I have just noticed what i think is my yellow holding eggs.

she does not normally have the "turkey neck" look. Anyone confirm this?

Yeah id say its pretty certain she's holding, a nice looking yellow too congrats!

Other signs I use when im unsure are if you watch her she looks like shes swirling stuff around in her mouth. Also she will swim around with her mouth fully closed the other fish will open their's as they breath.. Also when looking from behind the fish their gill plates stick out more

Now you have to decide what you want to do with the babies

i'll be keen to grow them up abit & see how that goes. what's the best way to help ensure a high servival rate, should i put her in another tank & strip her or leave her in the main tank with the fry eating haps?

As Ryan said.

Frenchy

The only way you will get any number of fry surviving is to remove them..

You have 2 options really take the mother out stick her in her own tank and let her spit herself.

Or you can strip her theres a link below to someone else asking the same question

Good luck let us know how you get on!

http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/anothe ... 24096.html

thanks very much, will do.

any way of telling how long she has been holding for?

Yeh as above again.

Strip at 2-3 weeks for fry swimming fry. If you strip early, you will need to tumble the eggs.

Frenchy

I would say she has only been holding for a few days. If you were going to strip, make it 2 weeks from now, or the following weekend.

Frenchy

Yeah go a little longer I stripped 2 yellows yesterday that I thought had been holding the same length one lot was free swimming the others needed tumbling, mind you if they're over 2 weeks tumbling is easy I just stick them in a guppy trap with an airstone keeping them moving..

Another way to tell when the babies are developing is her cavity will get darker.

How big are the fry usually when they spit?

If you look at the video you will see about how big they are when they spit

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/videos/stripping.php

Probably around 5mm total length, alot easier to raise than alot of the other fish

Tiny. Never measured. Enough to swim around & look after themselves. But no where big enough to return to main tanks.

Heres a photo of fry I stripped, female had been holding 2-3 weeks. Acei in this case, 10litre bucket.

Frenchy

what can you feed the fry?

Frozen Baby brine shrimp & cyclops. Crushed vegie flake for mbunas. Fry powder.

Frenchy

Anything that will fit in their mouths..

I feed mine my homemade food, decap brine shrimp, crushed flake mushed up peas, micro worms etc etc etc, as I said above they're alot easier to raise than other fish, its not like "you see that dot with what looks like a hair coming out of it well thats a baby fish" lol and they eat this "green water".

congratulations smidey

sounds like this is potentially your first batch??

best of luck with it

do you have another tank?

:bounce: :bounce:

congratulations smidey

sounds like this is potentially your first batch??

best of luck with it

do you have another tank?

:bounce: :bounce:

i have some Sera fry food which says its sutable for all fry. Yeah this is my first batch of fry. Yeah i have two other tanks i can setup & spare filters. I have a 35L & 100L tank, a shark internal filter & a CF1000, air pump & a few heaters lying around that i could use.

i have stripped my yellow this morning. she is about 2 1/2 inches long & produced 12 fry. I have sera mikropan mini flake food, will this be good to feed em with? The fry are in a 35L tank.

congratulations smidey :bounce:

thanks snnokie, is it better to put them in a net in the tank at this size so they get enough food? they are in a tank by themselves.

As said before. Mouth brooding cichlid fry are a lot easier to raise. No need for a net, they will find the food that comes into the tank. Give them a week & they will recognise you & come to the tank when you approach.

Frenchy