Sajica behaviour

[kes]

I've had my gorgeous little pair of Sajicas for about a month now.

I put a flower pot in the back of the tank and they immediately made it their home. I could watch them for hours, they're so funny! I'm not sure if I have a pair as they are very young but the larger of the two has a definite nuchal bump developing and the little one looks a bit more yellow around the fins.

Anyway..recently the one I'm hoping is female has started digging and digging around the flower pot.. I can't believe how much work this little lady does! She holes herself up in there with just a little gap at the top and if anyone swims too near she gives them a bop on the nose. The male doesn't seem too fussed and he comes and goes (she doesn't seem to hit him).

Is this normal every day behaviour for cichlids or is she planning on spawning soon? I don't think they can be cos they're definitely not full grown.

Whatever the case, they've got me totally hooked on cichlids!..:41:

[Abbeys_Mom]

Sound like love to be. My female Krib used to do that. That's the one thing I loved most about my Nics, they were such industrious fish.

[Severus]

Thats why i love cichlids. They all have such personality. Maybe if you are lucky you will have a mating pair, and possibly fry in a few months.

[jeffs99dime]

my krib also does that

[kes]

Just a quick one.. came home last night and the females eyes have gone really light coloured, almost white on the irises ..males are bright blue as usual..should I be concerned?

[Severus]

Does it appear to be on top of her eye? Is it only on her eye? You could have a fungus infection... be prepared to treat for it. Keep an eye on her!

[Abbeys_Mom]

I hope she is ok. Keep us posted.

[kes]

It's weird, she doesn't seem ill but her eyes have become more prominent and not blue anymore..They were like this:
531

And now they've gone like this!!
532

She's still digging like mad and bossing everyone about..

[Severus]

Her eye looks normal... Just make sure you watch her. Maybe she is maturing and that is normal? Im not sure

[jeffs99dime]

have you changed any routine aspect or changed any lighting levels/ output?

[kes]

oooooh oooooooohh! Everybody help!!

My Sajicas have had babies!!! :19: At first I though they were baby platys and then watching them the Sajicas are guarding them.. every time a baby wanders off Dad Sajica (George) gently scoops it in his mouth and pops it down at the bottom of the tank!! I am over the moon!!! This is brilliant!!

HOWEVER.. what do I do now? :confused: They've left their plant pot and have deposited all their babes in the middle of the tank and aren't letting anyone near.. It's thrown my community tank into disarray.. I do have a gorrible old plastic tank I could put the Saj's in, but I haven't got a spare heater or anything.. can you get a 'nursery tank' or something to put into an aquarium? These are my first ever babies and I'm so excited!!

On a practical level, it also makes me encouraged that my fish are happy and water levels are good etc..

My excited news today WAS meant to be that my Gouramis have gone and I have three little loaches... but suddenly this happened!! I went to Maidenhead aquatics yesterday and saw some of their Sajicas and they are huuuuuuge!!..Mine are only 3" so I wouldn't have expected them to be mature enough to breed yet..

Any advice anyone can give me would be ace....I don't know how many of these little cuties will be left by this evening..will my Sajicas attack them at all or if they're guarding them does that mean they may be ok???

So many questions! Sorry!! :11:

[Abbeys_Mom]

If they are supposed to be good parents. You certainly need to do something. Apparently they will span every 2 weeks. You are going to be over run! With loaches in the tank, they may eat the eggs, or your T-bars may kill them. If your house if fairly warm you could get away with an unheated fry tank. The tank doesn't need gravel, but light and filtration (a filter that has been used as well) are a must.

You mentioned that you saw some at the store and they were huge and I said to myself, Hmm that's odd. Then I realized that the rest of your fish are platies, etc. in which case a 5" cichlid would look HUGE! As far as I know the males don't get any bigger then 5" and the females are smaller then that. When you look at cichlids as a group, your are on the smaller side.

[kes]

I've done a little research and I think the cichlids they had at my LFS may have been wrongly named as Sajicas and may be the larger C Spilurum..because the Sajicas only grow to about 5" and these cichlids were nearer 10".. There is a definite divide in the tank at the moment..The Saj's have taken their fry back to the flowerpot (I think they just take the little ones out for an hour at a time a few times a day). All the other fish are residing in the other half of the tank.

The Saj's are keeping the other fish away but once they are at a safe distance away they seem to leave them alone.

At the moment they're being good parents, apparently they nurture them for about 7-9 weeks and then you need to remove them, before the next lot arrive! They sound like they're quite slow growing. From the size of them, I think they're about a week old.. I can't believe they've kept them secret for so long!! I think they were just waiting until the Blue Gouramis were removed.. good job, they wouldn't have lasted five minutes with them in there!

So, if I separate them, do I just take the fry out? The parents are feeding them at the moment with chewed out flake food, bless them. The LFS said I'm best to keep them together and see how things go..what does everyone else think? From Williams article it sounds like they're usually good attentive parents.

[kes]

Also...can I still vacuum the gravel while the fry are in the tank or should I wait?

[Abbeys_Mom]

I would wait on the gravel cleaning, or stick to the side farthest away from the parents. So fish eat their young when they get stressed. Plus, a week or two of dirty gravel won't hurt them.

[kes]

Cool.. I'll hold fire on that.. thanks for your advice, much appreciated! :ezpi_wink1:

[Abbeys_Mom]

No problem. When my Kribs had babies, they attacked my gravel cleaner till I though they were going to go belly up. They got so stressed I stopped after cleaning half. With the guppy fry, I would just wait till they were big enough that you could spot them so you didn't suck them up.

[kes]

Well, sad news I'm afraid..

It appears that all the baby Sajicas have been depleted. Over a few days mum and dad just gradually lost interest..They were down to about six for the last two days but this morning as hard as I looked, I couldn't see any.

It's weird how everything has gone back to normal..all the shoalers and ditherers have spread themselves around the whole tank again and the Sajicas have chilled out and their colours have faded.

I kind of think maybe they were a little young and this first spawn was just too much for them. next time it happens I think I shall have a spare tank set up just in case.

I enjoyed it while it lasted - this is fishkeeping all over, isn't it? On a high one minute and then really p****d off the next!

[nanaglen2001]

Dont worry, when Sajicas started breeding, they will do it over and over again. And with each time, the parents get more routine and experience.

I keep 2 pairs of those beautiful fish, and both pairs just started breeding again. Gosh, this means dangerous times for my poor hands, cause those innocent looking babyfaces really can bite:wink2: