Syn Petricola

[johns51]

I put two adult syn petricola into a 20 long tank a few months ago because they looked pretty beat up, thought the cichlids may have been just treating them bad.

I was getting ready to move them back in to the 125 when I found 4 fry in the 20 gallon tank.

questions I have are:

Should I leave everyone in the 20 for a bit longer?
Is 4 fry from a pair of petricola a small number? seems I have seen very larg spawns of these before.
Will the parents eat the fry?
Definitely not moving the fry as I know they will get eaten in the 125.

 

[jonclark96]

Check with Minifoot. His are breeding pretty regularly.

 

[toddnbecka]

If the parents haven't eaten the fry by now it isn't likely they will. Petricola eggs are tiny, and w/out a bowl of marbles for spawning the eggs and hatchlings are likely to be eaten rather quickly.

 

[minifoot77]

not to disagree with todd but if the fry will fit in the parents mouths they will become food eventually and yes that is a small spawn I would cover half the tank with marbles after relocating the fry and pull the parents after about 15 days or so then see if you got fry in the tank...

 

[johns51]

Thanks everyone,

Little confused on how the bowl of marbles work. Should I actually put a bowl of marbles in the tank?

 

[ltrepeter2000]

Yes a bowl of marbles. It gives the breeding ground the concave shape that they would give it by digging a pit and the marbles will allow the fry space to escape from the parents mouths before you remove the parents.

 

[minifoot77]

they really don't dig pits but they are egg scatterers and will eat their own eggs some like bowls some will scatter eggs on the sand

Posted via mobile.capitalcichlids.org

 

[toddnbecka]

A bowl of marbles with an inverted flower pot (w/hole in side) makes a good breeding setup for petricola. The fish will swin in through the hole in the side of the pot and spawn, the eggs will fall into the bowl of marbles. Best bet is to have 2-3 bowls on hand, and change them out daily to check for eggs.

 

[YSS]

I thought they needed other mouth brooders to sneak the eggs in. They don't?

 

[johns51]

I thought they needed other mouth brooders to sneak the eggs in. They don't?

Thats Multis that need the host mouth brooder

 

[toddnbecka]

Actually, multi's and petricola are egg scatterers. Multi's are most often housed with mbuna or peacocks as hosts, and spawn at the same time as the cichlids. Kept alone they will simply scatter their eggs, but eat them soon after spawning.