HELP! Breeding question!

[somethingsfishie]

Hi everyone,

I have a female frontosa who is always rearranging the tank. She likes to move the gravel around and make little areas for herself (has always done this). Sometimes when she is moving the gravel around, the gravel gets stuck in her mouth and you can tell because her mouth extends and she will not eat. I usually have to scoop her up in the net to take the gravel out and then she is fine. So today I noticed the same thing as I always have and when I went to take the gravel (or so I thought) it ended up being eggs and I DEFINITELY know they are eggs. I have put them into a breeders net (~40) with a large air pad next to the net. I am wondering if I should buy or make an egg tumbler to put the eggs in? They are not really moving or tumbling right now but the air pad is directly on the side of the breeders net. Please help! eggs are fairly large and I am not sure what stage of their cycle they are in.

Thanks!

 

[Rafini]

do you have a male in the tank? if you have a male then the eggs will be fertile and hatch into babies (usually inside the mothers mouth) If there is no other frontosa's in the tank then its safe to say that they are unfertilised eggs. female fish sometimes do this when they want to breed but there are no available partners. either way if those are fertile eggs ad they are in the breeder net with the air pad they should be fine. they will hatch into little wrigglers with a yolk attached to them. once the yolk is depleated you can add small crushed flakes or my favourite, a crushed waterlogged cichlid pellet for them to pick on. make sure you feed them multiple times per day to prevent them from predating on eachother!

(hope that covered everything)

 

[somethingsfishie]

There is another male in the tank but it is not a frontosa. I had the eggs in my breeders net and this morning when I woke up the eggs were gone. Im not sure if she sucked them through the net if that is even possible but they are nowhere to be seen!

 

[Rafini]

It is possible they were sucked through the net. Unless you have a male african cichlid that is capable of hybridising with a front (not sure if there are any) then you won't get offspring. they were most likely infertile eggs. thats a shame