# Compressiceps breeding



## Super Turtleman (May 21, 2007)

While doing a water change today, I found one of my Kasanga Compressiceps has eggs. She spit the eggs out then took them back in her mouth.

I know nothing about breeding them and wasn't expecting to breed them yet (they are about 2"). What should I do to give them a chance to breed? I know I read they do best using shells. They are in my 125G and there are 13 Kapampa Frontosa (about 2") along with the 4 comps. Any suggestions?


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## alexlee04 (Jul 19, 2009)

Comps are not mouth brooders. They are substrate spawners. Check out their species artical in the library for more info on breeding them. Let us know if you have any questions.


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## Super Turtleman (May 21, 2007)

I know they're substrate spawners. I'm just wondering if she has nowhere to put the eggs so she's holding onto them? Or maybe she was just eating them? Not sure...guess I'll keep an eye on her and see what happens.


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## Razzo (Oct 17, 2007)

A altolamp carrying & spitting eggs and picking them up again - that is bizzare.

Their eggs are sticky & tacky.

I noticed your signature: 50G frontosa kapampa - is that a growout tank for frontosa fry?


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## Super Turtleman (May 21, 2007)

Actually, I need to update the sig. It's now a 125G Frontosa tank.

I discovered what happened. She has her eggs hidden between 2 boulders that are sitting on top of each other. There is a small crack between the 2 and she has about 20-25 eggs in there. When I was doing the wc, the water coming in was flushing some of the eggs out. She was picking them up and putting them back. I can see they're mostly eggs but there are some wigglers. They are pretty safe in the cracks where she has them....and she is guarding them fiercely. I will upload a vid to youtube and put it here. It's pretty neat.

Now, what should I do? Should I leave them there until they're free swimming and then remove them or will it be too late by then? The 29G is ready to go should I need it. I could tumble the eggs if need be.


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## Super Turtleman (May 21, 2007)

You can't see in the vid but there are some wigglers in there already. Video courtesy of my new Droid X (which I love by the way).


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## Razzo (Oct 17, 2007)

Very nice! Gotta love spawning fish guarding their offspring.

Once they are all free swimming, I'd pull them and put them in a fry tank. It's a little easier to catch them when they are in a shell.

Good luck 

Russ


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## BioG (Oct 12, 2008)

she's definitely a beauty. That's a pretty handy phone too! Honestly, if it were me, I'd pas on this brood. It can be such a pain grabbing free swimming Alto fry outside of an enclosure (Like a shell or mobile cave) and they tend not to survive the tank switch that way anyway. With so few fry (Anything less than 75 eggs is a pretty small brood.) you won't have many left based on typical Alto fry mortality rates.

They're breeding though, so you can expect this every 8 weeks under optimal conditions. Believe me, 8 weeks of growth time lost is nothing when raising Alto fry! I would get yourself a couple small Conch shells or ceramic caves and once they start breeding again it'll be a lot easier to control. You'll see free swimmers waiting at the opening of the shell, distract mom with some food (She'll be a bit more willing to leave the site once they're free swimming. Actually trhe mother's willingness to leave the site, many times, indicates to me that it's just about time to look for free swimmers.), and snatch that shell up to the 30 gal.

Then 2-3 years later, like a VERY long magic show, you'll have a bunch of new adult comps! One of the reasons I say pas on this brood is because my guess is that if given a shell or whatever, your altos will drop about 100 to 150 eggs. Undisturbed, the majority of those will hatch and, in a 30 gallon kept meticulously clean, you could potentially raise 50 of them to one inch. Since they take so long to grow, about 1 inch per year, moving the eggs or fry at your current amount I think will yield you, in the end, no more than 5-10 of them if you're very lucky.

This being your first time with alto fry, you'll probably hit a few bumps. They're not, imo, hard to breed but the fry, on a scale of 1 to 10 are like a 9 when it comes to keeping them alive in any number (I was thinking of those dry incubation killi fish as a 10 on my scale  )

My first couple times breeding these ( A long time ago) I got so eager to raise them and I ended up raising 4-5 little Alto fry in a 20 gallon which was then unusable by any new alto fry as the older ones will beat down and kill younger one by size. just some food for thought.


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## BioG (Oct 12, 2008)

It is so cool to see them spawn out in the open cracks as mother nature intended though! Congrats!


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## Super Turtleman (May 21, 2007)

Thanks for the info BioG. I think you've made some good suggestions for me. Since I will be gone to NY all next week, you're probably right...I'll just leave them and wait for the next batch. Better look for a few shells.


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## Razzo (Oct 17, 2007)

Super Turtleman said:


> Thanks for the info BioG. I think you've made some good suggestions for me. Since I will be gone to NY all next week, you're probably right...I'll just leave them and wait for the next batch. Better look for a few shells.


I've had extremely good luck with these shells for both comps and calvus

Tonna Tessalata - Large
http://cichlidbreeding.com/products.php?cat=10&pg=4


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## Super Turtleman (May 21, 2007)

Those look perfect. I'll check them out. Thanks!


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## Super Turtleman (May 21, 2007)

They have bred again. This time, I put about 30-40 free swimming fry in a little 1 gallon tank. They are tiny (about an 1/8th of an inch) and died after about 3 days. Any special secrets to growing these guys out? I'm going to order some shells for future breeding activity.


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## BioG (Oct 12, 2008)

They may be little, and they certainly are that, but they need space like a big fish. The bigger the fry tank, and the more filtration in that tank, the more Alto survivors you'll have.

A 10 gal can yield 10-20 survivors but it MUST be meticulously cleaned like 3 times weekly at least. I have taken to raising my Calvus fry in 50 gallon longs because I pretty much feed them and change weekly like everyone else.

If I had my first brood to raise over again (I raised my first in a 10 gallon starting with 110 fry and raised 4 of them to adults  ) I'd put them in a cycled 30 or larger with no substrate and several sponge filters which will offer some cover and ample, not violent, water movement.

It also REALLY helps that I work at home, for the most part, and you are something of a full time nanny to these alto fry until they're about 3 months. It's still tough going after that but I pretty much change their routine of feeding and cleaning and such to a more manageable regiment at that point.

Up until 3 months though, if you burp in the room next door to them they die! I keep saying I'm done raising Altos but when they hatch I go soft and start setting up fry tanks :roll: !

There are plenty of tricks, but mostly you just have to baby them awhile, keeping everything super clean, feeding often, giving space, moving just enough water, just enough light, balanced temp, clean again, and so on.


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## Super Turtleman (May 21, 2007)

Ok, thanks for the tips. Looks like I'll wait a while before really trying to raise a batch.


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## Razzo (Oct 17, 2007)

They can be a pain to keep alive. Numerous, small, tempered, water changes seem to help. If you keep the main tank very low in Nitrates, I would suggest you use the main tank as your source for your water changes in the the fry tank.

Alto fry grow very slow. I've got a 55 with about 200 calvus fry that are all closing in on an inch and since my 125 broke, I have about 300 comp fry spread out among three smaller tanks. I am over run with fry and I am not going to remove any more batches of fry from the main tank until I get rid of some of the existing groups. The only exception would be if my Muzi gold heads started spawning. :wink:


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## BioG (Oct 12, 2008)

I might just drive from Utah to Indiana to buy some muzis from that strain if they do! :lol:


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## Razzo (Oct 17, 2007)

BioG said:


> I might just drive from Utah to Indiana to buy some muzis from that strain if they do! :lol:


They need to "get it in gear" 

I need to move them to their own tank and I just don't have the space avail. with all these fry.

Thanks,
Russ


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