Lamprologus meleagris/stappersi questions

[johns51]

OK not sure what I have going on here with all my fish seems I always have one of the fish of each species holding but this is a first for me so I need some advice.

I have 8 F2 Lamprologus meleagris/stappersi in a tank with 10 yellow calvus.

I really thought I had some time before I would have stappersi spawn as there has been no indication of any aggression from any of them. I have been told I would be lucky to keep one male and two females as they usually only pair up and kill/harass any intruders of their own species.

Well I just looked in the tank and I have mom guarding a shell with fry ( assuming it's mom).

So what do I do? remove the shell and fry with out mom? remove the shell with mom and fry? (will this break the pair?) Leave them alone? ( I want the fry so not sure if this is a good idea especially since I know the calvus like to eat fry)

I have a 10 gallon set up with 5 plecos in it that has cichlid sand and the pH is good so I have a place to move them ( I also have a 20 long but it has Mbuna fry in it and pretty sure they would eat these and I have two yellow tail aceis getting ready to spit so....).

I really would like to save these fry especially since I just lost 8 Red Tail Heller fry this week. Well I can't find them in the tank.

Open to any guidance/suggestions.

Thanks,

John

 

[johns51]

PS

I can't get a photo right now as the shell is in the back of the tank and the fry are so small they look like pin heads.

 

[rsretep]

congrats on the fry... i also breed shellies and i have found that moving the fry (still in the shell) to a net breeder produces better results for me...add an airstone to the net breeder for circulation and feed....good luck

 

[minifoot77]

pete knows what he is talkin about if you don't have a tank to put the mom and fry in by themselves a breeder net will work

Posted via mobile.capitalcichlids.org

 

[johns51]

Thank you, I went out and picked up a net breeder today and will give it a try. Looks as though I have fry in to shells.

 

[minifoot77]

buy two nets then

 

[longstocking]

Just an FYI. These fish are harem spawners. In my experience they do better in groups So your set-up confirms my experience as well. A lot of people keep them as pairs.... but really they will breed with multiple females. The reason people keep them as pairs is they typically want to stick them in a 10 gallon. A lot of people want cichlids but find out a 10 gallon is too small for most of them... other than some shellies.

Keeping them as a group of 10 or so usually works out the best in terms of breeding and miantaining them. A lot people fail at keeping ocellatus/meleagris types due to them trying to keep them as pairs and in too small of tanks. Not that it can't be done... but it's much easier to keep them as groups.

Congrats on the fry! and good luck wiht raising them up.

 

[johns51]

Moved the shell this morning to the breeder net. Mom didn't want to go. As soon as I had the shell she came out and swam away. The shell with the fry has been in the net for about 8 hours now. I have only seen 5 fry.

This is the first time I have had these spawn so not sure but isn't 5 fry kind of a small spawn for these fish?

 

[Travis]

I have a 2m/4f group of L. stappersi and I just noticed that one of the females has both free swimming fry and freshly laid eggs in her shell. I hadn't read about this level of promiscuity before with this species.

 

[rsretep]

dont think that five fry is odd i have had as few as five and as many as twelve.... sounds pretty normal (plus there may be a few still in the shell)....do you have food for the fry????

 

[johns51]

Was going to use NLS grow well still going to use it but crushing it up mixing with some aquarium water and using an eye dropper to get it down close to the fry.