# If You Like Hatiensis Click Here.



## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

I aquired a group of about 30 of these this past Feb. They were about 3/4". I sold many of them but kept about 10 for myself.



















From that group of ten I sold atleast one obvious pair and the largest male leaving me 7. From that seven two pairs formed and killed all but one female who I rescued and threw in another tank.

Each pair then got it's own custom 70 gallon. One pair has spawned atleast three times that I know of, this last attemp is the farthest along they have ever gotten. Free swimming fry!

The male from the other pair killed the female... So now I'm left with a pair, an odd male and an odd female. They will stay in different tanks for a while...

Dynamics in the breeding pair are funny, the female obviously wears the pants in the family, but he is unmarked, in perfect condition really.

Here's a slide show:


This picture is great. Click to make it larger!









Comments, questions and anything else goes in this thread! LOL Just thought I'd make my own thread instead of hijacking another...


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## duds (Apr 16, 2010)

What a great fish! Congrats on the spawns!

The pair that is still together... do you ever need to use a divider or are they pretty amicable towards each other all the time? And what tank size (dimensions) would you consider a comfortable size for a pair of these in the long term?

It's very cool to see a sensitive and somewhat rare cichlid succesfully spawned. Thanks for sharing!


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

The 70's I have are from a petstore that had gone out of business. They are something like 52"x19"x16" ID. This size tank is not sutible for long term for a fully grown pair of haits. Males get rather large... I'd say minimum 125 for a pair. Thankfully they start to spawn when young and still small...

No dividers are used, these two seem to have a very strong bond, they found each other out of 30... not six!

Incidently, this is my third time keeping these fish. The first two times ended in disaster...


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## Boston_Guapote (Jun 2, 2003)

Congrats bro! I'm glad you finally posted some pics ;-)


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Thanks.


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## Bkeen (Mar 13, 2009)

Gorgeous! Maybe my next batch will produce some free swimmers. Great pics as well. These guys are my favorite cichlids.


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## CiChLiD LoVeR128 (Mar 22, 2006)

Congrats TFG! They are very beautiful fish!


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Just got back home from a five day trip, Fry are still going strong, I'm going to pull half out today and start pumping them full of decapsulated brine shrimp.


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## Bkeen (Mar 13, 2009)

TheFishGuy said:


> Just got back home from a five day trip, Fry are still going strong, I'm going to pull half out today and start pumping them full of decapsulated brine shrimp.


This has to be a line of super Haits. 

I came home to wrigglers yesterday- from the other female! :lol: How long should I wait before pulling them out?


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Personally I'm waiting as long as possible for this pair. As soon as she starts to lose interest in them that's when I'm pulling them. Apparently they are supposed to be great parents... tending fry to almost 2" is the rumor....


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## Bkeen (Mar 13, 2009)

TheFishGuy said:


> Personally I'm waiting as long as possible for this pair. As soon as she starts to lose interest in them that's when I'm pulling them. Apparently they are supposed to be great parents... tending fry to almost 2" is the rumor....


2"?  Good, that leaves me time to get the fry tank ready!

I'm still baffled that my Male swapped mates after the first batch of eggs. Mommy #2 seems to be much more protective of the babies- I didn't even see them until they were already wrigglers. The other 4 are getting rehomed this afternoon, and my 20 gal fits under the 125 nicely. I have to get a light, but already bought some sponge filters and decapsulated brine shrimp. This is exciting stuff! :thumb:

Any recommendations for the fry tank? Should I go without a substrate? I know sponge filters are supposed to be good for fry.

Thanks TFG! (and sorry to hijack your thread)

(ps there's a link to a video of the new batch in my other thread)


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

I'd never consider this thread hijacked. 

Just go with a bare tank, easier to clean. Don't put it too close to the ground you'll be doing a lot of siphoning....


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## smitty (May 7, 2004)

Keep the pictures coming as they continue to grow. I am intrigued about them.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

I'll take some today, I'm going to pull ten fry and give em a ten gallon to themselves to grow to an inch to turn in for BAP...


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## Boston_Guapote (Jun 2, 2003)

What's your secret guys? My pair has been together for about a year, but still no signs of courting.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

I started with 30 or so last nov 6th I think... Mine is a naturally formed pair, This their third (that I have seen) attempt. I pulled a dozen fry or so... No pics though, they really don't look any different...

The tank is a gravel bottom 70ish gallon with one pipe in it for the male to run and hit to LOL I feed them once a day... Cheapo pellets that state the same ingredients and nutrition as high end fish food bought from a pet store.... 1/3 water changes once a week, some times every other week... that's it, no secret...


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## Boston_Guapote (Jun 2, 2003)

I think your secret is a naturally formed pair ;-). Maybe I should pull out my female and condition her for a month or two then reintroduce them?


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Might work with other cichlids but I don't know, and you won't either unless you try.


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## Bkeen (Mar 13, 2009)

I just followed the advice TFG gave me on how to avoid bloat- that pretty much dictated how I feed, water temp, and do water changes. I think it may have to do with the line of fish TFG got these from.

Also, IIRC from your video- don't you have some other fish in with yours? Maybe that's a factor as well?


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

They have spawned again! They lost interest in the fry a few days ago so I pulled them... Now there's eggs all over the bare floor of the tank. Sometime between now and 10:00pm last nite.... I'll get a pic up soon... Need to make a top for a tank...


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Shockingly enough there's still a couple fry in the tank from the last spawn. The parents are paying them no attention though... So far...

The fry were difficult to catch so I was forced to use a fish trap and get as many as I could. I think I've got somewhere between 40 and 50 fry...










Horrible pictures I know... But look right in the middle of this one, it's one of the remaining fry from the last batch. LOL


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## Bkeen (Mar 13, 2009)

I've kept six of these little guys (or gals) in my 10gal fry tank. The bottom's a bit messy,  but I took the pics pre-wc. They're maybe a 1/4 of an inch and growing!


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Cool! I just sold my pair and still have about 40 fry at about an inch... I'm growing them a bit to sell to a store....


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## Bkeen (Mar 13, 2009)

An inch already? I'm doing water changes and feeding decap brine shrimp eggs. How do you get the growth?


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

They are in a 10 gallon to start... That way there's no issue finding the food. Once they recognize me as the food source I move them to a 20H. Feed the snot out of them three times a day sometimes four and do daily water changes...


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## Bkeen (Mar 13, 2009)

I have another batch of fry. It seems like there's tons more this time too! My wife's going to flip when she see's that I've set up yet another fry tank.


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## Bkeen (Mar 13, 2009)

Video link below pics:


















*Video Link*http://s297.photobucket.com/albums/mm234/bkeen_gto/?action=view&current=fishvid.mp4


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## smitty (May 7, 2004)

They have really come a long way and they look great.


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## Bkeen (Mar 13, 2009)

smitty said:


> They have really come a long way and they look great.


Thanks smitty!


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## Bkeen (Mar 13, 2009)

Every few weeks, like clockwork. I came home these at lunch.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Fun isn't it...

I have 33 left from the spawn a while back... Not sure what I'm going to do with them yet...


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## Bkeen (Mar 13, 2009)

TheFishGuy said:


> Fun isn't it...
> 
> I have 33 left from the spawn a while back... Not sure what I'm going to do with them yet...


It's beyond fun.

I have hoardes of fry. I'm giving them to friends in the hobby, selling some, and growing out a few. The wife's not too fond of the additional two fry tanks I've set up. :lol:


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Find out what type of cichlid is her favorite, then set her up a tank for her to "take care of" (feed) and she will start to love it! My wife did, I set her up a 240 with frontosa! LOL


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## Bkeen (Mar 13, 2009)

TheFishGuy said:


> Find out what type of cichlid is her favorite, then set her up a tank for her to "take care of" (feed) and she will start to love it! My wife did, I set her up a 240 with frontosa! LOL


 :lol: I think it's more of a preggers hormonal thing. She helped with wchanges and feeding prepregnancy. She'll come back around...


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

I understand completely my friend. I've been there four times over...


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## Bkeen (Mar 13, 2009)

Good lookin crew. This #2 for us.


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## Bkeen (Mar 13, 2009)

The parents eat spirulina pellets and massivore and bloodworms. The babies eat decapsulated brine shrimp eggs and crushed spirulina flake. I have around 250 fry...


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