Petrochromis Red Bulu Point Pair

[jkdjedi]

Got an experiment I'm about to start in a couple of days. Bought one F0 Female and one F0 Red Bulu male from Joe @ CichlidsCalifornia.com and plan to keep them in a 60g tank with an egg crate divider in the middle. Would hate to see the male kill off the female but think if she's receptive to him that they could still mate between the egg crate barrier. Seen this or read about it decades ago in a magazine or book and thought...hmm. Has anyone tried this? I'll post pics through the process if there's enough interest. Wish me luck!

[jkdjedi]

I got these in and the female is so robust and full of energy, the male however seems tired and a little lethargic at the moment, I usually like to give newly arrivals 7 days before pressing the panic button but...its so hard not to! I Should have had some meds ready to treat them (being newly arrivals) so shame on me for that..API General Cure from Amazon.com is on the way! Anyway my wife was reading a book when she noticed the pair trying to get it on...yes they were trying to mate 4 hours into the new tank already..she sent me a pic of them while I was at work. The barrier however has backfired on me, I can count 8 eggs floating around in the tank and see some sperm attached to the barrier so talk about contraceptives...this barrier is it! The female seems more excited about the male than the other way around. Im gonna lift the barrier tomorrow for a few hours and see what happens.

[pseuro]

Very cool! I don't know much about these fish so I'm here to watch and learn! Hopefully the male just needs some time to acclimate and will be okay! I assume they are known to be overly aggressive to the females that's why you wanted to try the barrier?

[jkdjedi]

Sept 15, 2017 0:29:45 GMT -5 pseuro said:

Very cool! I don't know much about these fish so I'm here to watch and learn! Hopefully the male just needs some time to acclimate and will be okay! I assume they are known to be overly aggressive to the females that's why you wanted to try the barrier?

Yes, that's what I'm told as well (so yes the barrier is there to protect the female, I did lift the barrier for a bit this morning and yup the male was overly assertive towards here pushing her into a corner so minor setback at the moment), my current tank is way to small for a colony as well but since its just the two of them Im kinda rolling the dice here.. I'm really hoping they spawn a clutch or two..it would be the cats meow. Then I'd have to get that monster tank id been saying I was gonna get all these years.

[phish]

How big are the pairs?

[jkdjedi]

Sept 15, 2017 10:47:59 GMT -5 phish said:

How big are the pairs?

The male seems to be 8 inches and the female half that, (I've seen on YouTube that females can get bigger than 4 inches have you seen DWW-Law Doug Williams Bulus..off the charts!) Red Bulus are not monogamous or pair up in long term really, they're a lot like Tropheus, big appetites for food and women.. I was already toying with the idea of grabbing some more females but holy cow..the price on these.

[...]

It would be ideal to witness the spawn and then be able to divide the tank while the female holds the brood...

[jkdjedi]

Well I'll be a monkeys uncle...I just got back from work and the female is sitting right next to the male! How did she get there! I quick investigation and it seems with the scratches in her head and the dirt moved at the barriers bottom she must have pushed her way underneath! The balls on this girl! So I guess its plan B then, hope she's not killed before I can catch it and be ready to move her to another tank not if but when needed. I'm thinking the pots in the tank could buy her some time or hide when he goes into hill mode but right now she's calling the shots. It seems like she wanted his pot and has kicked him out. He's not giving it up easy though so wow...not sure what to say anymore about this. I've added some Epsom salt for good measure, with some Melafix and did find one box of the API General Cure. Planning to do a water change Sunday evening with another dose of the above. Gonna be interesting weekend for me.
Edit: (24 hours later) umm having just seen the female almost chomped in half I've quickly added the barrier back up. Jesus...what was I thinking!!

Edit 2: Well, she did it again. She shoved her way to his said of the barrier..o.O I do not understand this at all as to why she wants to get bullied like this. Anyway, I've cut out a hole in the barrier so that hopefully only she fits through there and not the male.

[jkdjedi]

The first hole I made in the barrier was big enough for both them, found her hiding vertical along the intake pipe of the Ehiem. So another barrier has been made with a smaller hole, seems to be working out great so far, when she comes in sight he charges to defend his area but the barrier has been doing a good job so far of protecting the female. Today was the first day the male has eaten my shrimpmix with aggression! He now recognizes it as food. The female is still nibbling at it, both of these were on spirulina flakes before I got them. So with all the construction going around my house at the moment I don't think this pair will feel at home for some time. Getting tile installed so its a mess here. I'll update in October.

[pseuro]

Nice updates! Glad you got the newly improved barrier up again. Works perfectly! I hope it's not sharp on the areas where you cut the plastic. Just watched the end of video and saw the male wanting to go through, don't want him injuring himself!

Also good news that he's eating!