# cyp. leptosoma



## ajr (Apr 13, 2008)

soooo i have a female holding, how many fry should i expect to see??
i was under the impression that they dont eat during this period however once or twice i have seen her eat tiny bits of flake like 1 tiny bit during feeding, i havent witnessed this previously with other mouthbrooders is this because i just havent noticed? i might expect to see it towards the end of the term but from my knowledge its only 1 week holding?

any help much appreciated


----------



## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Quite a few mouth brooders will take flake over eggs.
Not sure you will get much luck the first couple of spawns but there is hope.
Females sometimes take a few goes to get it right. Some get it right sooner than others. Fry is smaller (and less numerous) from young females as a general rule.
A good bunch might even learn to time the breeding so they all spit at the same time. :thumb:
Are you a strip guy or a put em in another tank with cover guy?
Or a just add lots of cover to the main aquarium type?

They can all work but have their advantages and disadvantages.


----------



## ajr (Apr 13, 2008)

well this will be my first tangs to breed..... i've had quite a few different malawi cichlids to breed, what i usually did with them was i had a seperate tank 20g with two large breeder nets, so depending if i had fry in them or not, but usually put female in tank and keep seperate from other fry, once fry are free swimming i put them in empty breeder net and let the female recover for a day or 2 before returning her to the tank, it worked well for me. but if i needed to strip because i had 2 females holding i would. is that about usuall practice ?


----------



## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Lots of folk strip Cyps you will find out how if you search about or it will prob be posted. For me its a not an option. Your method seems good to me esp in the long term. :thumb:


----------



## Charlutz (Mar 13, 2006)

Cyps typically have between 5-10 fry. The fry are large when released. In my experience, you don't want to take cyps out of the school when they are holding. Leave them in the tank until ready to release, ~ 21 days. You can then net her out and she may spit in the net. Or you can strip. What else is in the tank? Can you leave the fry in there?


----------



## ajr (Apr 13, 2008)

errmmm..... leaving them in the tank could be too much of a risk..... i have 5 alto's in there...


----------



## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Now thats your problem. Is it a breeding tank or community tank? To breed Cyps, big time you want a breeding tank. No other fish. Messing about with spitting in breeding tanks and stripping is I think just that messing about. :dancing:


----------



## F8LBITEva (Nov 9, 2007)

I love those fish, I just wish you could keep more males together.


----------



## Charlutz (Mar 13, 2006)

ajr said:


> errmmm..... leaving them in the tank could be too much of a risk..... i have 5 alto's in there...


The females will not release until the young are ready to swim on their own. I'd leave them in for 21 days, then strip them, but that's me.


----------



## Charlutz (Mar 13, 2006)

F8LBITEva said:


> I love those fish, I just wish you could keep more males together.


Cyps? Have you had a bad experience with them? It's not uncommon to keep a large group of males with few females. My group is 9 males and 5 females.


----------



## punman (Oct 24, 2003)

I have kept 10 males with three females with no problem.
I have kept 8 males by themselves with no problem.
My cyps have only spawned a few times. Probably 1/3 of the batches were not carried full term.
First few successes were 4-6 fry- I stripped every time at 18 days.


----------



## noddy (Nov 20, 2006)

I have 18 males / 1 or 2 females in my group, no problems.


----------



## Hurriken (Jan 13, 2006)

I have had good sucess. I don't strip. IMO they are too delicate and I think you do more harm than good. I try to be around when I think they will spit. I scoop them out and grow them out in 10g tanks. If you wait until they get better they are a bear to catch. They panic when I do water changes! I had one kill itself running into the glass. I had another that tore its tail half off in the rocks. It grew back though. I have mine in with Julidochromis Transcriptus.

I'm thinking about removing the Julies and putting my Comps in there but I don't know what that will do to my breeding.


----------



## Charlutz (Mar 13, 2006)

Hurriken said:


> I have had good sucess. I don't strip. IMO they are too delicate and I think you do more harm than good. I try to be around when I think they will spit. I scoop them out and grow them out in 10g tanks. If you wait until they get better they are a bear to catch. They panic when I do water changes! I had one kill itself running into the glass. I had another that tore its tail half off in the rocks. It grew back though.


Net them out while they are sleeping...


----------



## Hurriken (Jan 13, 2006)

Hurriken said:


> I have had good sucess. I don't strip. IMO they are too delicate and I think you do more harm than good. I try to be around when I think they will spit. I scoop them out and grow them out in 10g tanks. If you wait until they get bigger they are a bear to catch. They panic when I do water changes! I had one kill itself running into the glass. I had another that tore its tail half off in the rocks. It grew back though. I have mine in with Julidochromis Transcriptus.
> 
> I'm thinking about removing the Julies and putting my Comps in there but I don't know what that will do to my breeding.


----------



## cerissa (Mar 18, 2008)

Hmm..luckily my Cyprichromis Leptosoma Mamalesa 4M, 4F have not needed much stripping. I had 1 loach in the tank with them and 1 Female would not spit because of that 1 loach. If I had kept that loach in that tank, the female would have kept holding and the **** would have suffered. I had to remove that 1 loach and strip her..her babies were swimming already and very healthy. I left the babies with the whole colony...they don't eat their babies. I have 3 more females holding. I'm still waiting for them to spit!


----------

