# Breeding wild black calvus



## MananaP (Apr 22, 2010)

For the past few months i have bred gold head compressiceps with good results.

To my surprise the 2 female Wild black calvus started guarding two different shells(one each). Though the male only stays with one female to guard, i was sure they have eggs already inside the shell. 
From my previous experience, after 2 weeks i didn't take any chance even without seeing babies. I removed the shell that i was sure they have hatched already and place it in my grow out tank(less the mother), came out over 60 babies. 
Here is the twist of the story, after removing the first shell that i know for sure had babies and never thought of the other female also laying eggs at the same time on the other shell(the second female). I saw few babies peeking out by the shell so i was really surprised. I quickly removed it and place it on the same grow out tank as the first batch that i took out from a different mother. 
The question now is, is it possible that the male which stayed with the first female all throughout that 2 weeks and was guarding the shell with the first female could be the father of these clutch? I mean there is no other explanation i could think about of who would father the second female? Both shells are about a foot away from each other.

Just wanted to share some interesting news on breeding these fish.
I know not a lot of people have bred them on the board and maybe as i learn more i can share with others on here the information so people can start breeding these beautiful fish.


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

I have a breeding pair of F1 Black Calvus's. They breed like clock work in my tank. Ive attempted to raise the fry 3 times with 1 fish only making it. What is your trick with the fry?


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## MananaP (Apr 22, 2010)

Nothing special, i do take them out after two weeks from the day they started guarding the shell. Give or take a day or two you should see some babies inside the shell wanting to come out. If you have other fish like i do in the big tank i would suggest counting the days and keeping track, i lost a couple batch of gold heads before because i let it sit longer. 

They seem to be not as fragile as i thought they would be as to why not a lot of people have success on keeping the babies alive. From main tank i transfer them directly to the holding tank which is a 5g and is 3deg colder but seems to be doing fine. Gold heads are about 2-3 months old now.


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## Cichlid433 (Aug 10, 2013)

What temp is your holding tank at? What do you feed them?


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## MananaP (Apr 22, 2010)

it is set to 78F-79F. Different food each feeding from mysis/krill/new life spectrum/mix flakes


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## Cichlid433 (Aug 10, 2013)

Tried sending you a message, but you inbox is full.


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## Vman (Jan 20, 2011)

I've had succes with many batches and consistency is key.Food,surroundings,water parameters and temp are key.Tbe trick is to get the fry out into a separate tank before the female makes it out of the den,to feed, while the male goes on a feeding frenzy on the fry. I usually wait 2-3 weeks before I move the whole drift wood. I have a piece that is just the spot for laying.Also it's important not to let the fry go into your filter intake. They are tiny.After you've gone this far you only have to wait a year before you can make $10 a piece good luck.


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Vman said:


> I've had succes with many batches and consistency is key.Food,surroundings,water parameters and temp are key.Tbe trick is to get the fry out into a separate tank before the female makes it out of the den,to feed, while the male goes on a feeding frenzy on the fry. I usually wait 2-3 weeks before I move the whole drift wood. I have a piece that is just the spot for laying.Also it's important not to let the fry go into your filter intake. They are tiny.After you've gone this far you only have to wait a year before you can make $10 a piece good luck.


A year LOL for $10. They truly are slow growers and super tiny at birth


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## Steve (Mar 27, 2013)

Tell me about slow growers.. my 4 comps from Dave's are still tiny.. maybe grown an inch in the whole year


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## MananaP (Apr 22, 2010)

We will see how fast these guys will grow lols. 
But yes they are very slow grower, have two batches for 2 weeks now on grow out tank "F1 black conggo calvus". Hope for high percentage of survival.
Would be great to see these guys grow and set-up a 90 to 135g tank dedicated just for calvus lols.


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