brock Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 hey guys, have had a male red devil for a while nows hes about 30 cm long and recently purchased a famale from the pet shop about half his size hoping to breed them just for fun. My tank is 5 foot by foot and a half height and width i have a divider in there so its just big enough for the female to get in and out, anyways the male has beat the hell out of her and shes pretty much ready to lay eggs any day now judging by the tube sticking out of her. everytime i take the divider away the male just bites her and shes missing scales and stuff here and there, they try and fight through the divider but im not game to take it out for more then 5 minutes and tips on what i should do, would be much appreciated brock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piggy Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 We had a lot of success breeding big aggressive americans by putting them all in together. In one 6x2x2 we successfully had a breeding pair of Devils, Festae, Dovii, Umbriferum and Splendida. They seemed to be so preoccupied with the other pairs that they left their partners alone. When we had tried to keep breeding pairs in individual tanks we had nothing but domestic violence. Maybe you could put some dither fish in if you don't feel you could add more big cichlids. Perhaps some decent sized convicts might help. Make sure if you do that you completely rearrange the tank and add all the fish at the same time. Good luck, baby devils are really cute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mines bigger Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 Make a divider with about a 4cm gap in the bottom, lay your pot base or slate there and let the girl lay and the boy fertalise from his side, it means the never come in contact with eachother but they still breed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brock Posted December 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 thanks alot, apprecitate it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Junkie Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 We had a lot of success breeding big aggressive americans by putting them all in together. In one 6x2x2 we successfully had a breeding pair of Devils, Festae, Dovii, Umbriferum and Splendida. They seemed to be so preoccupied with the other pairs that they left their partners alone. When we had tried to keep breeding pairs in individual tanks we had nothing but domestic violence. Maybe you could put some dither fish in if you don't feel you could add more big cichlids. Perhaps some decent sized convicts might help. Make sure if you do that you completely rearrange the tank and add all the fish at the same time. Good luck, baby devils are really cute. i use all the above ideas some work for some species better than others i use this method in one of my large tanks ie lots of pairs all in together obviously you can't do that in yours but the dither fish is good and also can work just one thing use only boys or the RD might pair with a willing convict FJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brock Posted December 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 on the females side i have like a barrel ornament and i can see she is cleaning the roof of it and im guessing shes gonna lay her eggs there, i put the divider up 4 or so cm's with a flat rock under it. if she is gonna lay her eggs there he wont fit in there to fertalise lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Junkie Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 Normally if she's that ready to lay the male will except her and want to breed let them together in the morning after a WC keep a good eye on them but sometimes males just don't have a clue and would rather kill the girl than breed also are you sure your male is 100% male as females get humps too just a few ideas FJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brock Posted December 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 im pretty sure hes a male, hes got a massive hump and his anal pipe thing is really pointed those are good signs, and hes is pretty big. the female was pregnent when i got her maybe that could be a reason why he doesnt wanna mate with her. im sorry i dont know what a WC is lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aquaholic99 Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 They don't pair for life, males will breed with any ready female so don't keep them together. Spawning through mesh or loose glass divider is a safe method. Why do you want to breed? Do you have lots of growout and a market or will you be culling most of them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brock Posted December 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 oh ok then, what do u mean by loose glass divider, i just wanna see them breed and stuff i think it will be a good experience, i will more then likely cull them or give them away if it is successful Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aquaholic99 Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 Loose divider as in not water tight so he can fertilise eggs. Egg crate is easiest but glass will still work. I have had pairs spawn through a canister filter. She lay eggs where filter output was and he milted into the intake. These were at opposite ends of the tank so they are not stupid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lippa Posted December 24, 2012 Report Share Posted December 24, 2012 I bred Red Devils as an absolute novice. 2 things happened for me, he hated her and she always ate the eggs/fry. To stop him belting her. I cut a length of 90mm storm water pipe about 100mm long. Drilled some random large holes along its length. As soon as the big fella arked out. She would dart in, over time (months) they get used to each other. But it's still needed for insurance. To stop her eating eggs/fry. I had to remove her from the tank. I had another 3 fter set up. The male was the best dad! Even up to 3 cm when I took them from the tank, he never layer a finger on 'em! Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brock Posted December 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 25, 2012 thx for the advice everyone really appreciate it, well I came home this afternoon and there were eggs in the barrel some how the male got over lol and she was behind a rock she looked terrified and had lots of big bite marks so I separated them again and everything seems to be alright and it also looks like the eggs are fertilized. should I put them together or? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
