# Haplochromis Ruby Green and Ptyochromis Hippo Point Salmon?



## Frigid Blue (Feb 12, 2011)

Would I be able to keep these together with little chances of hybrids? I know if the fish is a mouth brooder than its possible, but what are the chances of it? I haven't seen any reports of hybrids on the Internet, has anyone tried this before? They will most likely be in groups of 2 males and 4 females.


----------



## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

Victorian types hybridize quite easily. Personally I wouldn't mix these fish, but perhaps others can speak up if they've had success.


----------



## alanastar (Mar 6, 2006)

Hybridising may not be such an issue but trying to feed them properly may be, they have very different diets.


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I thought the Ruby Greens were very timid and the Salmon Points not so much?


----------



## AlphaWild (Apr 9, 2009)

I've not kept "Salmon", but I have "Ruby". I would think telling the females apart would be next to impossible, based on the profile pics. Also based on reading, it seems both need to feel like the dominant fish in order to color up, so you might only have one group colored anyways. That being said, my Ruby males frequently scrapped with a male peacock while I had both groups in a 75 for several months. Everyone colored and bred during that time. I now have the Rubys with a new group of P. chromogynos. Far too early to draw conclusions, but right now everyone's colored up.


----------



## Frigid Blue (Feb 12, 2011)

I feed Dainichi pellets, so the dietary differences don't matter as much. Just came across this video on youtube with the two species in a 75 gallon. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76yQveRG ... re=related
I see subtle differences in the horizontal stripe in the females and subdominant males, would this be more obvious at a closer look or is it always this hard to ID these fish? If I were to keep the two together, one species will probably be larger than the other due to availability reasons, which would hopefully make the females of each species easier to ID in the beginning.


----------



## StructureGuy (Jul 27, 2002)

They can both be reasonably timid. I had a colony of each together as adults but only for a few months. They both colored up nicely and never picked on eachother. The females are very easy to distinguish since the body and head shape are very different. (Salmon have slender bodies and a rounded head with the mouth closer to the bottom.) But like I said, it was only maybe 2 or 3 months until had a better arrangement for them.

Kevin


----------



## Frigid Blue (Feb 12, 2011)

Glad to hear that there is still a chance of success from such an experienced moderator!  So should I go for it or choose one over the other? By the way, they will be going into a 6' 135 gallon with some juvenile 2"-3" haps as tankmates. As the haps grow larger they will be relocated to another tank.


----------



## StructureGuy (Jul 27, 2002)

Frigid Blue said:


> So should I go for it or choose one over the other?


The body shape is different enough that they aren't likely to hybridize in a 135 gallon tank as long as there are plenty of females of each species. But since they share some of the same coloration (red mostly) I wouldn't keep them together myself (long term anyway  ) if I planned to breed and distribute them.

My ruby greens bred constantly. I had two males show good color in a 55 gallon tank. I distributed over 500 fry. The salmon are somewhat finicky. They bred for me easily enough but no where near like the ruby greens. They have to be extremely satisfied with their surroundings to color up. Many people never see a lot of red from this species at all. If they do show their best color, it is stunning. One of the most brilliant red colors of any Victorian.

I throw my excess males into a catch-all 180 gallon tank. In that tank both the ruby green and the Hippo Point salmon display a very muted color with almost no red at all.

Kevin


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I was advised not to mix the Ruby Greens with haps. Now that I have my haps (and they are the peaceful ones, LOL) I'd say the Ruby Greens might have trouble coloring up.


----------



## Frigid Blue (Feb 12, 2011)

The P. Hippo Point are all full grown at 4.5" and are a confirmed breeding group. Forgot to mention that I will be getting 3 younger backup males, for a total of 4m/4f. Would the extra males encourage the dominant one to color up? I am prepared to split up the subdominant males if they get too aggressive towards the females. The haps that I have in the tank are quite docile compared to the ones in my main show tank, and I will be thinning out my haps soon anyways. So from my understanding, the chances of the two species breeding and staying colored would be plausible, but not likely?


----------

