# VERY improbable babies!



## Maddog (Nov 7, 2008)

OK, 
the story goes, 
I have a 4 foot long 50 gallon tnak for a show tank with alot of species, mostly unsexed and all aroudn 2 inches

3 yellow labs
2 red zebras
3 rusties
2 albino's
2 Venetus
and my newest purchase was a pair, M/F or mangano's (sp?)

I love the blue coloration on these and thoguth about breeding them.
Pickuped up a 30 gallon, empty, been cycling it for a good long time, etc, etc
finaly foudn a guy who had some other mangano's so i coudl get 1 oe 2 more females. The ideas was jsut to put the breeding trioin the 30 alone.

Tonight as i look at my tank the female mangano is holding! i'm sure of it, the large bump in the throught!

my question is... would it be possible that any of the other species mated with her? she is so different then all the others. I do see the male mangano dancing and vibrating around her though.
I'm going to give it another day and them move her to the separate tank so she is comfortable.

any help, opinions?

i'm so excited!


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## gmaschke (Aug 23, 2008)

The behavior suggest he is the father but with 6 species in 1 tank anything is possible.

From what I understand labs and red zebras are almost gauranteed to cross. Those venetus will outgrow that tank quickly.


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## Joea (May 25, 2004)

It's possible for any two mbuna to cross. It's also possible that she's holding unfertilized eggs, which is very common. Given the choice of other species, it should be easy to tell whether or not the fry are pure.


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## Maddog (Nov 7, 2008)

how long should I wait before moving her to the other tank?


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## cevvin (May 2, 2008)

If you are going to move her, then move her now. Just make sure the water parameters are good, and its a cycled filter.


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## Lostlilkidd (Jan 27, 2009)

post up some pics of you tank


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## Maddog (Nov 7, 2008)

she is moved! i hope it didnt stress her out too much trying to catch her. she is fast little girl!
is a 30 gallon for her alone.. 
so i don't feed her for how long?


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## Maddog (Nov 7, 2008)

do i just keep with regular maintenance on that tank, 
she definatly isn;t eating, and i;m pretty sure i saw a black dot in her mouth...
means fertalized eggs?


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## gmaschke (Aug 23, 2008)

If you saw black it has already hatched the eggs should be tan/orange in color. White means its no good. Don't feed anything I've heard of fish eating little bits of flake with eggs in their mouth but the uneaten food will cause too many problems and she likely won't eat anyway. *** had them hold and not eat for 4wks(though not disired due to stress). Yes follow a regular maintenance routine.

When she spits remove her and feed before she eats the fry.


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## Maddog (Nov 7, 2008)

thanks!
i hope things work out!


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

I really wouldn't salvage any fry from this tank until you work out your stocking. These are not "pairing" fish and should not be kept as such, and unless you have someone who is an expert at venting, you may or may not have one male to one female of each species. Each male of a species require multiple females...

As of now, the venustus will outgrow the tank, and you've got risks of hybridization with every spawn. All it takes is a hyper dominant male to step in...


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## Maddog (Nov 7, 2008)

yeah, i'm fully aware of the whole 1m-3female ratio
and i know the venutus will get larger quicker. 
I have seen them mixed before, and not cuase any issues, not to mention, clean up spawnings in my show tank. they should actuly help keep the numbers down!

As i mentioned up top. i have separate tank set up for my mangano's to breed in, and was purchasing more females for my males when this happned! 
so i totlay plan on moving them to there own tank to breed. 
I only saw the male mangano near the female doign the mating dance. 
there is so much going on in that tank, i never expected anyone to mate.

if any end up surviving, i can use them as feeder fry, or keep them myself if I enjoy the coloring. I'm not getting into that whole hybrid fight.

I just enjoy fish keeping and the cycle of life.

but as i said, after this, I plan on putting at least 1 male and two females in a separate tank together. I know 3 females is optimal, but it is VERY hard to get anything other then a yellow lab or mixed african's around here.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

I kind of thought you were considering using a 30G for the group for breeding. Depending on the dimensions of the tank, it may not work. If it's less than 36 inches in length, it is doubtful.


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## Maddog (Nov 7, 2008)

ya, that was the plan, 
just got a great deal on it. 
It shoudl be awful close to 36 inches. 
If there is only the trio in there... i think they should be ok!
iI'll enjoy trying it in either case.

if these fry live, i can just let them grow out in there for a bit.


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