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Julidochromis Transcriptus Bemba fry...yayy!!i love these dwarf african cichlids

5K views 28 replies 7 participants last post by  LasColinasCichlids 
#1 ·
:-DI posted a thread less than a month ago about my newly purchased julidochromis transcriptus bemba dwarf cichlids. I keep my pair in a 29 gallon tank with a RTS and kuhli loaches. I keep live plants in the setup as well, with a low light setup. I have several caves in the setup, and the pair of cichlids keep the shark well away from "their cave". I plan to remove the RTS soon now that i've seen my first fry. It's worth mentioning that today is the fist time i've seen them and it was at feeding time in the evening. The parents were close by. They are very very protective. I'm feeding brine shrimp and blended mysis shrimp. I'm not sure if the fry were eating, but they certaiinly are getting the opportunity. At first i thought they were just some brine shrimp, but they were swimming!! I was very excited, especially since i've only had them in the setup for less than a month!! We spotted 5-7 fry at once....they are very fast. My wife did manage to get some snapshots of them. They are not very big in the picture, but if you look closely you can see 2 in one of the pictures. You can see the stripes on them. I have no idea on how old they are...i'd be interested if anyone has any imput on age of the fry i'd appreciate it. Anyways, if anyone keeps these or is interested in them feel free to post questions or comments, thanks everyone: here's the pics. The last photo is of one of the adults.

@ aunt kymmie...remember if these fry survive and my JTB's continue to produce you'll have to help take some off my hands...
 

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#5 ·
I'm glad to see there are people willing to help me with good homes for the fry. Now i guess we'll see if/how many survive. I counted 7 at once five minutes ago. I've read many conflicting reports online as to the number of fry they produce at once. There were four just hovering over a large flat rock underneath the larger of the two adults, while 3 more were nearby always close to the surface. The RTS was hovering high above...far to smart to go near the lower portions of that side of the tank(he's been warned with extreme prejudice before). The parents also got all over a kuhli loach that got near their cave. I'm taking the RTS out tonight or tomorrow, i've already found him a new home. but i'm still debating the fates of the kuhlis, they are great fish. I think i need to rehouse them also though. As long as everyone stays on their proper side in the tank everything is quite peaceful. These fish are great little parents; ever vigilante and ready to pounce on an intruder...remarkable really.

I'm going to try to track the fry growth rates on this thread to see how quickly they can get large enough to find new homes. They've got a tough road ahead...lol...we'll see how hardy these guys are and how quickly they grow if they survive.
 
#8 ·
Still seeing the swimming fry. They are spreading out a little bit around the cave, but i'm not noticing growth yet, but it's only been a few days. The red tailed shark has found a good home, and i'm going to be taking the kuhli loaches to my LFS for some store credit. Then i need to pick up some algae eaters for the tank that won't bother the fry, but won't get beaten down either. Ii've got options; i'm lucky my lfs rocks. More updates to come.
 
#12 ·
I saw 5 fry at once today. Some are lighter in color and some are darker. They stay close by their main cave and flat rock, but pop up a little higher than before when exploring. It looks as if they are filling out from their heads down...lol. they still look like puffers, but i can see distinct markings on the light and dark ones.
 
#13 ·
I saw 5 fry at once today. Some are lighter in color and some are darker. They stay close by their main cave and flat rock, but pop up a little higher than before when exploring. It looks as if they are filling out from their heads down...lol. they still look like puffers, but i can see distinct markings on the light and dark ones.
Exciting stuff!! :-D
 
#15 ·
Ok. I just turned the lights on and i counted 9 fry!!!all at once in once spot on the rock swimming close to it. There had to be more i'm going to keep an eye on it today and see how many i can spot. They are either great hiders...or more fry have been produced.
 
#17 ·
Counted 11 fry today, all swimming very close when i first turned on the light. Also i've been feeding them 1-2 times a day, and i've noticed that the fry will really spread out in the tank at feeding time. Sometimes they even seem to chase each other around and off of the flat rock. The fry seem to be hiding in groups in various spots close to the main cave. I know they are growing because i can see them from further away from the tank.

The parents seem to be protecting 2 different caves now, i havent seen them close to each other for a few days. The smaller one protects the main cave and flat rock while the larger one guards a cave on the other side of the tank.
 
#19 ·
I agree...more pictures!!!

I heard that fry and younger fishies can benefit from up to 4 feedings a day...just a thought :)

Glad the count keeps getting larger, glad to hear that you have a larger batch than expected!!!
 
#20 ·
I have some terrible news to report on the cichlids. I found the larger of the two dead in the tank. The smaller one seems to be protecting the fry still, but i have no idea for how long. I'm unsure what to do with the remaining parent. The fry are continuing to grow and seem to be in no immediate danger, but that could change quickly. I don't know if it's the male or female still alive. He/She seems to be searching for the other one, hanging out on the other side of the tank, then returning to home base again for a while. I'd love some advice if anyone has any.
The larger one was quite a bit bigger than the smaller one, i wonder how much older he was and what is the life expectancy of the fish., or if he's simply the same age and bigger.
 
#23 ·
SOOO Sorry to hear about you fish loss. I wish I had an idea of what to tell you, but I have no experiance with this.

Like you said, hopefully things just continue to grow and be safe.

Any clue to the cause of death? Obviously nothing to due with your tank as the fry and other parent is still okay.

Again, sorry to hear this.
 
#28 ·
It's been a couple of weeks now with only 1 fry left. He's looking like a fish i can see his top fin and spot him much more easily even though he blends in with the black substrate. The remaining parent is dead also. After testing and retesting the water parameters i have come to 2 theories about the failure.
#1. the p.h. is a little on the low side for the fish(7.4-7.6 currently)
#2 the nitrates were a touch too high at 15-20 ppm. Doing water changes with fry has to be done carefully and with this species in very small amounts.

On my next attempt I"m going to remove the kuhlis, buffer the p.h. with sandstone and add lots of java fern from my other tank in an attempt to help water quality. I'm also going to start with a small group of the species and let them pair off. I'm also going to add some small pots and make more caves to increase the sense of security for the fish. Hopefully with these changes i'll see better results.
 
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