front fanatic in Montreal

[sofront]

Hi there,

To make a long story short, I was hit by Multiple-tank-syndrome (MTS) more than 4 years ago. What started with a community 20g. ended up with a 30g, a 220 g. and recently a 180g.

I presently have a 30g. community tank with Rummynose, Penguin Tetras and the first fish I ever owned (and one of my favourites) a Bolivian Ram. I also have a Gibberosa Mabilibili colony of 12 that are almost 4 year-old. The "family" is now splitted between the 220g and for about a 2 weeks now, a new 180g.

Here's a pic of my alpha male:

and another shot


Looking forward to discover this website that was recommended to me from a fellow aquarist here in Montreal.

[charlie]

Hi sofront , welcome to OVAS, glad you found us, i`m sure our resident front fanatic ( bitterman)   ;)will be delighted to see you here, do enjoy your time here.
Regards

[sofront]

Well, thanks for the warm welcom Charlie! I can't wait to "meet" Bitterman, and the other members. I'm amazed of what I learn everyday, especially from fellow aquarists.

Sophie

[washefuzzy]

Extraordinary looking fellow.

[sofront]

Extraordinary looking fellow.

Thanks Washefuzzy. Actually the 2nd pic is my Beta male. That guy is about 11" long. Unfortunetaly, I'll have to find new loving homes for a few of my males because of aggression issues, not to mention an unlucky 9M/3F ratio.

I've tried to work around this issue by setting-up a new 180g., but I think I'll have to resign myself to sell them. Who knows you might see a couple of them in your classified section .

[Nerine]

Nice photos!
Welcome to OVAS!

[washefuzzy]

Don't think they would fit in my 20gal. 

[bitterman]

Welcome to the site, Frontosa and Gibberosa are my favorite fish.

Mabilibile Gibberosa are not that common a varient, Nice find! I would love to have a group of them myself! But I already have Mpimbwe another Tanzania varient and have limited tank space.

Here is a map the shows were the collection point is in the lake:
http://www.frontosa.com/portal.php?page=3

Are you 100% sure you have 9 males, venting is not 100% and going by size and the hump is not 100% either. I know of a few breeders/importers on other boards getting fish in and venting and separiting them and putting all the males in a tank so they do no fight over the females, a week later one of what they were for sure was a male has a mouth full.

They should be starting to breed by now, how is that going?

Bruce

[sofront]

Hi again,

Are you 100% sure you have 9 males, venting is not 100% and going by size and the hump is not 100% either.

You're absolutely right bitterman. Actually, feeling unexperienced, I've had a cichlid breeder come here to vent them, and that was his conclusion. I was really surprised, not to mention a bit discouraged, to hear this. Initially, I was 99.9% sure I had 4 big males, 3 females but very hesitant of the other 5 (ranging between 5" and 7"). Well it turned out that the 5 unidentified were all males. The 3 suspected-females are constantly gulping some bubbles from one of my powerheads, a behaviour, I think, associated to "holding practice".

They should be starting to breed by now, how is that going?

No spawning so far. Then again, the 9M/3F ratio surely didn't help. I also had lots of problems with float, which from what I understand, is associated mainly with stress. I'm constantly treating my tanks with Epsom salt. That's why I got the new 180g. To be honest, breeding is not one of my goals, knowing that I may have to face that fact one day  .

Also, as you mentionned, Mabilibili not being a common varient, I feel I'll have problems finding new homes for my suspected males and am a bit concerned about this. This may seem as a stupid question but, if you have any tips on "finding them a new loving home" (eg: where to advertise -besides this website of course -, venture in the US VS going local?, etc.) I would seriously appreciate it.

Looking forward to discover this site, I'll venture in the African Cichlid section soon and, again, thanks to all of you for the warm welcoming. I appreciate this. Lots of aquarists in the Ottawas region, hey?

[bitterman]

Don't be discouraged, I would expect you have another female or so in there. Females that have not breed have vents that can be swayed twards a male. But if you do only have 3 Females you can still build a nice colony from that. 1M and 3F (The minimum sized colony I recommend) once breeding can produce ALOT of fry in a year. Think of this this way. If each female breeds 3-4 times a year and only produces 30 fry per brood, thats at least 270 fry..... but thats once the colony settles into breeding and that can take a long time.

Also females will prefer 1 male over another so having a few spare males around might be a good thing, but with only 3 known females I would only house 1 male with them at a time. Males will often fight and interupt each other during breeding resulting in bad spawns, even if they are not fighting other times. The fact that you are stating to have so fight tells me your colony is most likely having some females close to spawning? Any tubes drop?

To find them a new home, I would use www.frontosa.com and www.cyphos.com to post ads. Also you might want to contact Spencer Jack and let him know you have some males available as someone might be looking for a male of that variant and it is rare to come by. People want unrelated alpha males for there groups to hopefully give the best fry possible.

Bruce