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GETTING TO BREED Petrochromis Like most any other Tanganyikan fish when conditioned , fed properly and the environment is suitable, your petros have an excellent chance of spawning for you. There are however a few exceptions to this, like NeoLamprologus Blue Sexfasciatus and a few other fish in the lake , but for the most part, most of the Lake Tanganyikan fish are spawnable in the home aquaria. I believe all of the fish in Lake Tanganyika are spawnable under the right conditions.
Ok you have just got a wild caught group of petros or have a tank raised group of petros… If those petro are not in good overall condition, then they have to be brought into a good condition that will allow them to get to the next step (which is breeding condition). Once this is done then you have to bring them into breeding condition.
So you have stocked your tank with your newly acquired petros. You have inspected the petros closely and have noticed that some if not all of the petros have sunken stomachs or are very thin in general, no problem. The first step is to make sure that new group is in fact eating at all (see the article “Feeding Those Petros”). Once you have established that they are accepting the food that you are feeding , you are well on your way.
So you have been feeding your favorite foods to your petros. This might consists of several of the top pelleted foods on the market, or a nice spirulina or vegetable flake food, or perhaps some home made dishes such as shrimp mix, romaine lettuce, algae , freezed dried or frozen foods like krill, Mysis, etc.
Shrimp mix , Mysis, or Krill will quickly bring your petros into breeding condition. Once this point has been reached ,which usually happens between one and two weeks of feeding the frozen foods or your shrimp mix along with your normal green based foods. You should perform an nice water change. The water should be just a little cooler than your tank temp. I am really not in favor of this even though this is a natural occurrence in nature. I like to make the water just about the same temp or leaning to the plus side of the temperature of the water in the tank.
With a little luck you will be able to catch the spawning process, if not you should be able to spot a female with a little bulge in the throat area. This bulge in the throat area is an indication that the female is holing eggs in the buccal cavity (throat area). The holding females can easily be spotted, as they are the ones that are not aggressively moving toward the food when feeding time occurs.
If your petros have not bred for you , you might want to consider that the environment is not conducive for your petros to spawn. 1: The obvious is you must have a male and a female for starters.
1: As stated you need to have at least a male and a female. So examine your fish upon arrival. Of examining your petros to see if they are male or female. See venting from an article on Fishhead.com Written by Gary Kratochvil, Exotic Tropicals in 1997 www.fishhead.com/articles/ventsex.htm .
The GH should be in the range of 10 to 14.
4: The temperature should be 77 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit (25 to 26.67 Celcius).
5: Perhaps you need caves rocks plants etc to establish territories or places of seclusion for your petros |