julidiochromis marlieri breeding

anyone have any secrets on how to get julidiochromis to spawn. they spawned for me after i got them about a year ago. they had 4 different batches of fry and once they got big enough i made the mistake of removing all of the fry. big mistake. i should have left some of the smaller fry in the tank and they would have probably kept breeding. ever since then i haven't had any spawns. i have tried everything i can think of. small water changes, a dangerous big water change, skipping water changes, letting the water level drop, temp increase, temp decrease, left the lights off for a few weeks, different foods. nothing seems to work. the only tank mates are a couple zebra loaches which they keep out of site in a corner. thinking of trying some dither fish to make them feel more comfortable or moving them to a new tank to see if that will peek their interest. my lfs keeps asking me if i have any more on the way. i guess a lot of people have been asking for them and i am their only source. any suggestions?

betty has juli's.... she always seems to have some fry in the tank... so she might have some tricks for you... might want to reach out to her if she doesnt see the post.

julies are a tough nut to crack, the system can work but they need stability and tight little crevaces to hide amongst as they breed on cave rooftops. freshly hatched brine is a great way to get em going, i just hope those pair bonds come back. anyways GL to ya

I've always had pretty good luck with mine and spawning. I don't do anything special so I can't think of anything helpful to add to what you've already tried. In both tanks that I've had pairs spawning, I regularly did large water changes -- anywhere from 50% and sometimes up to 75% weekly.

Are your pair still acting like a spawning pair? Mine will separate and act like they can't tolerate each other for a while if I mess around with their territory in any way.

I have a pair of Julidochromis Regani that have spawned multiple times in a 240 gallon tank with over 60 Tropheus zooming around. Not to mention a few Synodontis cats as well. I just noticed two sizes of fry in their cave, which means it has happened at least twice recently. I find it crazy they can concentrate enough to spawn with the trophs in the tank, but they guard their cave pretty well. They guard the cave so well the trophs can't graze on algae on the rocks around the cave, as when they come close to try the Julis chase them away. Funny thing is, I didn't do anything special either, just weekly water changes and lots of food.

i think i have a finicky pair. the guy who owned them before me said that he tried everything too but the more he left them alone the better. he said when he skipped water changes for several months and only fed them a couple times a week the better as far as breeding goes but he never could predict their pattern. sounds like they do it on their time. within 6 weeks of buying them they spawned in my tank. like i said before they spawned 4 times but after i removed all the fry they stopped and haven't spawned since. that is why i am considering moving them to a new tank. maybe the change of scenery will get them in the mood. idk. from what i have read they can't handle large water changes so i am reluctant to try that rout but who knows. he said they were the most frustrating fish he ever tried to breed and so far he's right. i'll try live foods if i can find them but they hide all the time..........even during feeding so i don't know if that will work either. worth a shot though. i breed mollys in my planted community tank so i am thinking of adding some of their fry as dither fish to make them more comfortable and hopefully draw them out more and make them feel more comfortable to incite a spawn but now it's all just one big experiment. they act like a pair but don't spawn. whatcha gonna do?

If you haven't read this article by Pam Chin yet, it has some interesting info. She addresses some myths and rumors about Julies, including large water changes and removing fry.
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With my own Julies, I've noticed that they don't spawn as frequently when there are a lot of fry/juvies in the tank. I wondered if they could tell the population was sufficient and it was time to slow it down.

great article thanks. i think you are right about them not spawning as frequently when there are a lot of fry in the tank. i had 4 generations of fry in the tank and they stopped breeding all together. that's why i removed them, but they haven't spawned since. it's been about a year now.

AGE! ok, I am starting to put together what I think may be the issue... if you got these guys from someone, and they were breeding with him.... then youve had them for sounds like over two or three years itleast.... then I am puttin my money on age.....

I had a similar thing happen to a group of tropheus moliro I had gotten.... I knew the breeder they came from, and they were WC I believe.... They were breeding like mad craziness for him.... then he sold them off to someone, they had them about a year and couldnt get them breeding, think it was there first time?? Cause when I got the group they almost immediatly started spawning... I got a few good batches, then they just stopped.... Nothing i would do could get them going again.... figured I just was messing with something and didnt know it.... Then more recently I talked to a well known cichlid farmer/breeder of tang cichlids and he told me AGE, has a huge role in it.... fish just stop doing there thing when they get a certain age, but he said sometimes they would start up if he moved decor, or introduced some newbies, but for the most part they were finished.

So, maybe the dom male is just gettin old, or the pair.... time to either switch things up.... or get rid of em, cause being the dom male, if he aint gettin lucky, then no one will probably.

I agree to sandnuka. but in some cases age is not the only reason. my red rainbow group spawned twice for me after I got them and they just stopped breeding. so i decided to do some changes in the tank, after that. they just breed like none stop again.. i actually stripped 17 fry's today. the last time I stripped my group was 2 weeks ago. ^_^

well good luck to you..

In my experience moving any tank decor will stop the spawning. You can change water etc. Just don't move the decor. It causes more territory wars and not breeding. In extreme cases you need to introduce a fish for them to beat on. From pair bonding by giving them a threat.

finally got a spawn. have only seen 1 fry so far but hopefully there is more. it's been almost a year.

now that you finally have a spawn DO NOT go ripping through it. basically where-ever the parents are making their nest just leave that alone no matter what. i made the mistake of trying to clean my tank and ruined the pair bond. just try to setup a trap to catch the babies if thats something ur after. either way once they get going thats all there is to it . just feed fresh baby brine shrimp and it should not only coax more babies out, but will help the parents continue producing large numbers. also consider trying hikari discus formula if the colors on them arent as good as they could be. my tangs seem to love the softer pellet and the higher protein content.

what do u use for a fry trap? DIY? could you please post a pic? thanks.

yeah i would just use a DIY product. i never did it myself but seems like itd be one of the easier methods. also these guys have really small spawns so dont count on catching much each month .

only had 2 fry from the last batch, but the parents are at it again. i see at least a dozen microscopic fry today. just fed them some first bites. hope there is more to come.

finally got a decent pic of the parents.

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they look very nice.

Beautiful.reminds me of a really exotic kribensis

they're a really fun fish to watch. they swim in a manner i cant really describe. very unique. just wish the didn't hide so much.

Just like kribs.

Nice looking julies. Congrats on more fry.

My marlieri don't hide much. They often swim with their undersides following the contour of the rocks, but they will also come up to the surface at feeding time.

thanks everybody.