# Paralabidochromis chromogynos piebald



## malawimix (Oct 8, 2008)

Are there any experienced breeders of these fish here? I'm just getting started and have some fry approaching 1-1.5inches. About 1/3 of them don't seem to have the piebald pattern. I came across an old thread on another forum that talked about the piebald being the more common variant of the Para. chromogynos and a rarer non-piebald variant where the fish have vertical and horizontal markings and the males turn bluish. My breeders are all piebald so I'm wondering where these non-piebalds are coming from. Maybe it's just a quality issue where you only breed out of the good ones and need to dispose of the rest? I guess I'll have to grow out these fry to see what they turn out like but I just wondered if anyone here could shed some light on the matter.


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## dreday (Oct 12, 2007)

They should all turn out piebald. I have not been breeding to many of them but from what I know it is a pure species for piebald. They may just becoming into the colors. I have other species with blotched or piebald and sometimes it takes a while for them to color up. Sometimes you can see the markings coming out at .5".

There probably can be some variations in pattern but I would wait for them to turn into piebalds. It may be a space issue in the tank as well, what size tank are they in? In my experience they are brutal on each other. That is the main reason why I have not breed more, my breeders always kill each other off. They fry start to get nasty around 2" if there is not enough space. They should all turn out good. I would not worry to much.


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## malawimix (Oct 8, 2008)

Thanks for the input....right now I have 6 fry at about 1 to 1.5 inches in a 40 gallon along with 10 zebra mbuna at 2-3 inches and half a dozen nyererei at an inch. Another 18 five to six week-old ones in a 10 gallon by themselves, 5 at 1/2 inch in a 29 gallon with 30 tropheops macrophthalmus, 12 saulosi, and 4 red zebra fry all about the same size, and then another 15-18 newborn in their own 10 gallon. I don't see any real aggression among them. I have just a trio of breeders I got at about 1.5 inches and grew out; I have had them for a year as of today. I have not had any kill offs among the breeders. 
In case you are wondering about hybridization with the nyererei....I have never bred the two species in the same tank.


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## AlphaWild (Apr 9, 2009)

I've only had a few spawns of these so far, but I can tell you I had 2 fish in particular from seperate spawns that had my guessing what went wrong for the longest time. It wasn't until they were over 1.5" that one turned into a cool looking male with relatively little blotching, and a normal looking female.


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## malawimix (Oct 8, 2008)

AlphaWild said:


> I've only had a few spawns of these so far, but I can tell you I had 2 fish in particular from seperate spawns that had my guessing what went wrong for the longest time. It wasn't until they were over 1.5" that one turned into a cool looking male with relatively little blotching, and a normal looking female.


More good input! Thanks a lot. I have some friends waiting for fry and I didn't want to pass any fry around that were inferior. I'll hang on to these few in question extra long to see for myself how they come out.


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