Breeding Electric Yellow Chichlids and other mbunas

[kaianuanu]

Hi I notced there wasn't much information on breeding mbunas. i was thinking about breeding electric yellows and shopping around and looking for the most expensive mbuna i find(more profit).
Any info you can share about breeding electric yellows and other mbunas, tips and advice are welcome too:thumb: .

one specific question: how do i know if an electric yellow is sexually mature?


Thanx,
-Kai

[toddnbecka]

You might as well forget about breeding mbuna for profit, they're mass-produced by fish farms. You may be lucky enough to break even IF you can find buyers for your fish.
As for breeding, it's really simple. Mbuna are mouthbrooders, so as long as you have both sexes and properly fed fish they'll take care of the rest. You can separate the female/s after they spawn to allow them to incubate their brood in peace, or strip them and place the eggs in a tumbler for hatching.

[kaianuanu]

tumbler? and how do you tell if an electric yellow is sexually mature

[toddnbecka]

Google egg tumbler for more info, you can buy them or DIY if you have the materials handy.
Yellow Lab's usually start breeding around 2". Venting is the only reliable method of sexing them.

[kaianuanu]

wow! i looked at a ruler and realized how small an inch really was, i need to update my profile on my fish i saidh they were about 1.5 inches when they're really about an inch longer! i know about venting, i vented them and i have 2 females so i am planning to purchase a male. when i find plans 4 a tumbler i will post the link and ask for approval........no actually can you guys show try to find plans for a diy tumbler suitable for 1-2 clutches of electric yellow eggs?


PS: it has to be air pump powered

[kaianuanu]

wow! i looked at a ruler and realized how small an inch really was, i need to update my profile on my fish i saidh they were about 1.5 inches when they're really about an inch longer! i know about venting, i vented them and i have 2 females so i am planning to purchase a male. when i find plans 4 a tumbler i will post the link and ask for approval........no actually can you guys show try to find plans for a diy tumbler suitable for 1-2 clutches of electric yellow eggs?


PS: it has to be air pump powered

[The Wedge]

You'll need a decent size tank for Yellow Labs...around 55 gallon at least. How big is your tank? I have so many Demasoni...I can't give them away. My Labs didn't breed until they were well over 3 inches...

[kaybee]

...how do you tell if an electric yellow is sexually mature

It took a while for my store-bought yellow labs to successfully breed as well (they didn't produce fry until the were at least 3"). But I think that had more to do with some of my other mbuna's in the tank. My male red zebra LOVED to break up fights and would mistake yellow lab spawning efforts as 'fighing' and would always interrupt them.

However, when the yellow labs did successfully produce fry, something interesting occurred. While still in the grow out tank, one of my yellow labs which was born in my tank began mouth brooding fry (at 11 months of age and barely 2" if that). I've had other tank born juvies mouthbrood at about the year-old mark.

So they can become sexually mature at fairly early age, but there are factors which may postpone them from producing fry. I had two female socolofi's and one more receptive than the other and a 'favorite' of the male. She produced large broods of fry about every other month. The larger female didn't produce fry until maybe 2yrs after I had her.

In any event, mbuna's (of any species) are definately highly prolific.

[kaianuanu]

i just got back from petco and i brought home a about7/8" male(my females are about 1/4" bigger). he's been getting beat up so i rearaged the decor and that helped a little but they're still going at it. any tricks that can help me break it up? Do you think I should get a larger fish to help(i have seen the largest cichlid in a tank be a bouncer to all of the smaller fish a few times before)?


PS: do you think I could put 3 electric blues with them also(I'm moving them into a 55 any day now)?

[kaybee]

...any tricks that can help me break it up?

Usually it's not a good idea to introduce a low quantity of mbuna's into a tank containing established mbuna's. New mbuna's are typically regarded as intruders and may be dealt with as such by the one's already in the tank (at least until they're able to find a niche in the tank's hierarchy).

It's usually better to add several at a time (4-6). Even if they're all harassed, it makes it harder for one particular one to be singled out. At their current size, though, they're not capable of killing each other. Peace will eventually return once they get used to the new guy; and if it is indeed a male and if the others are all females, he will eventually become the dominant yellow lab in the tank (after it puts on some size).

A larger mbuna (such as a 4" male yellow lab) would unlikely attract such aggressive attention from smaller mbuna's.

One 'trick' to make the new mbuna's introduction easier is to add it at night after the lights have been turned off. Adding a single fish in 'broad daylight' makes it the immediate center of attraction (at least initially). Adding it in the darkness gives it time to settle in unharassed and in the morning it will be 'found out' but the reaction of the established fish won't be as acute.

I recommend adding the electric blues after the 55gal has been set up.

[kaianuanu]

ok, They've already estblished their pecking order or their hierarchy. By the way, how many mbunas do you think i could keep in a 55g with lots of rockwork. i want as many as i can without being foolish.

[kaybee]

8-16, give or take, depending on the species and/or genders of the fish.

Starting out with as few as 8 gives you room to expand the population in the tank with offspring.