cichlidsmad

hi i have 4 borleyi 1m-3f and iwant to know how to breed them anyone got any advice?

mikelozeski

Feed Them Live brine shrimp That Always Works For Me

Angela_96

NO!! Malawi's need more veggies in their diet. What really gets their spawning going (for my malawi's) is changing the water frequently, and replacing with very slightly cooler water (recomended for malawis and not other tropical fish) this simulates the rainy season in malawi. Also I use luner lighting in my tanks, and timers on all the lights (shorten daylight for seasons). This will kickstart breeding in a hurry.

outlaw

They also like a flat rock that they can spawn on. or an open space in the gravel.

How do you get them to stop? Our's spawned again and we had to "control" that.

cerianthus

C. borleyi is not mbuna (rock dwelling), although readily takes spirulina/vegie flakes once used them, they belong to group called Utaka (open water) requiring high protein matter (eats planktonic food in nature rather then grazing on algae). Could feed Brine, Hi-protein flakes and Fz insect larvae.
Rather than stick to one kind, give them variety which will give healthier clutch.
Do agree in simulating rainy season and temp drop. But rather than continuous change, used to do one sudden changes (change in water chemistry) to stimulate them (75% ONLY w/ WELL AGED cooler WATER).
Another method of achieving this is to keep male and females separated in different tanks then move them into another larger tank (Totally different water chemistry) . Prior to such wedding ceremony, used to feed females more often w/ varied diets.
I even had many fish breed in 180 G tank w/ mixed variety, Mbuna and Utaka, after such massive water changes.
Breeding Utaka (Haplochromines) are little more difficult/challenging (?) than Mbuna. Mbuna will have spawn w/o such massive changes. After while i was hoping they would not breed anymore.

Angela_96

http://www.aquariumlife.net/profiles...ngo/100069.asp

When you read the bottom, it gets bloat from eating too much protein. This is for all lake malawi cichilds. The "malawi bloat" came from the malawi fish being prone to it.
They also live on rocky habitats near the shores.

I was speaking of changing water temps to simulate seasons not a massive waterchange to change parameters. My parameters stay the same during these changes.

cerianthus

Malawi bloat is due to feeding not just hi-protein to grazers, but just overfeeding can cause MB. I very rarely experienced MB with mbuna but experienced MB with Tropheus moorii (Lot more tricky with feeding). I believe this has to do with difference in digestive track/system of grazers (vegetarian). Yes, C. borleyi do live near rock but not a rock dweller as an adult and they are NOT Grazer. Look at their mouth.

When you do water changes, water chemistry changes. There are much more chemistry involved than what you can test for with hobby kits. Mbuna will beed like mad even w/o stimulation. Haplochromines are little more difficult. Little help (stimualtion) from owner should help.

Breeding MOST Malawi which are easily available are not that difficult to breed compared to breeding C. furcifer or others from Lake Tang.

Angela_96

I actually don't breed readily avalible malawi's, all of mine with the exception of my kenyi are wilds and f1's. You cannot walk into afishstore and buy the species I keep.

My waterchanges like I said are all about simulating the rainy season in the lake. Haps are not hard to breed, I had one species that did spawn for me easily they were the red fin borleyi. I have also had my peacocks spawn.

You can do your research on the haps, and it all comes out that feeding a high protein diet is not reccomended.
Along with the mbuna watching how much protein you feed them is very important. I had lost 5 cichilds when I started out w/ them from bloat by feeding them the same diet of a cheap cichild flake and mixing bloodworms in the diet. I have seen it for myself. The majority of mbuna are veggie eaters, even the afra that has huge teeth.
I have kept close to if not over 30 species of mbuna, haps, peacocks. I got rid of the haps because of their personality, the peacocks for their personality, and kept my mbuna.

The "rainy" season stimulation works wonders, I have had every breeding group produce for me during this, and I did my normal amt of waterchanges just lowering the temp of the water slightly that goes on the top, and lowering the daylight hours and lenthening the lunar lights. I don't see how the chemistry is changed in the water with that, my phosphates, calcium, pH, nitrite, nitrates, ammonia, long range ammonia are all the same.

cerianthus

Someone with Chem background know for sure that no 2 tanks are exactly the same. Blood worms are no, no to Grazers. when feeding insect larvae, bloodworm to fish which requires planktons should be done in small amt, especially with Wild Morph.

Anyway, as i mentioned on other thread about West African, Try Atlantis Tropical Fish Hatchery.You probalby will find something that will interst you. I Probably handled majority of his list ,both wild & F1 but not bred all plus good amount of fish that was available before Atlantis.

Angela_96

I learned really fast that bloodworms are not a good diet for malawis. I do however give them once a week at the most as a "treat". And I really don't even give them that often.

I have actually found someone to get the West Africans from.

cerianthus

You know what? Even over eating/feeding on spirulina caused MB, not so much on Mbuna but more often with T. moorii. If memory serves, Hervivores digestive tract is longer than Monivores/Carnivores thus have problem passing/digesting Hi-Pro. Like i said, mbuna are more forgiving than T. morrii from Tang.
As far as Atlantis, just go thru their stock pics. Maybe you can find something interesting. I do not know if they ship small quantity so used them as Reference if you will. Just a thought.
Here in NYC, there are Cichlid Clubs where you can buy/trade rare specimen. If available in your area, try them. I will say it was the best place to obtain rare, healthier F1 not to mention cheapest among members.

Have not involved w/ African as hobbyist for many yrs since starting Reef. But I still have the bug, not that I remember the names/details as well as I used to. In 540 G Display (Friend of mine)Tank , could not believe how many offsprings of Malwian after 1-1/2 yrs later when tank cracked. Had to set up 2 x 150 G tank to save all these fish in hurry. Even though I had African for while,was bit surprised to find that many (few hundreds) offsprings which survived. Just to want to share some experiences.
My first fish which gave me this terrible addiction (LOL) was SA Cichlid, Geophagus steindacneri. This fish, I still have it in my memory.
Anyway, Good luck with new adventure(s) and am sure you will enjoy as much as other fish.

Angela_96

I will say first that Im sorry we have hijacked this thread. Sorry...

Thanks, I love my cichlids, and eventually when we build a home w/ a huge basment I plan to get larger display tanks and try my hands at different lakes, river systems, and go on on new world cichilds. I am a huge fan of Ad Konings, and he got started w/ having 40 tanks in his basement, much like I would have if I had a basement to put them in. OF coarse my husband mentioned building me a fish room for such a thing. I am going to go to the ACA national meetting this summer (as long as the baby don't have other plans that week).

cerianthus

BTW, I read from other posting. Congrats!!! Wishing All is Well!!!

cichlidsmad

hi thanks i now know to stop feeding them blood worms.

and i should turn of the light earlier than i do
9:00pm.

i have not experienced bloat yet with my cichlids.

lucky i know that now.

so i guess i should let them set everything up. but lower the temp.

and do 50% water changes weekly.

cerianthus

No need to do 50%, do 25-30%, even less if tank in understocked as weekly routine water change and do not drop the temp. Idea is to use cooler water to stimulate spawning but temp will rise back to where the heater is set at. One caution about the temp drop, sudden temp drop are known to trigger dormantized parasitesto become active, ICH, thus would not recommend to do this on the main tank but rather in breeding tank. No need for risking rest of fish unnecessarily.
Feed them well before stimulating them. Then try 50% water change. preferrably with well aged water since such massive changes using straight tap water even w/ dechlorinator can disturb bioactivities. Thus test water after PWC to make sure it did not.
You may not see actual spawning unless run CCTV and VCR or Digital Cam (have done many times)but check female's mouth. When fed , would not eat since carrying clutch in the mouth.

When female(S) are carrying, I ususally removed the rest of fish to ensure that Mother is not harassed by others in any ways.. This must be done with care since females carrying a brood can swallow/eat the clutch when stressed/scared/chased.

I wondering if your fish are mature enough to breed.

As far as feeding, this fish should have Planktonic food mixed w/ other type, just dont overfeed them in one feeding. Smaller and frequent feeding is better. Just think how fish eat in nature. They dont have feeding hours, although fishing in morning and late afternoon yield better catch, they eat when they have a chance.

Good luck!! One breeding pair fo fish got me to build fish room which LED to building river system using stack of 15 and 20L tanks.

Angela_96

I would recommend 2 times a week water changes of no more than 20 percent. The temp drop is only 2 degrees, the cooler water change, of coarse will heat up w/ the heater but it simulates the rainy season.
It is actually recommended to give them a little cooler water during waterchanges by many cichlid breeders. I have done it for over a year now w/ no neg effects to my fish.

I would get a brooding tank set up for the mother when she has about 7 days of holding eggs then move her to be alone to spit.

outlaw

Our cichlid tank (only 3 fish, 1male/2female). there is a mated pair and she spits right in the main tank. I'm assuming this isnt typical to let them do this because of the other species but ours don't even eat them anymore.

cichlidsmad

at the momnent only my electric yellows and red jewels are breeding at the momnent but they all get eaten anyway but increases growth in rest of fish

cerianthus

Like i mentioned before, Had so many rocks, tank full of rocks(Paradise Coral Rocks, dont know if still available) save maybe too many.lol
Coulve changed to Reef by changing water and lighting. Yea that much rocks.

CHoffman

You do move the mother??...I've read where you should and I've read where you shouldn't..I would think it would be much easier to catch fry in a separate tank. What size is your brooding tank?

Angela_96

Yes if you want to harvest the fry w/o them getting eaten it should be done. My brooding tank is 20l, then I have several "grow out" tanks.
Right now I have my moma polit w/ a mouthful of eggs in my 20l.

cichlidsmad

hi just updating

ive now got two batchs of C. borleyi 2 of my females have just recently spit (in the main tank)and ive got about 25 fry, there so cute but there at my dads house as my tanks are already overstocked but im selling the all to my friend he has this 100g tank and he's gonna make a huge breeding group.

then gonna keep a supply of them to his LFS.

JD