Multipunctatus Hosts?

als.fishroom · Post by **als.fishroom** » 18 Apr 2004, 03:20

We have had Multi's carried by Otopharynx Auromarinatus & by Met Zebra Slims. Have heard of others using Species 44 & Prot Steveni Tiger or Taiwan Reef. Has anyone tried Protomelas Spilonatus? We can get 1M/5F on super deal & wonder if the girls would co-operate. The others won't let the Multi's in their area while spawing - each was a 1 time only happening. Any comments would be appreciated.

pturley · Post by **pturley** » 19 Apr 2004, 03:56

Do a search on mulitpunctatus. There were several threads on the subject that ended in early March.

For me, Victorian Haplochromines were always the most consistent hosts. IME Malawians tend to "get wise" and learn quickly on how not to be parasitaized.

Yann · Post by **Yann** » 19 Apr 2004, 17:38

Hi!

Yes but basically any mouthbrooding species is a possible host for multipunctatus eggs...

Keep also in mind that it is not an absloute rule and can perfectly being bred without any cichlid hosting....

Cheers
Yann

blazespecv · Post by **blazespecv** » 19 Apr 2004, 19:34

I am attempting to use Hap electras(deepwater hap), red empress, yellow labs, labeo. trewavassae, and fryeri to be hosts for multis. So far, within a week of being in the tank, the hap electras have held hap/syno eggs, the rest are still growing out/getting used to the tank, but have heard of all of these used in the past for multis. From what I have heard/read/seen, Hap electras, fryeris, and almost all of the vic haps work best to accomplish this. Flamebacks appear to be the most common, good sized fish, pretty stupid in noticing the synos messing with the eggs, etc. Arrange your tanks with a lot of flat rocks in different spots, I find that sometimes my synos are lazy, and wont travel to far to interfere with spawning. On another note, I found approx 40 eggs in a little 2" deepwater hap, so you might want to try these along with some vic haps. Good luck

als.fishroom · Post by **als.fishroom** » 20 Apr 2004, 20:08

Thanks for all the replies. We are going to try & get some Steveni. Heard they are supposed to be good for hosts that will do it for ages. Baically, the whole process is "pure luck".

AL & Debby

pturley · Post by **pturley** » 20 Apr 2004, 22:28

als.fishroom wrote:

We are going to try & get some Steveni. Heard they are supposed to be good for hosts that will do it for ages.

and

Basically, the whole process is "pure luck".

Two short responses to this; No and No.

Protomelas get wise as fast as any other Malawian. A friend of mine in Minnesota had two catfish spawns from a group of "Taiwan Reefs", that's about it.

As for Peacocks, don't even bother... I once watched a female Aulocara pick up about thirty Synodontis eggs and swim directly accross the front of the tank ejecting clear, colorless eggs from her gills the whole way across. A day later we stripped her, she was only carrying cichlid eggs!

And for the second point, it is certainly possible to reliably spawn Synodontis multipunctatus.
From late '94 through the end of '96 I was pulling from 0 to 86 S. multipunctatus eggs/fry a week from a single colony of 16 (2 males, 14 females) Haplochromis sp. "Fire Haps.". These were all a result of five catfish, three males/ two females.

In the end, I sold over seven hundred fry and likely gave away an additional 150-200 to friends, traded for other fish, etc., etc.

flyfish25 · Post by **flyfish25** » 25 Apr 2004, 15:49

I have been using Maleri Island peacocks to spawn 1m/2f syno multis, my spawns have been ~20-25 cats. I witnessed spawning on 2 different occasions, it was quite a flurry of eggs all over the place, the cats just release them in large bunches, and the female cichlid scrambles to get them all picked up. The flurry makes it easy for other fish to get in on the meal.

I have used copadichromis mloto likoma, red zebras, and peacocks as hosts.

From the sound of it, hard to argue with pturley when he/she saw the eggs being sifted through the gills of the female peacocks. Pturley did pretty well with Haplochromis sp. "Fire Haps."

A spawn from a couple weeks ago, not bad for one mouthful.....

Fogelhund · Post by **Fogelhund** » 28 Apr 2004, 19:46

Mine have been breeding very regularly with Aulonocara jacobfriebergi "Otter Points" for quite some time now. I haven't had any Aulonocara fry now for about eight months. One male, four female Aulonocara.

JimLynchAZ · Post by **JimLynchAZ** » 17 May 2004, 04:45

When I bred my Multi's, hosted by Taiwan Reefs, the tank had a lot of rock work in it which allowed the Multis to lurk close the the spawning pit and zip in and out quickly without warning. Once he finally got the female started the 4 1/2" male Taiwan Reef was so focused that he probably did not worry much about the Multis that just popped in and out of sight.

BTW, the release date was 2-29-04 and all 8 fry are now about 1 1/2" long and doing great. I hope the February 29th date was not the key to the good fortune to breed Multis. If so I could be in for a 4 year wait before it happens again, VBG.