If I tried my hand at breeding White tail Acei?

Lady G

Lady G

It's a mafia thing, nothing personl
Oct 6, 2005
3,322
0
0
WI
gingersassatelli.bodybyvi.com
Because I have had a hard time finding these, I had been thinking about trying to breed them. Now, I was thinking in the future like in a couple of months.....BUT I have an opportunity now to buy a breeding group (7) total. There are also several tanks for sale in my area on craigs list right now, what I need to know is what size tank would be suitable for a group this size? What size would be good for a grow out tank?
 
Wow, this is sooooo tempting right now. There are several 55's I know for sure at good prices! Think I will be considering this pretty hard here, just need to figure out where I would put the tanks, LOL...the reason I was planning to wait. I know where I could put a 55...jst need to figure the "grow out" tanks!

Any advice on breeding? Does it usually take a while, or are they pretty quick, how long do they hold? Is it better to try and strip them or pull the female out and let her spit them in the grow out, then take her out? What do I feed the fry?
 
Lady G said:
Wow, this is sooooo tempting right now. There are several 55's I know for sure at good prices! Think I will be considering this pretty hard here, just need to figure out where I would put the tanks, LOL...the reason I was planning to wait. I know where I could put a 55...jst need to figure the "grow out" tanks!

Any advice on breeding? Does it usually take a while, or are they pretty quick, how long do they hold? Is it better to try and strip them or pull the female out and let her spit them in the grow out, then take her out? What do I feed the fry?
Click to expand...

I have 8 Tanzania Blacks, and mine breed like rabbits. I've had 3 holding at once. The 55 tank should be fine for 7 of them. I've gotten broods of up to 40 so far, and I've read of some of more than 60. Once they get comfortable, they should breed regularly. I've had fry from 7 month old offspring of my first group as well. I always try to wait about 18-21 days, and then I strip them. I then just return mom to the main tank right away. I keep newborn fry in either a 5.5g or 10g until they get bigger, then a 20 long and on to a 33 long. As far as feeding, I used crushed NLS flake w/garlic, crushed spirulina flake, and then NLS Grow formula when they get to about 3/4". Some even grind up the Grow and feed that when they're smaller. Good luck!
 
Well, thanks DrgRcr! Great info there, do you find ppl are looking for them quite a bit? My main reason I want to do this is because I've had a hard time finding them...just wondering if you have a good demand for them? Not that I'm looking to make all kinds of money selling them (I'm sure after supplies and upkeep it's not a big profit), but I don't want to end up with a bunch of fish I can't find homes for? I just want to make them more available to others who may be looking for them
 
2 of the ones you gave me have bred MANY times since I got them. The male is pretty easy on the female which is a plus for mbuna. The female has held full term pretty much every time but I've let her spit in the tank. Unfortunately no one around here wants them :(
 
Awwww, I have grand babies!!! The ones I still have, have never bred (well maybe they did and I just never see the fry) being in a tank full of other Mbuna may have something to do with that.

Hmmm, so you have had a hard time getting rid of them?
 
Oh I KNOW!! As for the grow out tanks, do I need anything special for them? Just set it up like I would a regular tank or what???
 
A sponge over the filter intake would be a good idea for the fry tank.
 
I got 4 white tails from you. I had 3 males and 1 female. The biggest male took out the rival males so now I just have the pair. You may have mostly males in your group. Females are grey instead of purple/ blue. They are pretty easy to tell apart. I have a video somewhere of the male courting the female. Mine are in with other mbuna but still breed.


EDIT:
I found the video:

[YT]9LvtW0l_EYg[/YT]

You'll notice the female is much more drab than the male and not blue in the face at all. She's comes close to the camera towards the end and you can tell she's more grey than purple. A lot of her coloring in this video is due to the lighting.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom