my first african spawn, my yellow lab is holding, what do i do?

[biohazardcustomz]

hey my yellow lab is holding, ive bred sa cichlids but not africans. i read some stuff on mouth brooders, but i dont know what the best route to take is to keep the fry alive and raise them. the most convenient thing i have for her is a hang on screen breeder net. its larger than most. its about 10 inches long 6 inches from front to back and about 6 inches tall. if i put her in there to protect her from the males and try to save her babies, would that be ok? or should i move fish around and try to give her own tank. that might be a bit more difficult because my only extra tank is cycling and all my tanks are usually separated from size and aggression levels. i already breed jaguar (managuense) cichlids, and all different types of live bearers. (guppies, mollies, platys, etc) so i have experience in raising fry. but this is my first African cichlid spawn. sorry for the blurry pics. my camera sucks.

 

[piggy67]

I usually just leave them be but my Kristyi cichlid keeps the population down...If you want to keep the fry than move her to another tank or move the fry when they become free swimming(you may lose a few to tankmates this way). You could also add a ton of fake plants for the fry to hide in until they get big enough to not get eaten..

 

[biohazardcustomz]

well i am breeding fish for a local fish store and id like to keep as many as possible. the reason being is he is so impressed with the quality of fish he has gotten from me over the months, he now has contacted one of his suppliers and the supplier wants to buy from me and ship my fish to even more pet stores. i like the extra income as it helps with the cost of taking care of all my fish. and im kind of proud to have my fish in many more peoples tanks.

anywho there is different africans in the tank and if i leave her in i feel she is going to get harassed to death or they will just eat the babies as soon as they come out of her mouth. im going to look into separating her. also whats this of flushing the babies out with a tool like a little turkey baster? is that even humane?

 

[goliathplatypus]

Leaving her in the breeding net is fine; I do that with my holding mbunas for 17-20 days. Then I strip them by holding them in a net underwater & gently prying their bottom lip open with a rounded toothpick. The fry will swim out; dunking her in & out of the water may be needed. You can do a google search for stripping fry. You may want to keep the female in the breeder net after you have relocated the fry, so that she can eat & get her strength back, before being released to the main tank.
I have multiple breeder nets/traps, so I keep the fry in a plastic one with a solid bottom, and keep the female in a separate breeder net for 2-3 days before releasing her. It's easier for the newborn fry to find food in the breeder trap at first. Adult cichlids can suck the newborn fry through a breeder net or holes in a breeder trap, that is why I use the solid plastic trap. I have 10,20 & 30-gallon growout tanks set up to accomodate the growing fry, until they are 2" or more & ready to be sold.

good luck

 

[stewnew]

its will be a while before the the fry are big enough to swim, i would leave her in the tank until she looks like shes struggling to keep them in and then transfer to the breeding net

 

[biohazardcustomz]

Leaving her in the breeding net is fine; I do that with my holding mbunas for 17-20 days. Then I strip them by holding them in a net underwater & gently prying their bottom lip open with a rounded toothpick. The fry will swim out; dunking her in & out of the water may be needed. You can do a google search for stripping fry. You may want to keep the female in the breeder net after you have relocated the fry, so that she can eat & get her strength back, before being released to the main tank.
I have multiple breeder nets/traps, so I keep the fry in a plastic one with a solid bottom, and keep the female in a separate breeder net for 2-3 days before releasing her. It's easier for the newborn fry to find food in the breeder trap at first. Adult cichlids can suck the newborn fry through a breeder net or holes in a breeder trap, that is why I use the solid plastic trap. I have 10,20 & 30-gallon growout tanks set up to accomodate the growing fry, until they are 2" or more & ready to be sold.

good luck

that was one hell of a first post goliathplatypus, and welcome to monster fish keepers!

thank you very much for that very good advice and hope to see you in the future around the forums.

 

[biohazardcustomz]

its will be a while before the the fry are big enough to swim, i would leave her in the tank until she looks like shes struggling to keep them in and then transfer to the breeding net

i already moved her.i knew it would probably be a while, and she has been holding for over a week, almost two. but the males in there are chaseing her like crazy. i have a 5 inch 'Powder Blue Socolofi' in that tank and he is a douche. he killed two of my other africans but it only seems he doesn't like certain ones. he has never bugged her before but im wondering, could he be the father? i have a male yellow lab in there so im thinking he is but i cant be sure. sorry if i sound stupid but this is new to me.

 

[Blue2Fyre]

If you think they are hybrids then I would not try to keep them. There are already way too many african hybrids out there. I've seen my male socolofi courting a female Ps saulosi so it could be possible.

 

[biohazardcustomz]

If you think they are hybrids then I would not try to keep them. There are already way too many african hybrids out there. I've seen my male socolofi courting a female Ps saulosi so it could be possible.

i have no way to tell if they are hybrids, but thank you for letting me know that it is possible. if they are i might keep them myself depending on how they turn out. if the supplier wants them im not going to turn down money, but if it comes down to it they will be another source of feeders. im pretty sure they are the other yellow labs tho. they are the same size and hang with each other most of the time.

 

[biohazardcustomz]

is it normal that the male yellow lab would be sitting right next to the breeder net looking upset as to why he cant get to his girlfriend? he doesnt wanna go anywhere else. this makes me pretty sure they are pure yellow labs and not hybrids but again, i cant be definite.