# Paralabidochromis chromogynos Zue Island - juvies



## cichlid-gal

My new guys are in...and I gave them some music to dance to...they put on a very nice show I think... enjoy


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## malawimix

They look very nice. 
Are the few that appear to have very little to no dark spots part of this group or are they something different?


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## cichlid-gal

They are all the same fish. I received the little ones in a seperate later shipment and some are less splotchy at this time. I assume they will develop more splotches as they age but I'm not really sure as this is the 1st time I've raised them.

The only oddball in the tank is my dragonsblood who keeps being a bad bad boy in my peacock/hap tank. So he is in timeout for now.


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## malawimix

Keep us posted on their progress. I am just getting my first batches of fry up an inch or so and have a few that I questioned whether they would be piebald. Time will tell I guess.


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## cichlid-gal

this site shows a 3cm/little over 1 inch fry...its not showing heavy piebald traits yet so I think it can take time on some fry. And yes, I'll keep you posted malawimix and you do the same please. Nice to meet someone with the same species 

http://www.ciklider.se/viktoria/haplochromis_chromogynos.shtml


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## malawimix

cichlid-gal said:


> this site shows a 3cm/little over 1 inch fry...its not showing heavy piebald traits yet so I think it can take time on some fry. And yes, I'll keep you posted malawimix and you do the same please. Nice to meet someone with the same species
> 
> http://www.ciklider.se/viktoria/haplochromis_chromogynos.shtml


OK thanks, the 3cm one there looks like a few of mine the same size....no piebald markings yet. See my pics below..........


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## cichlid-gal

malawimix said:


> Keep us posted on their progress. I am just getting my first batches of fry up an inch or so and have a few that I questioned whether they would be piebald. Time will tell I guess.


All of mine are showing splotches now. How about yours malawimix?


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## Dawg2012

I just checked out the Species Profile - what an awesome looking fish!

Cichlid-gal, we need to keep in touch and consider trading some of these cool fish once we have young to spare. I'm getting a decent stocking of a variety of cool haps and mbuna, and one Victorian. Might be fun to get some new fish at no cost LOL :lol: (well, except for gas).


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## malawimix

cichlid-gal said:


> malawimix said:
> 
> 
> 
> Keep us posted on their progress. I am just getting my first batches of fry up an inch or so and have a few that I questioned whether they would be piebald. Time will tell I guess.
> 
> 
> 
> All of mine are showing splotches now. How about yours malawimix?
Click to expand...

No change in mine. The ones not showing piebald pattern have bars or checkerboard pattern showing sometimes.


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## cichlid-gal

malawimix said:


> No change in mine. The ones not showing piebald pattern have bars or checkerboard pattern showing sometimes.


Time, give it time....mine are growing well and seem very happy ... I'm sure yours will transition shortly also :thumb:



Dawg2012 said:


> I just checked out the Species Profile - what an awesome looking fish!
> 
> Cichlid-gal, we need to keep in touch and consider trading some of these cool fish once we have young to spare. I'm getting a decent stocking of a variety of cool haps and mbuna, and one Victorian. Might be fun to get some new fish at no cost LOL :lol: (well, except for gas).


Dawg2012...dang right about these being awesome looking fish !!!! And yes to keeping in touch and the "once we have young to spare" thing ... My 1st little babies are growing up in my big tank and they were spit so there are only a few of them. My fry tank...I've had it ready for a while but haven't pulled anyone yet (I've got three different species females holding right now =D> )...getting up the nerve to give it try (I"m slow at some things I know)...I worry and fret about losing the female for some reason and my females are precious and special :wink: I don't know why it scares me to move them....my fry tank parameters are good to go...I worry about stressing them and the move I guess...silly I know but a woman thing probably

What Victorian do you have now Dawg? Is it the Dayglows?


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## malawimix

My oldest 6 are about 6 1/2 months old now. They are small because I had them housed with larger fry who must have been getting most of the food. After a few months of virtually no growth I split them into their own tank for a while and they began to grow. Anyway my largest is maybe 1 3/4 to 2 inches now and is a female....found her holding last night. I had some Pund. nyererei juvies in with them again now and I'm quite sure she spawned with the male nyererei so I stripped her and dumped the 10 eggs I found. Also pulled all the nyererei out.

Also still no change in appearance of the few who did not come out piebald.


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## Dawg2012

cichlid-gal said:


> malawimix said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... What Victorian do you have now Dawg? Is it the Dayglows?
Click to expand...

Yes. Got a 3.5" male and need to order him some ladies. He's been waiting all alone and soooo patiently (as has the GF as this is 'her baby' lol).

I wonder if we could mix P. chromogynos with them? They look nothing alike. Hmmmm...


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## cichlid-gal

malawimix said:


> My oldest 6 are about 6 1/2 months old now. They are small because I had them housed with larger fry who must have been getting most of the food. After a few months of virtually no growth I split them into their own tank for a while and they began to grow. Anyway my largest is maybe 1 3/4 to 2 inches now and is a female....found her holding last night. I had some Pund. nyererei juvies in with them again now and I'm quite sure she spawned with the male nyererei so I stripped her and dumped the 10 eggs I found. Also pulled all the nyererei out.
> 
> Also still no change in appearance of the few who did not come out piebald.


I see my above post was possibly misleading in regard to holding females...LOL...none of my P. chromogynos are holding yet or even doing the flirting thing...it was/is my other fish (mainganos, cynos, polits) holding and spitting in their respective tanks. My P. chromogynos are like schooling fish now...a big cloud that moves from one side of the tank to the other and sometimes disappears into the huge rock pile I gave them. I am hoping once they grow up some I will see more interaction from them. Right now their primary focus seems to be eating... opcorn: ... no not popcorn but fish food... :lol: I think the tank is designed nicely for playtime so we'll see.

As for appearance...I have one P. chromogynos that sometimes appears to have no piebald markings and then later will...it can't seem to make up its mind and I have a few that have "light" markings so I'm unsure if they will darken over time. I have lots with very dark and heavy markings. I started with 17 (after my two shipments)...and just yesterday one went missing...I couldn't find it in the tank...looked everywhere...I think my Synodontis lucipinnis must have eaten it if it died...I could not find any remains (or it got sucked into the FX5). Water parameters are great...just checked them so not sure what happened...just noticed it was gone 

Dawg2012 ... I was told when mixing Victorians it is also about the looks of the females...from the pictures in the forum I see the Dayglow female is rather plain in comparison to the male Dayglow and does not appear to resemble the P. chromogynos female (at least from the picture)...one is an herbivore the other a carnivore - food for thought :wink: ...maybe the experts could chime in on if there is anything else you would need to consider other than many victorian keepers seem to prefer that if you are going to breed them you keep them in species only tanks. I chose the species only tank because as I see it "fish will be fish" and "I" do not have control over what they do and don't do...so, if mine breed I wanted to make sure that I know what babies I have...wee little piebalds...yep yep yep :fish: :lol: :fish:


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## cichlid-gal

My young ones are growing up...this is the dominant male right now



















Isn't he handsome?


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## Dawg2012

Sure is Cichlid-Gal! I'm still considering these with my Dayglows.

Anyway, yes, gorgeous fish :thumb:


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## cichlid-gal

Update Christmas 2012....two dominant males and a few holding females...they seem happy

Hope to get this tank into the house after the tree comes down


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## malawimix

Looking great! Just be sure to pull those females out in time to save fry. Mine would spit by 15-16 days.


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## cichlid-gal

Going to try yet again in the fry tank...have not had any luck with that yet (tried my polits and maingano...both ate the babies right after they spit and before I even saw the babies) so maybe 3rd time is a charm - right?


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## witamygreatdanes

Hi Cichhlid-Gal! I just got my P.Chromogynos tonight!!! 8 juvies. Can't wait for them to grow up! I love looking at yours so then I know how mine should look!!! I'll do pix once they calm down and adjust to their new environment!!


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## cichlid-gal

=D> I'm so happy for you. I know you will enjoy these guys. We can share notes ... that's what owning Vics is all about right?


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## AlphaWild

cichlid-gal--have yours spit yet?


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## cichlid-gal

Of the three I had holding, the largest, which I was the most hopeful of getting spit before I could get my fry tank set up for her. That left 2 younger ones. Because I have so many young ones when I tried last weekend to catch one of them, I couldn't even tell them apart. They are small and although holding it is tough to see when the lights are out on the tank and you are chasing around trying to catch them. So since that debacle last weekend I have just resigned myself to waiting for the next go round on these guys. Of the two that were still holding, another has spit and I know have only one holding. She will probably spit soon too I'm sure. Know I'll get another chance and hopefully I'll do better next time. My mistake, having so many young ones that all look alike just makes a huge pack of them that move from one end of the tank to the other. And no way to single out the one that is holding. I'm at a loss. When they get bigger maybe it will be easier. I won't give up just yet.

On the flip side, I also found that I had two of my M. zebra golds holding. I did manage to catch one of them yesterday on the water change to the tank (I got the wrong female on the 1st removal...geez...just shoot me...had to catch the right one and throw the wrong one back in...talk about stressing out the tank) and put her in the fry tank. I'm pretty sure she is not real far along but her jaw is jutting out quite well so with this attempt I'm hoping to get my feet wet and be ready for the next go round with my P. chromogynos...at least that's my plan.

Wish me luck!!! Ha


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## AlphaWild

Good luck! Yeah, catching the one you want in a fully stocked tank hasn't gotten any easier for me either. I can just about guarentee I'll catch every male in the tank without trying to, when I want the holding female.


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## denske

Beautiful fish cichlid-gal, these have become my favorite Victorians as of late, I noticed in the video it seems you have them also with a sunshine peacock? I wanted ask if the p. Chromos would fair well in a tank with maybe some peaceful peacock/hap breeding groups, I'm setting up a 55 very soon, and was planning on a peacock/hap breeding setup, think the chromos would be ok in there as well? Any suggestions to a good ratio?


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## cichlid-gal

Thanks _denske_ for the compliments. And yes, these guys are beautiful and always active. These fish are quite aggressive with each other males vs males and females vs females, facing off pretty regularly but with the big tank they have lots of room to retreat if needed. So far, knock on wood, I have not had any problems due to the activity.

I originally had the P. chromogynos juvies in with my dragon's blood peacock. They did not fair well with him. He was far too aggressive for them and I think his size also bothered them as he was quite large. I moved him to another tank where he terrorized the sunshine so I moved the sunshine to the 125G. The sunshine is actually dominated by the P. chromogynos males. He tries to stand his ground on occasion but the P. chromogynos males run the tank.

The 55G is of concern to me as I would think that the P. chromogynos would be better off as a species only in that tank *or* doing a small group species only of peacocks. I am never one to say to never but do believe they would not fair well together in a 55G tank. And if you do decide to try this combo (as with any combo) always be prepared by having another tank available if necessary to remove/move fish or a group of fish if necessary.

Others may have more experience with combo groupings of these fish so hopefully they will chime in if their recommendations are different.


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## cichlid-gal

Here we go again...this time I have a fry box for the main tank on order and have spoken to a couple of different (wonderful) people trying to get things figured out...so hopefully this time around I'll get it done...these guys sure are

oh and if you don't like techno you might want to turn down the sound


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## cichlid-gal

OK...long story and this is another Mom that was holding...after about 45 minutes of catching fish (Mom was the last one), I got her and put her in the bucket to await the tank refill and box setup and she spit the babies. Five (5) of them. I was so excited. I gave her a little time and dipped her a couple of times but didn't see any other little ones so put Mom back in the main tank.

Babies were put into a floating fry box (I was worried about the temp in the bucket as it had been sitting for a while) until I got the new box set up. While working on it, my husband was refilling the tank and when done I told him the water level was too high as the water was flowing over the top of the new box on the front. He lowered the water level and start priming the HOB's for refill while I was putting the babies into the new box (I opted to pour them in from the small box). My husband was directly across from me at the back of the tank filling one of the HOB's so there was flow coming towards the front. It didn't occur to me that that might be a problem. Worried more about the babies in the small box coming out of the box I was not watching the big box...as I put the babies in apparently the water level went over the top again and when I looked down I saw a baby in the main tank water. FREAKOUT. I quickly grabbed my net and caught up a couple of babies and lowered the water level in the big fry box. I was only able to recatch two (2) babies out of the five (5).

If you are not a woman you might not understand this, but I cried. I just sat down and looked at the two babies that were left and cried. So now, tears shed but still not feeling any better ....I now have my 1st two Paralabidochromis chromogynos babies. Not much or many but at least its a start. And I was proud of the mom as she was very young still and held those babies very well.

Drumroll...here they are






and a big thanks to Bassetman for talking to me one day on the phone and giving me some pointers and ideas on how to make things work in my big tank with its tons of filtration and decorations and fry eating syndontis...thanks again. Hopefully next go round I'll get a couple more out of the spawn and maybe be able to start growing a few of these to share.


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## witamygreatdanes

I get it cichlid-gal. I am so sorry. I get attached to the fish and the babies and if anything happens I cry too. don't worry you are not alone. I haven't said much about it, but my Christmas Fulus ended up being hybrids and I had over 40 fry....all gone.  I had a very rough 2 or 3 days cuz you know what had to happen, can't have them out in the world representing Christmas Fulus if they aren't. so I'm starting from scratch with them, but I have gotten my new ones yet. So I'm very sorry about your babies and I know you will get more as your fish are young and they have lots of babies to have yet!!!


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## cichlid-gal

Thanks Kathy...and sorry about your Christmas Fulus...really


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## denske

Sorry for your loss Cichlid-gal, had a question about the chromos, in your group do any females have egg spots on the anal fin, or is it only males with these markings? Thanks in advance


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## cichlid-gal

I'm pretty sure that some of my females do have egg spots denske (maybe I have them miss-sexed).. I will have to do a double check tomorrow when the lights go on again


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## AlphaWild

I can see a very faint spot on mine, and only when in full fin-flare.


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## cichlid-gal

I looked today and most of mine have spots (some one, some two, some three) if not on all of them. Is there a preference spots vs. no spots? Or do spots mean something wrong.


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## AlphaWild

Nothing wrong. Just one way to guess the sex on some species (usually not that reliable).


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## cichlid-gal

Well my female that just spit has a spot if that says anything...


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## Eugooglizer

Hi Cichlid gal. Do any of your females have any Red on them? I have one of these in my all male setup, and want to make sure he is a male. He has a red tail and dorsal fin, but not the striking blue your dominant male has.


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## StructureGuy

cichlid-gal said:


> I'm pretty sure that some of my females do have egg spots denske (maybe I have them miss-sexed).


The females egg spots are smaller












binnyskyle said:


> Do any of your females have any Red on them? I have one of these in my all male setup, and want to make sure he is a male. He has a red tail and dorsal fin, but not the striking blue your dominant male has.


Females can have a _little bit_ of red on them:










The blue on the males dorsal fin develops as they grow into young adults.

Kevin


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## Eugooglizer

That is a pic of a female right?


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## StructureGuy

binnyskyle said:


> That is a pic of a female right?


yes. Both pics are female


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## malawimix

binnyskyle said:


> Hi Cichlid gal. Do any of your females have any Red on them? I have one of these in my all male setup, and want to make sure he is a male. He has a red tail and dorsal fin, but not the striking blue your dominant male has.


Then he is likely not the top dog in the all male set up. My male (only one I had in the tank) got so dark he was nearly black with red dorsal fin and tail.


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## cichlid-gal

It is one of the things I like about this species, the variety found in them. As far as I know I have not seen red on any of my females but I am not certain that I have all my fish correctly sexed.

My dominant male is a stunning blue and white. I am pretty certain that I have 3 more males in the tank, one like malawimix's...he gets very dark blue sometimes but when stressed he shows more of the piebald markings with his blue color. I also have two larger fish that I am pretty certain are also males...but I have not seen the blues in their body ... just black and white piebald with red in the dorsal and tails. They will also claim territory at times but for the most part the two blue males are more dominant. It is possible that I have the black and white piebald males mis-sexed as I have not vented them and my sexing of them has only been through observations of behaviors and appearance.


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