Multipunctatus Spawn

[DJRansome]

I witnessed my first Multipunctatus spawn yesterday. The group I have was first owned by fischfan13 and then by misterted. Two clouds of catfish eggs were released during a Demasoni spawn. I don't know if I will get any babies...the eggs were definitely snapped up by the tank population, but it looked like they were snacks to me.

The Demasoni were spawning at the top of the tank on the in-tank Pangea background to avoid the Multi's. So both catfish releases were mid-water and attracted the other mbuna.

misterted, you told me they never spawned for you? How about you, fischfan13?

[fischfan13]

Never.

In all the years that I had them they interrupted Aulonocara Spawns and, what I thought was going to work, Victorian Uganda Red spawns...but nothing.
Three that you have I bought in about 2001 and they were fully grown adults.

I have my fingers crossed for you!

[DJRansome]

Huh, well I bought 4 from misterted, he must have added one somewhere along the way. And I added a WC at time of purchase so I have 5 individuals.

I guess I will have to tear down the tank and strip all the holding females in a couple weeks if I really want to find out, LOL!

[mack74]

I find they spawn best with haps. I have had mutiple spawns in the 2 years I have had them.

[DJRansome]

I'm a little behind, I found a 1/2 inch baby Multipunctatus swimming around this evening!

[fischfan13]

WoooooHoooooooo!:jump:

[jerrytheplater]

That is really great news. I have some S. lucipinnis I'd love to see spawn, but they are only about a year old now.

[AMBUSHPREDATOR]

Great news DJ , I think it takes fish with much larger mouth's to produce larger numbers of fry . In the rift video it show's the cat fry being huge in comparison with the host fishes fry. They actually swallow the host fry and smaller siblings. The horei have a much larger mouth and that's barely enough to hold three in the vid. I've had demaisoni hold tropheus fry and they can only hold one or two , and even then I doesn't take long for them to get crushed by the demaisoni's tiny mouth.

[YoungAquaticPhotos]

Congrats DJ! Great news!

[YoungAquaticPhotos]

I've had demaisoni hold tropheus fry and they can only hold one or two , and even then I doesn't take long for them to get crushed by the demaisoni's tiny mouth.
:erm:Ambush when you start to see things like this or dream about it I think it is time to seek Professional Help! :help:Oh and from the looks of most of your posts, you need it!

[AMBUSHPREDATOR]

Listen and you will learn my son. I would never make any of this up, anything I write is from experience and factual.

[YoungAquaticPhotos]

Just breaking them on you. Relax and have a Happy New Year!
Back to the thread: RJ definitely update when you strip them! Can't wait to hear if they are holding any catfish!

[Snitchols]

RJ, any updates?

[DJRansome]

The one little guy is alive and well, but I didn't strip all the Mom's. No other baby synos so far, LOL.

[misterted]

That is amazing news. Let me shed some light on this.
I bought 3 from Fisch. They started fighting after a while, beating the crap out of each other so I bought 2 more from Dave's Fish. Then one of those was murdered and another one (of the original 3) was almost killed but I nursed it back to health and then sold the remaining for to DJRansome.

I did witness them spawn with my Fullebornis when things were going "well" with them but nothing came out of it.

Now I have a group of Lucipinnis but I miss the Multies.

[DJRansome]

I added one more wild-caught multi, so I have a group of five. When the new guy grows up I'll have a group of six!

[DJRansome]

Make that seven! I found a sibling of the new baby in the 75G tank swimming right alongside the big guys!

[fischfan13]

YES!
I knew my old boys had it in them!
:jump:

[EMTBMIKE]

I am no syno expert. But I though they needed a bigger carrier for their eggs. When I was contemplating on whether or not I should breed them. I was going to use venustus because they are really cheap as adults. I also would not mind loosing venustus fry compared to albino taiwan reefs or my nyassochromis.

[DJRansome]

I think bigger works better, but anything works. When I saw the two egg releases, it was the dwarf Demasoni that were spawning. The only other fish that have EVER spawned in this tank are yellow labs and the females are on the small side.

[exasperatus2002]

How big are they before they start to spawn? I have one now & am ordering 3 on friday. Theyre 3-4" long.

[DJRansome]

My multies are more like 5-6" long. But I don't think it's size so much as age. Remember, since these were owned by 2 prior owners, they are at least 7 years old.

[fischfan13]

Older than that...
I think I bought them in '01 and they were adult size by then.

[Flareside]

awesome species to be breeding!

[AMBUSHPREDATOR]

Has anyone spawned these in number's or do you get a few here and there. How many do you get from each host female.

[DJRansome]

I actually only got those 2 babies that one time. The cats release a cloud of eggs (20? 30?), but most were actually eaten by the tank and not picked up by the spawning mother.

It's not a precision thing like the couple eggs released by the mbuna mom in just the right place on the substrate for easy pickup on the next circle. The multie eggs are released in a cloud all at once in the vicinity of the spawning pair, and attracts the entire tank to devour the goodies.

If I stripped all my holding mothers, I might get more. But I let them spit in the tank, got enough fish.

Also I think you can be poised with a turkey baster and grab the multie eggs before they are eaten (if you live in front of your tank 24/7) and tumble them.

[Longstocking]

congrats DJ !

It is an age thing ! cats need to be a lot older to spawn. They also live a VERY long time. 20 years+ not sure really....

I spawned these years ago.... I actually miss them. I had a great group of 6 that were always spawning and always out in the open.

[exasperatus2002]

I just took delivery of two more 3-4"ers. I vented them and now I can saw I have 2:1.

[DJRansome]

Briefly saw a new baby today. Wonder if there are any more??? Whoot!