Red Emperess and Placidochromis Phenochilus Tanzinia

[LanaK]

I have 1M3M Phenochilus and 1M6F Red Empress in a 125 tank.  Do I need to worry about them cross breeding?  Internet says both yes and no, so I thought I would ask my own corner of the internet.

[jcunningham0295]

I don't think you would have to worry so much about that, but could be possible.  What I have found with my phenos is that they won't breed with another HAP in the tank.  I has to remove my Taiwan Reefs a while ago to get them to breed again.  Today I have albino yellow labs in with my phenos at that seems to work out good.

[LanaK]

I have had them breed with OB Zebras, but they are no go so far with the Red Empress, but the Empress are breeding like crazy, but I haven't pulled babies because I was worried about crosses..  I was gonna switch the Empress out for my colony of Electric Yellows, and it sounds like that might be more successful.  Given the OB Red Empress we have been seeing, I won't be putting them in with my zebras, but maybe they will get their own tank.

[Ron]

I wouldn't be very concerned about those two species, in a tank that size.

You typically run into problems with hap species in which the males look similar to one another. Studies have suggested that among cichlids the female is largely responsible for choosing the mate.