Surprise single male peacock gave birth to youngs

[tiger15]

I have two Aulonocara / Jacobfriebergi male that surprisingly held eggs. One is in a tank without any other Malawian cichlid. The other in a tank with saulosi MBUNA but no other aulonocara. From the color they are displaying, they look male to me. To my surprise, without a mate or no other aulonocara in the tank, both appeared to hold eggs, not eating and showed chewing action. I thought they might be sick and couldnt be holding eggs. One lost the holding after two weeks and resumed eating. The other was still holding so I took him out to examine what he was holding . To my surprise, 20 babies came out that look like legitimate aulonocara fry. I’ll raise them to see what they are. It’s double mystery to me that male could hold eggs without female and without any other Malawian cichlid in one tank to hybridize

 

[danotaylor]

This looks to be a female. Have you vented it?


The other looks potentially female as well. Vented it?

 

[newworld]

Looks like a female then again its a mix…

 

[tiger15]

I vented it and it does look like a female with hind hole larger than the front hole. But the color of the fish is too colorful to be a female. I had aulonocara many times before and the female had no color, just grey. It looks more like MBUNA in that female is equally colorful. This cannot explain why my other aulonocara held eggs for two weeks without any other Malawian in the tank to cross fertile the eggs. Can it be a self cloning female?

 

[newworld]

Its a hybrid that bred w another malawi cichlid, much like how it was created, seems very reasonable, its not a male that bred by itself and created fry…come on

 

[RD.]

 

[tiger15]

Now it is back eating, after stripping 20 babies. The only logical explanation it is a female with male phenotype. It has pointed fins and intense orange color indistinguishable from male. It behaves more like a male than female by being aggressive. It has never shown bulging belly and protruded egg tube despite venting showing one hole slightly larger. I am still perplexed.

Its a hybrid that bred w another malawi cichlid, much like how it was created, seems very reasonable, its not a male that bred by itself and created fry…come on

 

[jjohnwm]

...The only logical explanation it is a female...

No! You don't say!

Even today, with the increasing number of genders which are constantly being revealed...the fact that it laid viable eggs is pretty compelling evidence that points to one of the two old classics: congrats, it's a girl.

 

[HUKIT]

I don’t have any personal experience yet I have read quite a few claims over the years that a male will hold eggs but it’s never been long enough to the fry to hatch. The claims states it’s only 2-3 days not the 3-4 weeks needed to consume the yolk sacs.

 

[phreeflow]

Well if your Eureka Red female is that bright orange, it might be worth breeding her and selecting for that trait.