# Just stirpped my Maingano!!!



## Addesyn (Jul 1, 2009)

Ok so i got about 20 fry and I put them in my 10g (bare setup besides 1 moss covered rock and bubble stone) and my question is can I put my prego platy in with them?


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## chris777 (Jun 27, 2008)

I wouldn't but that's me.


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## Addesyn (Jul 1, 2009)

Why???


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

why would u want to?....let the platty shoot em in her tank.


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## Addesyn (Jul 1, 2009)

Her tank is in with the Mbunas. That's why.  The babies would just be a snack for the others. Plus I don't have it set up for fry. They would get sucked up in the filter or something if they didn't get eaten.


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## Addesyn (Jul 1, 2009)

Just wanted to share this. I got 22 fry when I stripped her before I put her back in the tank. I didn't want to stress her out too much but I'm nearly positive there's still a few in there. She still looks like shes holding. I will strip her again this afternoon and see if I can't get some more


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

She might eat the maingano fry.....


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## Addesyn (Jul 1, 2009)

You think she would? That possibility didn't seem very likely to me but I don't always know what I'm talking about :lol: They are growing very quickly though (and they were a lot bigger than I thought they would be when I stripped her) Maybe I'll look in my shed for my 1gal and put her in there.


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## chris777 (Jun 27, 2008)

Any fish will try to eat another fishes fry. Its like someone putting some good food in front of you and you not getting the urge to want to eat it. :wink:


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## Addesyn (Jul 1, 2009)

Just stripped her again and got 4 more


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

nicee :thumb:


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## Addesyn (Jul 1, 2009)

Thanks. I'm really impressed with her since that is her first batch of fry. I'm sure I got them all this time. I'm surprised she didn't swallow them, I fed the adults about an hour after I got the last of the babies out and she ate like a horse.


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

i bet :wink:


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## Addesyn (Jul 1, 2009)

Yeah she has really perked up. I'm sure she will be back to thrashing her tankmates in no time. She has been the dominant fish in her tank for quite some time.


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

im sure....she juss needs to eat....its amazing how long these fish can go with little or no food.


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## Addesyn (Jul 1, 2009)

Well they are really hard to get a pic of but I'm proud so don't hate on my fry :lol:


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

congrats how many do you have total?


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

Fogelhund said:


> She might eat the maingano fry.....


And the maingano fry that are left might eat the platy fry...

I don't think you'll have to worry about this very long. If your mbuna are maturing enough to spawn and the platies are in the tank with them, I don't think they'll survive much longer. 

I'm not too sure those are maingano fry, either. I didn't raise them very long but the ones I did raise all were blue....


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

they somewhat resemble my Melanochromis joanjohnsonae fry.


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## Addesyn (Jul 1, 2009)

Well... they are the dreaded "h" word... (once again don't hate on my fry!!! :lol: ) some are gold, blue, clear-ish, striped, they all look different, I think my Maingano got around a bit... I have 25 now since one died, they are already showing aggression at about .5" long lol I haven't decided what to do with them though.. I was thinking I could convince my husband to get me another big tank to put them in when they are bigger but I would be afraid of ending up with mutant incested babies surviving when they got older. :? I'm sure now they would eat the Platy fry and maybe try to eat the Platy too( :lol: ) but once again I have misjudged the excessively long gestation period of Platys and the longer I wait the less I care. Silly livebearers. I had to put both Platys in a 1g hospital tank because they developed some fin funk, treated them with melafix but haven't done anything else with them yet. OH YEAH and I got a buddy for my Socolofi  at the LFS I thought she wasn't that much smaller than him but after getting her home realized she is hardly bigger than my white clouds. Good thing she is fast though, and doing well.


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## Addesyn (Jul 1, 2009)

Instead of starting a new thread I thought I would just ask this here, do you think some Pictus would go well in my tank would would they just annoy the heck out of my cichlids? I like them but since they don't stick to the upper waters of the tank like my other non-cichlids I wonder how fast they would get offed.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

What is the full stock list of the 55G tank now?

(I'm almost afraid to ask... :wink: )

And yes, they would probably just annoy your cichlids, but no more so than the platy will once the cichlids all reach adult maturity.


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## Addesyn (Jul 1, 2009)

Umm... let's see..

2 Socolofi 1m 1f
2 Estherae 1m 1f
1 Maingano f
1 Kenyi

4 Tiger Barbs
2 White Clouds
1 Gold Danio

Wow I really thought I had more cichlids.. Needless to say this is not my final stock list.
OOOOHH checks out my newest addition  (my Kenyi is a lot bigger than he looks, the Socolofi is actually tiny and they look like they're the same distance from the camera but he's actually at the back of the tank)


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

Ure going to have to make some changes to that stock list to have a more peaceful tank setup....those kenyis are bruisers and i would suggest her being the first to go being you only have a 55G tank....idd take out the 4 Tiger Barbs 2 White Clouds 1 Gold Danio and then add more of the three remaining species ideally trying to have 1 male and 4 or 5 females for each male of the species.....i think there may however IMO be too much blue with the Socolofi and Maingano.....so maybe swapping one of these species out wouldnt be a bad idea....maybe something like Cynotilapia specie or Rustys would make for a cool tank....maybe even perlmutts? And i agree with cichlidaholic....the pictus cats will annoy your cichlids....why not try some syno multipunctatus....maybe get 4 or 5 for your 55G....i have them in my 75 and my cichlids dont mind them at all....unless they unintetionally bumb heads :wink:


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

I don't believe that's a pure socolofi - the barring is too intense and the blue isn't just right, and the kenyi is a "she", unless it's smaller than it looks.

The kenyi is also overfed, which puts it at risk for bloat.

If you plan to breed, I wouldn't want more than 3 species in a 55G tank. The kenyi are going to get too aggressive for this size tank, period.

These aren't pairing fish. They are harem breeders, meaning each male of a species requires multiple females. As it is right now, it's a hybrid nightmare, so please don't distribute any of the resulting fry out into the hobby. It's hard enough to find quality fish as it is.

I wouldn't add any pictus. I would remove all the non cichlids, work on my groups for each species ( get rid of the kenyi and not add another species of cichlid at all if you plan to breed and distribute fry) and add some synodontis cats.

All of your fish aren't fully mature yet. Once they are, you're going to want to have it stocked properly to minimize your losses. :thumb:


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## Addesyn (Jul 1, 2009)

*Brant* The perlmutts are really pretty but no LFS around here have anything but yellow labs, estherae, maingano, auratus, JDs, cons ect. just the really common stuff. Actually I believe I saw a pair of venustus the other day. That was different. I know that no one believes me when I say this but there is hardly any fighting in my 55g at all. That is pretty much my plan though as soon as I get somewhere to put them. It would be a lot of blue but hey who doesn't like blue fish?

*Cichlidaholic* The "socolofi" isn't as dark as it looks in the pic but who knows maybe it isn't pure. I don't care if my fish have babies or not and I didn't plan on distributing them. I try not to overfeed my fish but the darn things guilt me into it with the big sad eyes and their hungry dance :lol: Oh and I had already been told the Kenyi was a girl but I forgot about that and I know they are harem breeders but my husband only lets me get like one new fish a month

Oh and I was sleep deprived last night when I posted the previous post and I forgot (forgive me Jellybean!) I have a Jellybean Parrot or Pink Con Parrot (NOT DYED) or whatever you wanna call it.


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

Your tank may be peaceful now...im sure it is being all ure fish are juvenile....its when these fish grow and mature their personalities come out and with the mix you have in a tank of this size u will have problems .....appropriate stocking will make things on the fish and you a whole lot easier.


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## Addesyn (Jul 1, 2009)

Yes I know I need to fix my stocking, I've been working on that but IMO only that one is a juvie


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## Addesyn (Jul 1, 2009)

Hmmm... just got home and she's holding again! This time she's holding a lot more too, every time she opens her mouth a little bit eggs almost fall out.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

That's usually the way it works.

Younger moms will have smaller clutches, as they mature, the clutch size will increase.

It's also common for them to look like they are holding more initially and then over a couple of days time, the number seems to decrease. Not sure if they get rid of 'extras' just to make life easier, or if they eat a few initially out of hunger...

Regardless, you're going to be overrun with hybrid fry soon, so unless you plan on devoting alot of tank space to them, I'd give serious consideration to changing that stock list up. :thumb:


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## Addesyn (Jul 1, 2009)

I haven't been able to find any Maingano around here lately (that's my first priority, I'm hoping to get a few adults and hopefully have a male, would she stick to her own kind or would I still get hybrids?) I am going a few hours away Saturday to look for some.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

> 2 Socolofi 1m 1f
> 2 Estherae 1m 1f
> 1 Maingano f
> 1 Kenyi
> ...


With this stocklist (plus more maingano) you're still going to have problems. It's all about stocking a tank properly, and this isn't a good stock list for a 55G. Ideally, if you're interested in breeding and being able to distribute the fry at all, you don't want more than 3 species in this size tank, and you don't want the kenyi at all. (Even if you don't care about breeding, the fish do, and you're quickly going to be overrun with fish that you can't get rid of, or _shouldn't_ get rid of...)

The hybrids are going to be more prone to breed with anything in sight, as well. (I'm referring to the 'socolofi' and any of these fry you might keep. I haven't seen the rest of them...)


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

My maingano have never cross bred with anything else but they have enough of their own kind that they don't have to. I can't say what your female will do but I would try to get several more and hope for one male and the rest females. I'd get maybe 5-6. It's better to add them all at once too. Explain to your hubby that only adding one fish at a time will cause the new fish to get picked on.


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

How do you know you have 1 male and 1 female of the socolofi and estherae? You should try to have one male and 3-4 females of each of these. Can you post a pic of the other socolofi because I don't think the one you posted a pic of is a socolofi either.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

Adding more _does_ increase your chances of having pure fry with the maingano, but as long as the other species you have aren't stocked in proper breeding groups, they can still interfere with the maingano spawns.

I wasn't very clear with what I said earlier. 

This is for breeding purposes, but also aids in keeping down aggression, no matter what you want from the tank long term.


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## Addesyn (Jul 1, 2009)

I was very clear with my plans either. My ultimate (current) intention is to have groups of Maingano, Estherae, and Socolofi.

Here is my Socolofi that I have had for a while (and i agree that the new one looks very little like this) . And I guess I am not positively sure about the genders of some of my fish, it is just my slightly educated assumption


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

:lol: I was getting you mixed up with another poster when I said to explain to your husband that it's hard to add just one fish at a time. Sorry about that 

I'm also having trouble with my posts going through. I posted but it didn't show up that....
the pic of your other socolofi is a nice looking fish & your ultimate stocking plan sounds fine. It can be hard to find sexable adult fish in LFSs that's why I recommended getting 5-6 then as they mature and you can better tell the sexes you can remove extra males. My experience with maingano is that they are pretty mellow for melanochromis and you might be ok with 2 males. You'd just have to watch for aggression.


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## Addesyn (Jul 1, 2009)

I believe you had the right post because I mentioned earlier that my husband doesn't let me get new fish very often. I took another pic of my new one, it has settled in and has lost a lot of the barring it had before. Plus my camera is weird and even if my fish aren't showing their barring it will show up in the pic oftentimes.


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## Addesyn (Jul 1, 2009)

You may have had the right thread, I did mention earlier that my husband doesn't let me get new fish very often. I'm going fish shopping tomorrow  cuz it's my birthday Sunday. I took a new pic of the new one, it's barring has gone away a bit now that it's settled in but it's head looks like a Maingano head to me with that stripe...


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## Addesyn (Jul 1, 2009)

huh my computer lost the internet and it didn't look like the first post went through, but I guess it did.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

The larger one is a very nice socolofi. However, the smaller one doesn't look right at all to me. Is there any black on the dorsal?


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## aussy612 (Jan 31, 2009)

to be honest, i would get rid off all the things that aren't africans, and stick to buying a few more of the species that you currently have. In my 55g i bought a bunch of different species, and i feel like if i was to do it agian, id pick my favourites and then get more of those, rather than a jumble of randoms. there is a few reasons for this. First of all, like you said, it reduces the chance of a random hybridization. secondly, it looks better (IMO of course  ). It also allows for a more natural interaction between males and females of the same species. But you should be careful and pick a species that you like and one that suits you. OR you could get multipul species and disregard my ramblings


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## Addesyn (Jul 1, 2009)

*Cichlidaholic* eh.. a tiny bit. I hate getting rid of fish but the more I look at it the worse it looks to me... disregard the giant white blob


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

Try to get a really clear profile shot. I know it's not easy, but it's impossible to tell with these pics. He/she looks much darker in this pic than the others, and I do see the black on the dorsal.


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## Addesyn (Jul 1, 2009)

Ok gotta recharge the batteries for my camera then I will try to catch it and put it in something little so it can't get away and maybe I can get a good pic. It is camera-shy. The silly jellybean isn't.. every time I try to take a pic of anything it swims up to the camera and blocks my view.. Needles to say I have tons of pics of it :roll:


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

I'm sure you know this, but you seem determined to defy the odds, so I'll risk being repetitive...

The jelly bean isn't going to fare well long term in with the mbuna. :roll:


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## Addesyn (Jul 1, 2009)

I knew you would say that. lol I plan on getting it it's own tank at some point. They are doing very well together at the moment though, but if there are any problems in the future I am prepared to deal with them.


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## Addesyn (Jul 1, 2009)

So the fry are bigger now.. but I have a bit of an algae problem but I don't want to introduce snails into that tank. Would a pleco be okay with them?


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

Bristle nose :thumb:


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## Addesyn (Jul 1, 2009)

They are pretty sweet but no one around here has any and I can't afford the shipping for live fish.


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

idk any of the smaller growing plecos but id stay away from common plecos theyll lose the appetite for algae and will fill ure tank with poo.....mine does but *** had him for four years now so *** grown attached  .


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