Mature?

[Nick S.]

I was wondering how long it takes M. Altaspinosa to mature? I read somewhere that they are late bloomers and don't reach sexual maturity until they are about 2 years old, is this true? I have a male and a female that get along well but show no interest in mating. Can I feed them something to bring them around?

 

[Cathy G]

Yep, they are late bloomers - I don't think 2 years though. Perhaps one year or so - I have 6 month juvies and they are still under 2 inches. My spawning pair are full grown and spawn regularly every 2-3 weeks now. They do have longer life spans than the blue rams however, blues being ready to spawn at the 3 or so month mark.

If you have the right water for them, patience is your only hope, they are the slowest growing/maturing fish! Feed them high protein stuff along with pellets and they'll do fine. (I feed mine mysis shrimp, blood worms, spirolina brine shrimp, spirolina algae tablets, New Life cichlid pellets, krill, etc...)

Cathy