Setting up the tank for breeding is very important. These little critters need to think they are back in Lake Malawi. Lots of rock work and frequent water changes. Cross breeding becomes a problem within certain species. Try to isolate your breeding group from other fish. They will breedin a community tank but not as readily. The breeding group itself is best with 1 male and 2-3 females. Sometimes courtship becomes a little violent. You may lose a female or 2 now and then. The males will do a "dance" for the lady of his choice. At this point in time his colors should be brilliant. If the female accepts she will lay eggs, the male will fertilize them and she in turn will pick them up in her mouth. Peacocks are all mouthbreeders. Normally you will not witness this procedure. If the female stops eating and looks like she went on a diet overnight it is a good sign she is "holding". If you watch her mouth closely, she will move the eggs around in her mouth. It looks like she is chewing tobacco. This is a sure sign of eggs. This however does not mean success. Young females sometimes don't quite catch on the first time and the eggs will be swallowed. They do figure it out eventually. Normally 15-20 days will elapse before the young become free swimming. During this time the female will not eat so a healthy and mature female is essential. Some breeders will strip the female of the eggs after a shorter period of time. I prefer to let mother nature call the shots. You may lose a female now and again but the hatches are usually stronger at full term.
UPDATE 2004:
MY "hobby" has turned into a room full of tanks....21 at last count and a great deal more expertise than I had 5 years ago. I have branched out to Tangs as well as Malawians and have moved into the more expensive fish. The trick here is to buy them for 2-3$ and grow them out for breeding or sale. I have installed a central linear piston pump to run all the tanks and have what is known as a "fishroom" which is exactly how it sounds, a room devoted to fishtanks. At this level, my trips to pet stores have ceased. I buy everything bulk by mail ( food and equipment) and fish from private breeders in the area or at GCCA auctions and meetings. This club just west of Chicago is very helpful and a great place to meet other enthusiasts and buy fish of good quality at low prices. I am sure every metro area has this type of set up.I have gotten into building my own stands and using shop lights for illumination. $13 for 4ft including bulbs. Priced tank hoods lately?? My point is with a little ingenuity, this hobby can be made a little more inexpensive so even poor working stiffs like me can afford it.
My first attempt at breeding was a pair o Regal Peacocks. It is a brilliant blue in color and the female has very dark vertical bars with a silver gray backround. These fish will breed in a community tank but a seperate tank is preferable. 20-30 gal is about right with rock caves and bottom gravel. After the couple gets to know each other, things should happen rapidly. Expect spawning in 2-4 weeks and remove the male after the intial spawn and the female when the fry are free swimming. Numbers will vary widely but a common spawn is 15-30.
I now have to more varieties of haps. The Nyereri is a gorgeous fish in the books with a bright red back on the males. My female is the only one large enough to be considered an adult and even she has a little dorsal color and a very dark shaded body with the typical vertical bars. She has mouthed up twice now but I suspect the males are still to young to do their part of the ceremony ie fertilize the eggs. These fish are also very timid and hide a great portion of the time. UPDATE 07/01/02: Well these guys did not work out to well. After more reading I found that the males have a hard time with fertilizing eggs and I found that to be true. My female "mouthed up" several times but never with any fertile eggs. I now own 4 overgrown and beligerent critters that never did color up well. I am beginning to wonder about the quality of the breeding stock. Anyway I have now gotten a group of Ishmali haps and are growing them out. I have seen the parents of these guys and they truly are pretty. The little male is only two inches but fully colored and very cocky. Hopefully a success story will follow.UPDATE 04/03/05: Well the years have past and after a couple of unsuccessful tries I am now attempting haps again. The genus has been split apart dramatically with new groups. I have 4 Copadichromis Borleyi "yellow fin" and a group of ten Tyrannochromis nigriventer which are both formerly known as haps. The yellow fins are really pretty with the males coloring to deep blue and the females retain the yellow finnage. The Tyrans are still juvenile but resemble the Venustus as youngsters. They are suppose to grow out to 6-7 inches. They eay well and may very well make it.
I have just started two breeding groups of young peacocks, one is the butterfly and the other is lwandas. Nothing much to report yet except for one similarity. After only two days the dominant male turned dark in color in both instances. This is not a breeding color but definitely shows the male. Why is this notable. It enables me to buy younger (ie. cheaper) fish and determine the male quickly. If a male fails to show up most shops (at least mine) will swap you for a new fish until you find a male. The butterfly is almost black but shows little interest in the females so far. The lwandas are brand new. I do have a group of young haps. This group is hilarious. The 3 females constantly fight over the attentions of the male while he struts around like a sheik. What a life. More later.
Well I have now added a third breeding group but not sure what they are. This is not uncommon in Africans. Identification is one of the
biggest arguments between hobbiests. My group are either ruebans or ruebinsis. I know nothing about either except that they tend toward the oranges and reds as opposed to blues. My plan is to selectively choose breeders with the coloration I want and try to enhance the colors. Meanwhile the placid butterfly group erupted into a family dispute causing the death of the male. The larger female took offense to his affections and killed him. I have since learned that this is not uncommon behavior for this type and have now given her a larger playmate (male). Time will tell. Meanwhile the Lwanda male is coloring up nicely with a dominant yellow color on fins and head and an almost irredescent blue tint along the body. The more I deal with these Aulonocara the keener my eye becomes for the subtle differences in hues and markings.
Each fish seems to have it's own unique "fingerprint" (at least the males). Got a brood from group of 10 and now have 6 surviving adults with one dominant male. They have reached breeding age and I will attempt to find a group to mix them with.
Jan 97'. Still another group becomes a resident. These little guys (They are basically still fry ) are known as "Hongi". They are a strain of yellow similar to lemon yellows with heavy yellow color and blue highlights. Even at this tender age they show faint color. It seems they are very skittish however. Very seldom see them. Even at feeding time they will
wait for the food to drift by and then they dart out after it.
L.HONGI UPDATE: These cute little critters turned into aggressive nightmares. The dominant male systematically tried to mate with each female and killed every one. This species needs a large tank with several females to one male for breeding success. My solitary male is now in with the "big boys" in the community tank.
Another group called "midnights" seem to be relatively docile. My group of 2 females and a male bred successfully and so far remain in the same tank. The male seems to "hang out " with the female but not harass her. Not sure if this is a quirk of the species or just these particular fish. UPDATE: 4/98 First brood from midnights. Very small and only 2 survived. 2nd female and male were removed prior to birth. Females are still only about 2 1/2 inches. Broods should be more prolific with growth. This particular species seems easy going and peaceful with others. Also have just received a group of three (1M 2F) Black Finned Flauvescent Peacocks which I have in with the Julies. The peacocks seem to stay above the bottom dwelling julies so we will see how it works. The midnight has her second brood so I moved the other female and male in with the non productive brichardis. This has set off a territorial dispute of epic proportions. The brichardis now have 20g of the 30g tank and the "bigger" Peacocks are living under a rock. No one was injured in the battle. A lot of posturing and threats. I am hoping to inspire something out of the brichardis. We will see.
UPDATE:2002 . Have two spawning groups at present, the blue neon and the flametail ngara. The ngaras are 2M 4F while the blue neon is just a pair but fairly prolific. This female averages around 15-20 fry while the ngara seem to have smaller broods 5-8. In fairness the ngara are smaller.
UPDATE:2004.I have breeding groupd of Albino Eureka, A.Carolinae (Swallowtail Peacock) beautiful Red Rubecense, and a young group of Lwandas and Sunshine Peacock. The groups are all btween4-8 fish in seperate tanks. The aulonocara will interbreed so they must be kept apart yet they will coexist with other species quite well. Some examples are the labidichromis group. I also have had them in with Placidichromis pheniculas ("Fennys") Otopharnyx Lithobates, Copadichromis Virginis and sometimes Julies and Lelupi, which are Tangs but sometimes will co-habitate. Don't let the Latin throw you. It is necessary to properely determine the exact fish you have. Many times the region of the lake is included to specify a morph. The single exception are the Albinos. Their eyes glow so vividly that tankmates will attack them out of curiousity. Kind of a fishing lure on a fish. I keep mine in a species tank and everyone still has both eyes.
Brichardis are an egg layer and a very beatutiful and elegant fish. They are also carnivores so don't let them fool you. They can cop an attitude. You must start with a group of young adults and watch for pairing.
Once they have selected each other they will require some type of cave/overturned shell, driftwood etc. for cover for the eggs and young. I have a young pair now but the pair at the pet shop is about 6 months ahead of mine. They are on their fourth brood and all the generations are in the same tank.
The parents will protect the young until they are removed. These fry are much smaller than the mouthbrooders and will require baby brine shrimp at birth. Frozen will suffice but the live is more nutritious. Mine are still too young to spawn so more later.
Been close to a year and still no luck. They act like a couple and "dance around" but still no fry. Have varied diet with spirulila and shrimp. They are plenty healthy but I can't seem to get eggs yet. UPDATE: Finally have a brood. Took two peacocks and introduced them into the brichardi's realm. Stirred things up and a territorial dispute broke out. After it was settled the peacocks had 2 gallons of water and the brichardis had 28. But it seems the commotion spurred the brichardis into spawning. Icarefully removed the sacraficial Peacocks before they became victims and am now video taping the parents and fry. Should have pictures soon.
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