Discusmadboy Posted December 24, 2007 Report Share Posted December 24, 2007 i have a female cichlid who has holding eggs in her mouth for a week. I setup a Mini "ER" tank and put her into this tank alone. I can now see in her mouth baby cichlids. i have previously stripped the babies out of her mouth and a previous breeding attempt and they are all fine. this time should i strip the babies out or just let nature do its course ? Also once she does release the fry if i let nature do its course then how long before i have to take her out of the tank before she sees them as food. ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkLB Posted December 24, 2007 Report Share Posted December 24, 2007 I let nature take its course and leave Mum with her fry until she has put on some condition. None of my females have regarded their fry as food....but maybe I'm lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted December 24, 2007 Report Share Posted December 24, 2007 I strip all the fish I want to keep at 2 and a half weeks I find they don't get too run down that way and I lave them in the main tank until that stage means less hassle and stress on them if I take them out strip them and stick them back in the tank they don't have to fight to regain their position in the tank.. however taking the females out and letting them spit is a good method used by most people just have to feed the mother up again afterwards and rearrange rocks or introduce her at night.. As for how long to leave her with babies I never keep adults with babies so I have no idea others have reported success with keeping a heap of rocks and java moss in the tank and as the babies are spat they just cruise into the rocks and mum leaves them alone.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Discusmadboy Posted December 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2007 Aarg, i need more input i cant decide if i should leave alone or strip them out im too exited lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkLB Posted December 24, 2007 Report Share Posted December 24, 2007 I have a Cobalt in a nursery tank at the moment. This is her second spawn.She releases her fry in the morning and she will suck them back into her mouth at night or if she gets spooked by anything i.e. a water change. As the fry get older she can fit less in her mouth. This will go on for a week or so. After that she will ignore them and I give her a couple of more days before putting her back in the main tank. I take out the rocks , introduce the fish and rearrange the furniture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Discusmadboy Posted December 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 25, 2007 I let nature do its course, she let them all go this morning. 20 fry all up. 10 of them were dead and the other 10 were healthy. this is the second time she has bread within 6 to 8 weeks so hopefully she keeps breeding. I think I will attempt to next time strip out the babies and see if i have better luck. She is a beatiful fish so cant wait for both of these batches of fry to get alittle bigger. for anyone that has stripped there fru out i am interested in finding out how you actually strip them out. I watched a you tube video of a guy using a cyringe of water and simply spraying it into her mouth and this flushes them out. I just want to find out the best and easiest method of stripping them out... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Discusmadboy Posted December 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 25, 2007 check out this link ? this seems like the easiest way to strip cichlids ... i jsut dont know what the guy is using and could i use a water syringe to achieve the same result ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Discusmadboy Posted December 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 25, 2007 check out this link ? this seems like the easiest way to strip cichlids ... i jsut dont know what the guy is using and could i use a water syringe to achieve the same result ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted December 25, 2007 Report Share Posted December 25, 2007 Seems weird that some were dead? And she spat them... I just hold their mouths open with a skinny end of a bread knife and dunk them in and out of the water so their babies get washed out.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Discusmadboy Posted December 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 25, 2007 yeah she spat them and then took off and came back and took them back in her mouth and held onto them for about 5 minutes and spat them again. but they were dead. so dont know what happened there... cant explain it, however the others are fine and she is a good mother to the others so dont know what happened there. I Just looked her up in my Cichlid Bible i am totally conviced that she is an Labidochromis Textilis and very colourfull fish so cant wait for her fry to get bigger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkLB Posted December 25, 2007 Report Share Posted December 25, 2007 I Just looked her up in my Cichlid Bible i am totally conviced that she is an Labidochromis Textilis Can you post a pic? It'd be good to see her...people may be able to help with a positive ID. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Discusmadboy Posted December 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 25, 2007 believe it or not the only camera i own is on my cellphone and I cant email from it either. time to buy a camera me thinks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted December 25, 2007 Report Share Posted December 25, 2007 Pics would be good Alot of trouble can come from going through books and trying to ID fish, are they the only african species you have in your tank? What did you buy them as? Alot of african cichlids cross breed and alot that you buy with no name can be hybrids.. Pays to find out what they are when your breeding them so you can make decisions on what to do with babies.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Discusmadboy Posted December 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 25, 2007 Hi Ryan good point When I purchased them all i cross checked them all and even took some back after discovering that they were not actually what was advertised. All the fish in my tank are African Mbuna cichlids. just cant remember each scientific name for them all. i have no hybrids in the the tank. However The Problem i have is Identifying which male in the tank is responsible for these fry. I keep an eye on my fish and dont even notice mating habits or any pairs circling each other or anything that mite indicate to me who the pairs are. So will have to wait for the Fry to get bigger to determine what is going on. I will try to get hold of a camera and take pics of them all as well and post them here for positive ID and give ya all a look at my tank setup at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted December 25, 2007 Report Share Posted December 25, 2007 Yeah the fact they are all mbuna is a problem.. They can breed true but its unlikely If all your fish were guaranteed not hybrids when you brought hem did you not buy them with proper name etc? Most of us african breeders only have one species of mbuna in the tank so make sure theres no hybrids created.. Growing them out is a good idea, but if they parents weren't pure can give random results.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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