S. multi setup

[Didgeridoo]

Hey all,

I recently picked up four wild caught multies from Magara, Burundi to add with my current WC Magara male.

-Sex ratio is 3m 2f.
-Size is 3-5 inches in length.
-Feeding once daily, frozen mysis, omega one shrimp pellets, and frozen bloodworms.
-Tankmates include a breeding group of Astatotilapia nubilus (cichlids) and a few other Haplochromines.
-Filtration is a Fluval 304, Hydro Sponge V with a Zoomed Powerhead on it.
-Water chemistry is 8.6 pH and really hard! Basically liquid rock.
-Temperature's sitting at about 74ºF or so.
Accomodations I have provided include quite a number of flowerpots and hiding places for them as well as a sand substrate.

They seem to be quite content and settling in nicely. I chose the A.nubilus to house them with because they're constantly breeding, not overly aggressive, not overly huge, and aren't too bad to look at. Also they have two things on their mind. Food and sex. Also I've heard they are less likely to abort spawning and don't really learn the catfish's parasitic nature.

Just have to wait for a couple more A.nubilus females to fatten up and spawn again. They're like clockwork and it won't be long til they'll be ready. Every two weeks they spawn. I have six females and every one spawns at least once a month. There's two holding right now but I don't think there's cats in it.

I did notice the dominant male multi nudging the largest female in the abdomen with his snout earlier. Is this courting behaviour or "wooing" behaviour? I haven't really kept cats before so this is all pretty new to me. I did notice the aggression from the dominant male towards the other males. He definitely shows them who's boss in the tank.

Anyways, I really enjoy them thus far and look forward to any spawns that occur.

Cheers,
Nick

[tomr]

The Multi's will know what to do when the cichlids start to spawn. I have personally witnessed 3 different groups of multis spawning with about 7 different hosts. Just watch to see if there are too many cats. Sometimes with too many, the cichlids are too flustered to spawn.

[Didgeridoo]

Thanks for the help. I've got two cichilds holding from a couple days ago so we'll see what that brings. The previous spawn was all cichlids. I think I need to aquascape the tank a little better though. Too many pieces of slate.

[Didgeridoo]

Nothing from the last two spawns. Have three more nubilus holding though. I did witness the multies in the spawning activity of the nubilus but didn't actually see the female pick up eggs or not. I did witness the male nubilus eat a few eggs which I'm presuming were cat eggs.

The one female is very gravid and the dominant male seems to have paired off with her. He chases the other two males but leaves her alone. The smaller female is chased by the larger female. I've heard from people who've bred them that usually only the dominant pair will spawn in smaller tanks. Is this true with others on here?

Cheers
Nick

[Didgeridoo]

Male papillae

[Didgeridoo]

No spawning success as of yet. I have a freshly holding Ast.nubilus so I'll check her in about six days. Also the rest of the females are gravid so shouldn't be long before they're spawning too.

[Richard B]

have you considered that any of these are grandiops rather than multis?

looking at the first picture, although the fish is not absolutely exact side on to the camera the eye appears 17mm wide & the snout is 22mm, meaning the eye is 77% of the snout length indicating it is grandiops; as in multis the eye is only 44-62% of the snout length whereas in grandiops the eye is 64-81% of snout length - i can't quite make out the number of rays in the pectorals (as the other key id feature)

Any thoughts anyone?

[Birger]

I would call these Grandiops as well...Richard do you remember if there is a distinction between northern and southern with grandiops and multi's, I will have to go back and check this out.

Birger

[Didgeridoo]

I thought about that they might be grandiops. I'll have to catch a couple sometime and get some pics of the pectoral rays. There doesn't seem to be much info on the topic eh?

[Birger]

There doesn't seem to be much info on the topic eh?

Have a look at this...this is probably the simplest way to get this ...that is if you want to

http://www.stevensimpsonbooks.com/?page ... 35f08438f9

Birger

[Richard B]

http://planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopi ... =grandiops

check this thread where the discussions were had with Lee Finley