Hybrids on the Way . . .

[Ulu]

In case anybody is following this it appears that I have lost all of the fry. I sort of expected this though so maybe I'll be surprised when one of them shows up Alive by some miracle.

There are a lot of places in this tank for a fish to hide.

 

[Nick Park]

In case anybody is following this it appears that I have lost all of the fry. I sort of expected this though so maybe I'll be surprised when one of them shows up Alive by some miracle.

There are a lot of places in this tank for a fish to hide.

In my (limited) experience, mbuna are a bit like Pringles when it comes to breeding - once they pop they can't stop!

My mbuna tank has been experiencing a population explosion over the last 6 months. I suspect that most of the fry are getting eaten, but enough of them find hiding places to survive. As far as I can count there are at least 30 of them that have made it to the stage where they unlikely to become anyone's lunch.

 

[Ulu]

Yellow labs just pop in the tank! Sooo attractive.

These stunning cichlids are thankfully keeping me away from saltwater tanks.

I love all kinds of fish, but I am partial to nearly all cichlids, plecos, coreys, and bettas. I still keep a pair of jewel tetras, but meh . . .
They're not even a breeding pair. Double meh.

So many times I've been tempted to feed them to my Oscar, just to free up a tank from the little fin nippers.

No sight of the mbuna fry, but there will be more. Just not in the community tank. I'm moving Leeloo out tomorrow, and I think she is holding again.

 

[Ulu]

OMG! I moved the mbuna tank this week and I found that we still have three fry alive. They are tiny but two appear to look like yellow labs and one appears to look like a bumblebee. Of course they'll be completely different when they grow up.

 

[Coryloach]

It's always exciting to find the accidental fry but not so exciting when the tank starts filling up with fish you haven't planned for

 

[Ulu]

I have a South American fish disposal.

 

[Ulu]

It appears that at least three bright yellow fry, and two bumblebe or tiger type fry have survived, so we have five. They all look healthy and are eating well.

 

[Ulu]

 

[Ulu]

There are now six fry surviving.

Most of the fry are the size of an average guppy or larger. My wife rebelled at the idea of feeding them to the Oscar, so I'm just leaving them to be consumed at random chance.

Because of all my house remodeling I have not been able to get these fish into a bigger tank but they desperately need it.

I pulled four 5" fish out of this tank and it is still very aggressive. I think Cromwell and Leeloo are pairing up to mate, which should be interesting since they are both mainly blue.

 

[The Morning]

I have found that every generation of hybrid cichlids generally get less and less attractive until they all just take on very blah gray color. Every once in a long while a stunner shows up but pretty rare. I stopped trying to save fry long ago. Added specific fish to help keep them in check.