# Jack Dempsey and kenyi mating



## Killerotter13 (Nov 11, 2017)

*** searched all over and can't find any info on this but i have several fry in my tank now and i cant figure out what they are. To my knowledge the only female i have in my tank is a jack dempsey. I have several other cichlids in there with her and they're all male. Well my kenyi is the one who is guarding the fry so my question is that im wondering if this is possible. The fry have the shape of a jd and blue along the edges of their fins but are gray in color with black stripes. If anyone could solve this for me id appreciate it


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

Those species would be genetically incompatible, not to mention that they breed in different ways, the African being a mouthbrooder and the JD a substrate spawner. What other fish are in the tank, and can you give us a picture of the fry?


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## Killerotter13 (Nov 11, 2017)

There are two fire mouths. 2 acai. 1 kenyi. 1 electric yellow. 2 blue johanni and that's it for the cichlids


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

Kenyi would not "guard fry". A female would hold them in her mouth for a few weeks.

If the Jack Dempsey was a female and had eggs, she would have laid them and guarded them quite conspicuously.

You must have a female Mbuna in there, the fish you have can be hard to tell.


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## Killerotter13 (Nov 11, 2017)

The kenyi sits in there with the fry and if any other fish comes near it chases them off


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

In 24-48 hours he/she will be EATING the fry.


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## BC in SK (Aug 11, 2012)

Killerotter13 said:


> The kenyi sits in there with the fry and if any other fish comes near it chases them off


The kenyi is guarding a territory. That these fry happen to be around, likely has nothing to do with guarding the territory. Mbuna can be territorial, especially against their rivals.
Mbuna are mouth brooders and once the female releases the fry from her mouth they generally do not protect them. Maybe sometimes, they will have more extended protection, but the female will protect them by sucking them back into her mouth (this sort of extended care is less often seen in captivity).
Acei, kenyi, electric yellow and johanni are all Malawi mbuna and can all crossbreed ( all Malawi "haplochromines" can crossbreed). You have at least one female amongst them that recently held. It's even possible that the female is the kenyi as sometimes females will turn yellow as the male coloration often relates more to pecking order/dominance then it does specifically to the sex of the fish.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

Which of your group has spawned is not really too important at this time. What might be the bigger issue is that you are on your way to a collection of junk fish and you have chosen a poor grouping for crossbreeding. So do you want to continue to raise fish which should not have been allowed to happen or do you want to do the right thing and not pass these fish on into the hobby where we already have too many mutts to figure out? 
Life gets complicated without having to deal with a group of mutts that nobody can name. The Kenyii is almost certain to be in the mix as they will mate with about anything that swims.


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