cichlid breeding and fry

[benvardag]

ive had my tank for about four months, and have just noticed that i have fry. ive got an assortment of 8 malawi cichlids in my 40g tank. the two kenji have just produced fry which have started to mature. the pair, both gold in color, have dug out the majority of the bottom of the tank with "nests". now i dont know if there are more fry down there b/c i dont want to disturb their habitat. but both of them are extremely aggressive even when the other fish venture in the vicinity of the fry. should i add more hiding spots? should i take the fry out? should i move some of the other cichlids? should i intervene in any way? im new to this and would just like to see the fry make it to atleast their juvenile state.

also, what are the chances that the male kenji will mate with another species of cichlid in the tank. is interspecies mating common in cichlids? please let me how i should go about dealing with the fry, i look forward to hearing anyones responses. im not going to lie but this situation has just elevated my interest in the hobby.

 

[liv2padl]

what are the chances that the male kenji will mate with another species of cichlid

unfortunately, the chances are excellent.

let me how i should go about dealing with the fry

i'd leave them in the tank and make certain they do not get distributed into the hobby either to the LFS or friends. the fry you've got are very likely hybrids and that's not a good thing for the hobby.

two kenji have just produced fry which have started to mature. the pair, both gold in color

male kenyii are gold, females are blue.

African Mbuna are polygamous. this means that a single male will try and spawn with every female in the tank, virtually indiscriminantly. the closer in color the female is the what the male 'expects', the more likely this is to occur. in his pursuit of procreation, males will harrass females relentlessly and the fewer the females, the higher the probability that the female will be harrassed to death.

the best way to manage spawning aggression is to keep only ONE male together with at least THREE females (more is even better) which will serve to dilute the spawning aggression. too, you should have one cave for each females in the tank. finally, these are rock dwelling cichlids. you need to have a LOT of rockwork in the tank in order to keep this species happy.

 

[benvardag]

very interesting, if only our females believed in polygamus relationships. funny thing i just purchased about 30 pounds of lace and sheet rock; the tank is practically one giant cave. i also have two flower pots on either side of the tank for the two largest females.

liv2padl thanks for the response

 

[johaniimaster27]

sometimes the female kenyii will be more brownish/gold.