Mating behavior of Chocolate Cichild

[jake37]

You might find that with subsequent spawnings they become more aggressive...however the large tank size definitely helps.

I hope not If i do i'll have to split up the loving couple. No clue if chocolate form strong or weak bonds between m/f

 

[Mazan]

I hope not If i do i'll have to split up the loving couple. No clue if chocolate form strong or weak bonds between m/f

I don't know, but that is what happened with my Cichlasomas particularly, but also with some other cichlids, they seem to get more defensive as they mature. No idea about chocolate cichlids, and in your big tank it might not matter as much, but my Cichlasoma pair ended up dominating the whole tank bottom (200 x 65 cm) and terrorizing the other fish. The first time they bred they caused very little disturbance.

 

[jake37]

I have one question - i do i tell which one is ma and which one is pa - and yea the frys are still alive - and the area they are occupying has grown to around 200 gallons. Poor little serpae have been chased from their homes and are now wondering around confused not sure what to do on the bright side (or sad side) i found that one of my orphaned cherry barbs is still alive 4 years later:

Is this the male or female:


(btw my fishes are turning my drift wood into saw dust)

 

[Mazan]

It looks to have a slight nuchal hump? But perhaps they both do?.

 

[jake37]

It looks to have a slight nuchal hump? But perhaps they both do?.

As far as i can tell both have the same amount of hump. One fish is larger than the other. Remember this pair is very young and a ways from being fully grown so perhaps in another year one will have a hump. Btw while the last time i had em my l. araguaiae males developed large humps but this set they have not despite being older and breeding frequently. The males are more colourful and larger but not much of a hump...

 

[Mazan]

Well the larger one is probably the male…though when my Uarus kept spawning it was the larger one that laid the eggs each time, this made me wonder if they are actually two females, although the smaller one looked and behaved like a male. Oh well time will tell with the chocolates I suppose…..

 

[jake37]

Well the larger one is probably the male…though when my Uarus kept spawning it was the larger one that laid the eggs each time, this made me wonder if they are actually two females, although the smaller one looked and behaved like a male. Oh well time will tell with the chocolates I suppose…..

I'm thinking the larger is the female since that is the one who stays with the fry - the other one always run over to the front when i approach the tank to feed them. I know with a lot of cichild the larger one will be the male but i'm not sure it is always true also in this case both have another 3 to 5 inches to grow.

 

[Mazan]

Ah well in that case the bigger one is more likely (but not definitely) the female. Unusual though for the female to be bigger at the same age…

 

[jake37]

No sooner had the last of the frys vanished (not sure if died or hiding); they decided to try again.... Lets see today is dec 14 and the original post was nov 28 so around 3 weeks....

So am i going to have to deal with this for the next 20 years - every 3 weeks these critters breeding ?

 

[Mazan]

No sooner had the last of the frys vanished (not sure if died or hiding); they decided to try again.... Lets see today is dec 14 and the original post was nov 28 so around 3 weeks....

So am i going to have to deal with this for the next 20 years - every 3 weeks these critters breeding ?

Not necessarily, but for quite a while longer ( they seem to burn themselves out after a while)