'Lamprologus' caudopunctatus

[ggburke]

I have read that, like the bichardi, many generations of punks can live together, is this true?  I have a trio, 2 males and a female.  The larger of the two males is chasing the smaller male around.  Does the male always choose the mate or can the female refuse?  The female seems to get on better with the smaller male.  Should I remove one of the males, which one?

[Alleycat]

If you think the larger male may be too aggressive, keep the smaller one. But, if the larger is the best one, I'd prefer my offspring to be from his genes.
I have a pair in a 10g that have produced 3 spawns. Each spawn was larger than the prior one, but the parents weren't good one's and decided to snack on them. So after the first two attempts and losses, the third batch are safely tucked in a 5g growing out. So, I can't offer you any advice on if generations will live together. I think though in a larger tank ( 20L or larger ) with plenty of hiding spaces, they will thrive like other lamprologines and grow up with their siblings.
At the moment I've had to separate the pair as the male has decided he's not impressed with her. I'll re-arrange their palace and re-introduce them to one-another in a month and try the process all over again.

Good luck with your choice.

[Miles44]

IME generations will not live together indefinitely.  After the point when the Parents will ultimately tolerate a brood that brood will eat off any eggs laid there after. 

[Sean]

Ahh, after a couple of years, I got some nice ones in 
they must be half the size of the ones i had a couple years ago.. Still nice.
pics soon. Hopefully.

[leej24]

YAY!  After a lot of patience my caudopunks finally spawned.  No filter ( I meant no heater) in a 15 gallon aquarium split in two with 9-1" meleagris.  Yes I know it's a small tank with lots of fish but I had no room and I didn't expect them to spawn, but YAY anyways.  BTW, I think the meleagris spawned, too, being so protective of her shell and towards the male. 

[Alleycat]

That's a small tank for sure, but obviously they were comfortable enough to produce fry. I had two spawns from my pair in a 10g, but they decided they liked the taste of their fry, and in a few hours I had none.
I moved them into a 125 with a group of Ventralis in hopes they would defend the fry and turn them into good parents. So far they're content to swim around with the big boys and not even go near their shells.
They're going to be moved back into their 10g if they don't start acting like a shellie !!!   

[Sean]

I find that smaller spaces is better to spawn fish. But thats just me. I pretty much spawned everything in a 5G.

[fish head]

I have 3 very hardy caudopuncts in a 120 community tang tank...started out w/ 6 not so hardy

the remaining 3 are acting like they might want to head down to the shells from time to time, but mostly they swim in the open water

maybe they deserve a little peace and quiet in the 5 gallon honeymoon suite, w/out all the distractions

is there a clear way to sex these little sweeties?  how big do they need to be to spawn? (mine are 1.75")

[Sean]

Males may have the yellow fringe on the tail. They are also larger.

[leej24]

Yep.  Males have a yellow/orange tinge to the edge of their caudal fin.  Females don't.  1.75" should be a good size for them to start breeding.  I think that's the size of my male.  My female is a tad bit smaller (1.5").  Everytime I feed them the parents dart into the shell and leave the fry out and about.  The fry are smart, in that, they dart to the gravel.  There's only about 15 of them.  I expected more from what other people have said about caudopunk spawns but I'm not complaining at all.  Just content right now. 

[leej24]

Well, soon enough I will have two broods of caudopunk fry in the same tank.  I don't know when the eggs will hatch (if they haven't already) or when the new fry will emerge from the shell but the larger fry are reaching 1/2" at the moment.  I really don't have any room for more fry (20 meleagris fry that are 1/4", 9 meleagris fry about 1" and gold occie fry about 1/4"--not to mention about 30+ buffalohead fry and about 60 bristlenose fry)

[pony-tail]

Just a follow up about keeping punks with multies .
The punks spawned - wiped out most of the adult multies in four hours . The multies were either dead and floating or terminally injured , as in torn to pieces when I got home luckily I have spare tanks ( but in reality not the space to set them up ) so I could get the punks out and save the remaining dozen or so young multies . The punks (15 of them ) are in  a slightly algaed but healthy 36 x 18 x 18 tank - lost the spawn though , and the pair appears to have split . So I would not advise mixing punks with multies .

[Sean]

Happened the same way as my occies. Though my multies were fine.

[Malky]

I want ot start a 125L tank with caudopunctatus only. In my LFS i can only order 5 to 10 fish so is too much fish for this aquarium???

Thx.

[Sean]

I had 4 in a 25G and they were fine. 2 Breeding pairs. Though 1 breeding pair was obviously the dominant one. I would get as many as you can get first and then return or sell the rest.