There is Easter...and there...

There I am sitting watching my fish in the 4 foot tank and I see Easter, my little Rusty fry, under in Penthouse Rock.
"oo look, I see Easter". Over comes my partner and says "Oh, yeah I see her under the smooth rock there."
"No here, in the Penthouse."
"Hmm and here too it seems."
...
...
"OMG we have 2 babies!!!!!!" screeches me all excited.

Turns out our little mumma Rusty obviously popped not 1 but 2 little ones out and we have just not seen the other one and Easter at the same time.

Now I am wondering how many she is holding this time... :D
I may have to isolate all the males to stop her from breeding yet again- she is nearly half the size of all the other Rustys because she spends all her time with a mouthful of babies and so isn't eating. I get the feeling she is the only female Rusty in the tank. I hope the two she has dropped are females so they can take over the breeding and give her a rest for a while but if they are female they will all be holding all the time.

So if you want a cichlid that breeds easily try the Rusty as they will be at it from the time they get to 4cm, and they just don't quit :)

Cobalts Courting
My Cobalts want to breed...well one does anyway. He has turned a brilliant icy blue and his egg spots have turned very iridescent. The female he is desperately trying to court has turned a much deeper blue like a light navy in colour. He is so funny, he dances around her flaring and writhing and edging her to the Penthouse while she looks around bored and then scoots off at the last second. Poor boy is going to end up gnawing his own fins off in frustration.

Cynotilapia afra Courting
Yellowhead has taken up residence in two places. He is timesharing the Penthouse with Mr Cobalt as well as having a little side residence under the Poly condo where he is currently trying to woo one of his girls. Unfortunately he is having about the same amount of luck as Mr Cobalt and has turned himself into something resembling a traffic light. Yellowhead sees a female, his colour springs to life, he dances around her, she wanders past, unimpressed, his colour goes down to dull again. Rinse and repeat.

Pseudotropheus saulosi
The males are starting to show their colour and are about halfway through their colour change act. They are also starting to show an interest in the ones not changing colour so we may have them breeding too.

Melanochromis "Northern Blue"
One of my NB has found a spot cleaned it out and then added a pile of black pebbles to it, he has also found an odd purple stone and put that at the front of his den. This is the first time I have seen one of my fish decorate his place. All of the fish have just moved the pebbles around and never collected a type before. He is not in the dominant colour so maybe it is his way of attracting a female. I hope it works for him but I am not even sure if any of the other NB are female.