Texas Cichlids finally breed!

I caught someTexas cichlid fry about 1 1/2 years ago on one of my trips to TX. These were collected in the Comal River in New Braunfels TX by myself, Dave Schumacher (Rare Dave) and Greg Steeves. I"ve always heard that wild caught fish always do better spawning...but I was thinking maybe I caught them before they had sex ed or something because these guys wouldn't spawn for nothing! The other day I noticed they were in spawning colors and I figured the time was close. (by the way if you've never seen a TX Cichlid in spawning colors you need to google it) The front 1/2 of the fish is pure white and the rear 1/2 is jet black and both parents do it not just the dad... Anyway, Today I walked by the tank and noticed about 3-4 floaters (dead adult fish).... Most would think this is bad...but knowing TX Cichlids I knew it was a really good sign! Sure enough I walked over to the tank and 3-4 other fish were Hole'd up in the corners alive but fins were in bad shape...and Dad was fired up and looking really good, Mom was hovering over a nice pit they had dug... I look into the pit and saw 200-300 (best guess) free swimming fry! I'll try to get some photos in the next day or two but sometimes Newer TX Cichlid parents will wreck havoc on their own fry if you get too over anxious with a Camera and the flashes! So I figure I'll lose about 1/2 of the fry over the next few weeks, (just a fact of life) but I should be able to get these guys spread out in the local area. I'll give away the fry in a few months to those that will keep them with care!
JB

Here are some pictures of the fish on the trip that we collected the fry... you can actually see the fish in the water if you look close..... Notice the fish is 1/2 white and 1/2 black they are spawning or gaurding nests of fry. I borrowed some of the fry!
These first pictures I took myself





THis picture I "borrowed" from Cichlid-Forum.com, it was taken by David Bauman but this is exactly what mine look like as well!

Awesome man congrats on the spawn , yea they look awesome in breeding colors.

I do love texas cichlid so I will def take some from you but I will tell you I am going to move in like a little less than a year so at that point I would like to give them back.

Great to see you have them spawning. What size tank have you raised them in? I live in TX, and must admit, raising a local fish would feel good.

I'm not a big South/Central American fish fan, but honestly after getting in the water ways in South Texas and seeing these in person and the spawning behaviours it was hard not to like them. Again I could catch 1000's of these everyday if I was still in TX so there's nothing rare about them, however when you catch em in the wild they have a special place in your fish hobby!

I kept them (8 ea) in a 20 long while they were fry... once they got to the 2-3 inch mark I put them in a 90 gallon bowfront. I only have the parents and 3 other badly beaten fish. I have the badley beaten fish in a hospital tank getting melafix'd and hoping for the best. Then of course there are the 200+ fry. Typically you lose a large number of them. After a few weeks they start thinning out, I think dad/mom start to snack on them or at least the weaker fish which is natural selection (so to speak). Anyway when I get down to 10-20 fry I will remove the parents and then catch the fry and put them in a bare bottom 20L. THen the parents go back in the 90L... I'll probably drop a few dither fish in there to keep dad from kicking moms butt.. They should spawn again rather quickly... I'll give any subsequent fry away or use them as feeders.
JB

Very cool!

I want to go back to Comal very soon.

Cool looking fish!

Congrats!