upper surface of open water the fry are an easy target for predators,so if you cant catch the holding females and transfer them to a holding tank(providing they don't spit out when you net them) you say they have been holding for 30 odd days,well the fry should be ready to be released soon ,so if they did spit out in netting they would probably survive,or just trust to luck and hope you can net the fry when the females release their young,but the odds arnt with you there


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## lufbramatt (Jun 6, 2011)

I've tried the last 3 nights to catch the females but they're not having any of it, did manage to catch a cyp last night but it wasn't one of the holding ones, typical. Their preffered sleeping place is at the back of one of the rock piles near the back of the tank so it's hard to get a net down there without them realising whats going on. Short of stripping the whole tank down I don't think I'm going to get them, there's too much rock in there and I don't want to risk breaking up the Julie pair, so I'm just going to have to keep a very close eye on them. Have left the tank lights off and the curtains closed in the room in the hope that the other fish won't spot the cyp fry in the dark, probably won't have much of an effect but worth a try.

My female transcriptus (assuming she's the larger one) is big for a transcriptus, about 3" long, and VERY territorial, although gets as good as she gives from the biggest male brevis. But he will happily try to take chunks out of my hands when I'm cleaning the tank so probably isn't worried by much. This is the first fry I've seen in the tank that has survived, which is why I was pretty shocked to see it swimming around in there.


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## Gags (Mar 23, 2012)

Make lights dims and use bigger net 
Be gentle and have patience


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## webbie (Apr 29, 2012)

Best of luck with your cyps mate,I had my cyps for 18 months before I managed to save any fry,always seemed to release them when I was at work,holding the night before come back from work, fry gone frustrating or what,just walked in one day to see a couple of fry near the surface ,placed them in a 10 gal nursery tank and over the next hour she released another 3 or 4,same again a couple of days later another released fry while I was at home another 6 to go in the nursery,3 rd female I wasn't so lucky ,still 2 out of 3 aint bad, my Regani spawn and produce fry on a regular basis ,and like your transcriptus the female is a right madam ,pins the male up a corner for days on end ,took a chunk out of his tail last time she had young,did ok with the fry tho ,sold 20 to a LFS ,GOT £3 each for them ,result eh


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## lufbramatt (Jun 6, 2011)

Managed to get few pics tonight, these things are so fast, nightmare to keep them in focus!


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## webbie (Apr 29, 2012)

Crackin pictures there,looks like they are ready to eject the young


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## iridextr (Feb 8, 2013)

Those pictures are great! 
I let my leptosomas hold for about two weeks, then I catch the female and put her in one of those mesh breeder things in the tank until she releases on her own. Once they're out, I can put them into whatever breeding/growout tank I have available.


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## lufbramatt (Jun 6, 2011)

Finally got them into to 10gal last night.

I'm working away this weekend so had to do something. turned into a 2 hour marathon, pulled a load of rock out of the tank and got them eventually. Disturbing everything threw up some hidden detritus so ended up doing a water change as well. Got to bed at midnight once I was satisfied I still had a full complement of fish (my comp freaked out and dug himself into the sand under a rock :roll: ). Everyone seemed ok this morning, and the baby Julie seems to be growing pretty quickly


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## webbie (Apr 29, 2012)

Hopefully you will soon have a few baby cyps to add to your set up,funny isn't it everyone says watching fish is relaxing ,theydont see the other side when you have to work on them looking relaxing,l,ve just spent 3 days breaking down my 200 Ltr and my 120 and moving all the rocks, lights, sand, filters and stock into my new 240 Ltr fluval roma,I,m cream crackered,got 6 adult cyps plus 11 young from 3 different spawnings in there,and touch wood everything survived the upheaval


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## lufbramatt (Jun 6, 2011)

One of the females spat on Friday night, so far have 4 fry doing well and feeding, the other female is still holding but I think she'll spit any day now 

the fry are suprizingly big! will get pics asap!


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## Gags (Mar 23, 2012)

Awesome 
Good,Feed them 3 times days...
Move them to there own tank


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## skurj (Oct 30, 2011)

My cyps are pretty steady in their breeding behaviour there is always at least one holding but I too have never had fry make it to adult. I did have one reach perhaps half an inch before he/she mysteriously disappeared. I dunno how you guys manage catching them, but perhaps Its time I made a serious effort. Spend a fortune on these fish, why not do what we can to help them at least sustain the flock!

Those of you that have managed, it seems cyps are fairly fast growers, how long did you need to wait before introducing the young'uns to the display?


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## webbie (Apr 29, 2012)

I have 3 males and 3 females and there is always at least one holding ,didn't manage to save any fry up until a couple of months ago,when I walked into the room and one of the holding females had just spat out the fry ,quickly scooped them out into a ten gal tank,couple of days later the second holding female spat fry out as I was watching ,saved a few more ,third female I wasn't as lucky,came in from work and she had done the deed,fry nowhere to be seen,still 11 fry not too bad ,and they are growing well ,started them off with hinari first bites,then crushed flake and frozen Cyclops or lobster eggs,I would not consider putting them in the main tank until they are at least 1" in length,especially with a tret and a pair of gold head comps just waiting for a light snack


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## lufbramatt (Jun 6, 2011)

I ended up with 8 cyp fry in the end, although one of them died the first night so have 7 healthy ones. Quite pleased with that for a first successful spawn and not too many that I have to give them away- it takes the size of my little school back up to 15 which is ideal in my 90 gallon display tank. Feeding them twice a day and doing 25% water changes every couple of days as they are in a little 10G tank.

To everyone who has posted- thanks for the advice!


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## anthonymb (Dec 13, 2013)

Congrats, hope everyone makes it!


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## lufbramatt (Jun 6, 2011)

These guys are still doing well. How big should I get them before re-introducing back into my main tank?

Inhabitants of the big tank include a 4.5" long compressiceps, a few brevis shellies, a bunch of cyps, 3 syno petricola and 4 julidochromis transcriptus.

Want to use my grow out tank as a planted tank so I'm keen to clear the cyp fry out of there


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## secondlaw (Apr 1, 2014)

Congratulations! 
I think better not to move the females to the other tank.


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## triscuit (May 6, 2005)

lufbramatt said:


> These guys are still doing well. How big should I get them before re-introducing back into my main tank?


I'd wait until they're at least an inch long. All the fish you listed would be happy to snack on cup fry. Plan on waiting at least 3 months.


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## lufbramatt (Jun 6, 2011)

Thanks. They're just over an inch now. I'll give them another week or two in the small tank. Another female in the big tank has a mouth full of fry that look nearly ready to be spat out so it looks like the grow out tank will be staying set up a bit longer  Bought a 33 gal aquarium to set up as a planted tank instead.


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## triscuit (May 6, 2005)

Make sure you do the introduction at night with the lights off... preferably after a big water change and a tank decor shuffle. You want the big fish to be a bit spooked/disoriented so the new juveniles have a chance to settle in.


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## triscuit (May 6, 2005)

Also, juvenile cyps are fine with new fry, if you want to wait a bit longer.


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