paratilapia bleekeri spawn?

[Ichy]

Hello. I have 6 P bleekeri in a 70 gallon. Two of them appear in my opinion to be pairing off. They dug a large pit underneath a half of a terra cotta pot i had in there as a cave. It looks as though their vents are dropped . They are defending the side of the tank that the pit is in. They swim together and extend their fins in a very dramatic display. There is frequent tail wagging going on between them . From what i can see of the vents it looks like on is larger than the other so I'm guessing it is a pair and not two females . Everything points to a spawn in my opinion .......however these fish are barely 3" in length . Is it possible that the eggs, if any show up , will be viable? Will this pair continue to spawn if I remove the eggs ? After I see fry, if any, would it be safe for me to assume that I can trade in the other paratilapia and just keep the pair ?
Any help , ideas, or advise is greatly appreciated .
I've had Pty. oligacanthus that spawned for me before and they were almost like convicts once they got started . I hope this turns out to be as prolific a pair as the olig's did( wish I'd never traded those in )

thanks

[Tom Williams]

They will spawn succesfully at this size and it is easier to manage them as males will become ultra violent and intollerant towards one another much beyond this size.
IMO your tank is too small for 6 fish and would only really hold one pair. The eggs should be viable and produce a few young but you need to suspend them in airflow to hatch them. If you remove the other 4 they may well hold and protect the young very well.
If you take the eggs the parents will probably not spawn again, indeed mine spawn occasionally when they feel like it, their is no pattern unlike the closely related Ptychos.
Good luck
Tom

[maddog10]

If you keep all 6 in that tank you will only have a pair left. When they get larger you will have some seriuos aggression problems. These fish are meaner than what most people think.

[Ichy]

Thankyou for your input. I didn't think I would be able to keep more than a pair long term . I just bought 6 to try to get at least one pair. Lately I've been very fortunate having cichlids pair off at a much smaller size that I'd expected.... mostly CA /SA species. I'm pretty happy to see what looks like a pair forming. They seem to be doing a great job of gaurding the area they've dug up. So far I still see no eggs . I've heard time after time that paratiapia are horrible parents and getting fry to even just free swimmer size can be tough if the eggs arent pulled. I tend to believe in letting the parents try a few times before I pull the eggs . Usually by the third or fourth spawn my experiance has been that the parents improve a great deal.
So paratilapia sp. aren't as prolific as the Pty.'s ....what a shame . Hopefully IF this spawn happens, I'll at least see occasion spawns in the future. All the fish I've had spawn in the past have been quite regular( with the exception of a pair now and then that go into dry spells)
The group has shown some signs of conspecific aggression as they've been growing. One thing I found interesting was the main dominant fish had all the others avoiding him/her. I had thought that fish would end up being my main breeder male since it was so dominant. However it is not one of the pair, and is now backing down to the larger fish of the pair. As well as still being avoided by all the others. Shame too since that fish is easily the largest spotted and has the most spots of them all.
Thankyou again for your replies , wish me luck

[Ichy]

Well they laid eggs! But then ate them within an hour of laying them. It looked to be quite a few eggs in the pit , alot more than I had expected . Maybe next time will go better.
thanks again folks