vieja pervert breeding out of species....damned fi

[bikeguy33]

hey all.....adding my first video. my male vieja turned out to be female and laid eggs...the amphilonsi tried to fertilize. keeping a close eye. the vieja is getting a lil protective....but i don`t wanna just remove the eggs. trying to find a mate....so i don`t wanna discourage her from breeding. anyways....a wee video here if ya wanna have a look.... ca.youtube.com/watch?v=-uJ8kQU6Ky8

[murdock6701]

congrats Bill, I guess - what ever happened to the 2nd one you were supposed to get? I'd be wearing a rubber glove trying to get those eggs out off there.....she does look a little possessive - don't blame her for being defensiev - how old is "she" now?

[Penycat]

wow! those are freakin' beautiful fish! Thank you for sharing that video:)

[jonv]

You know, that white thing sticking out near the anal fin looks just like that thing I say on my Nossibee's Bill. That's got to be an ovipositer. Either way, nice capture on that. I had to clean out my tank, as most of the eggs my females laid turned out infertile. Found out that the fertile ones will take on a really white look to them, and out of the 100 or so I saw, eventually over 2 days I saw maybe 5-6 left, so I just cleaned out the whole tank. I'm sure they will start again and I put a big flat piece of slate in there for them this time.

My females, I will say this, guard their sites with vigor. There's about 30 or so of my Taiwan Reef Albino's in there, and they just chase everyone and everything away from their site. The darker one was preparing to make a site when I started cleaning and the little wench bit me trying to take the decor out of there, and she's only but like a whole 2 inches in size!!!

[Carl]

Nice video Bill!

I starred your video and will later add it to my favorites on my YouTube Page

Interesting behavior too!
Thanks for the phoning me about this as well!

Carl

[bikeguy33]

i do have another female coming but my old boss is growing out the blood parrots so they are large enough to go into the tank that the other vieja is coming from. now i have a real problem.....where am i gonna find a male vieja. i don`t want to lose this line. to me they are the brightest and most colorful cichlid there is....why do they have to be so damned hard to find and so expensive....lol.anyways...to the best of my knowledge she is around 6 years old and about 13-14".

the ovipositer is very obvious now that i have seen it in person.

this morning there is only about half as many eggs and they are a bright white. they cant be fertilized tho cause the amphilonsi and vieja are WAY to far removed from each other genetically. i am leaving the eggs for now tho cause she is showing amazing parental skills in guarding these eggs and i don`t want to take that away from her. so we`ll see what happens.

btw, that video was amazingly clear when played on my computer. you tube really had to knock the quality down for it to fit, which is very unfortunate. the video has a blue hue tho cause i have a blue and a white light on togeather. this almost makes the vieja glow.

[jonv]

I can find ya a male Bill, but from what I see, this is a pretty costly species, damn near the same price as what they are charging for a Paratrolopus Menaramabo. The guy I got my Nossibee's from, the 2 females, has this species. What's the full latin name?

[jonv]

www.tangledupincichlids.com/stock.html

That's where I got my Nossibee's from Bill. The guy is like 45 mins from me. He's got GOOD fish from what I've seen. Those females he sold me laid eggs in less then a week. I do reccomend him.

[bikeguy33]

i need a 12-15" vieja synspila. i expect to pay in the thousands for an adult of this size. they are rare and rumored near extinct in the wild and incredibly tough to find tank bred. i have never heard of an f0 or f1 or even an f2.

i will enclose a pic of a young male starting to show his forehead hump. at full adult size, they have the largest hump of any cichlid. www.cichlidenseite.de/vieja/synspila/syns_male.jpg

[bikeguy33]

here is a male showing a full hump. almost looks like something out of star trek. www.cichlidenseite.de/vieja/synspila/syn005.jpg

[jonv]

Ok Vieja Synspila, I'm on it

[jonv]

Bill, from what I understand about this species, they might have certain groups from locations within the water?? I called the guy I listed, and he's actually expecting to get some of these in. For him, he's got a guy that breeds these, and feels it's fairly common, I spelled out the name as you listed it, and he does get these in. I'll check back for you if you want.

[babygeige]

That's a great video Bill. I don't think I've ever seen a video of a fish guarding eggs like that before.

What an interesting fish! That hump on the male's head is crazy!

[Carl]

Yeh, I do not think I have seen a hump that big before!



Carl

[goldenpuon]

Excellent video Bill! Great parental behavior! Wouldn't it be nice if your fish gathered teh infertile eggs in her mouth and put them in your hand so you didn't have to clean the tank out. lol Awesome video! beautiful fish.

[brenda]

Oh, Bill she is a beautiful fish!!! Nice video...Now get her a man!!!lol

[bikeguy33]

just a quick update....all the eggs are now gone....no idea where....but there are no fry (not that i expected any) but she is still guarding her rock....WTF....

[murdock6701]

good poser my friend! looks like something distracted her, made her move and something else ate them - she wouldn't or couldn't have moved them.....

[bikeguy33]

or.....hmmmmm......they were scooped up by aliens....lol.

[8 in the Corner]

Dec 3, 2008 12:52:18 GMT -5 bikeguy33 said:

i need a 12-15" vieja synspila. i expect to pay in the thousands for an adult of this size. they are rare and rumored near extinct in the wild and incredibly tough to find tank bred.

I don't think they are anywhere near as hard to find as you think, Bill, I have seen bags of synyspilum fry go for as little as $10 for 6 of them at our club auctions. I should think that you could get an adult for somewhere around $200. If I see any at our auctions, I will contact the seller and get you two into communications.
John