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Yellow labs.

8K views 55 replies 7 participants last post by  Cja313 
#1 ·
I have five yellow labs one is a female and is the domanate one in the tank. she is now about three inches insize. I have herd that the male will vibrate infront of the female to get her interested... however in this case its the female not the males. a moment ago she trapped a male on one of the caves and started to vibrate. she at times will follow a male around the tank. however she has yet to lay any eggs.
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#2 ·
btw i havent updated it in my profile but my cichlids are in a fifty five gallon tank now. my adult mollie and platy females share a thirty six gallon bow front and my male mollie and platies share a ten gallon. i have three other ten gallon tanks which house the fry that have been born.
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#3 ·
If the female is older than the males then yes she will display by shimmering in front of the males. Chances are you will not see any eggs as they are mouthbrooders and usually the female scooping the eggs into her Bucchal cavity happens very fast if the male is interested.

Keep an eye on the female as she can harass the males enough to stress them out if they are not ready to breed with her.
 
#4 ·
So when Mbuna Shimmer or Vibriant infront of each other is a sign of them wanting to breed? I didnt think the female would do that.
 
#5 ·
+1 Yes, they will do that and it can as mentioned be the female initiating it of she is ready to breed.

Do you know for sure that she is female? Yellow labs like most mbuna are hard to sex accurately unless you either buy them already sexed or vent them.
 
#6 ·
You may want to vent or have somebody else vent the fish. Because if you have 5 yellow labs and only 1 female, when the males mature that poor female will be so worn out she won't know what to do. But the behavior is definitely that of a male (which as previously stated a female can display). Don't go by the markings of the fish. If there can be males with no so defined black on the fin and females with very defined black on the fins...it really depends on the genetic strain.
 
#7 ·
I got it wrong since all the others have egg spots on there anal fins. I have one dominate male and he is the one shimmering. I got two more yellows yesterday and one is a male. I now have five females and two males. the last few days the dominate male has been after one of the sub dominate females but she ignores him... the dominate female keeps trying to get his attention but he dosnt seen to like her. he is almost a light orange yellow and the same with the female he wants... the dominate female is lemmon yellow and seems not to be his first choice. due to rhis the dominate female started to kinda stand up to the domanate male and also interupts any chance between the male and the other female.
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#8 ·
I really dont think that any will really breed though as the pictus catfish have compleate rule of the tank. they are unruley and keep all the cichlids from choosing a stable location. all sites list pictus cats as peacefull but i would call them highly aggressive. cichlids are no match for them.
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#10 ·
Egg spots are indeed no indication of sex. The only 100% positive way is to vent them.

Pictus are not the best tank mates for mbuna for the very reason you mentioned. They can get rather bossy, a more sedate species to house with mbuna is BN plecos or synodontis species such as Multipunctus.
 
#14 ·
One of my yellow labs are about to lay eggs... the dominate male has her near a nest he made and has been attacking the plecos and been keeping everything away. her vent appears to have swollen quite large as to be ready to lay eggs.
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#15 ·
Lost a yellow lab just now. I moved him to a QT tank as he was Breathing heavy and was hiding at the top of the tank gasping for air. His fins were all chewed up and the other cichlids were pecking at him. Water is as follows Ammonia is Zero. Nitrite is zero. PH is 8.0 and Nitrate is 40. He is one of my newer yellow labs but had alot of black to his scales. he remained in hiding most of the time i had him. All my other cichlids are doing fine.
 
#16 ·
Great news. the female that my dominate male has been trying to get her attention has now excepted him. they did there little dance and she started to help prepare the nest site.
thnking she will be laying her eggs tonight and by morning will be holding. The building of the nest has taken a fever pitch and the male has become very aggressive twards all other fish with the exception of the female and my synodontis catfish
 
#17 ·
Great news. the female that my dominate male has been trying to get her attention has now excepted him. they did there little dance and she started to help prepare the nest site.
thnking she will be laying her eggs tonight and by morning will be holding. The building of the nest has taken a fever pitch and the male has become very aggressive twards all other fish with the exception of the female and my synodontis catfish
 
#19 ·
They dont lay eggs, they are mouth brooders, a female will drop eggs and the male will quickly fertilize them and then the female will scoop them into her Bucchal cavity. It happens so fast you will unlikely see the eggs actually being deposited.
 
#24 ·
The next 10-14 days are the critical ones. If she is stressed at all from this point on, she may spit the eggs early. If the eggs are not fully formed it is extremely hard to keep them alive unless you make a DIY egg tumbler (which is essential if she does spit them early).

Keep us posted but will mention again do not be too disheartened if the first batch does not make it, it happens quite a bit and as I say this is the critical period now.
 
#25 ·
Well the good thing is I have a new Kenyi and he is low one on the todem pole. He is kinda looked as if he hadnt been fed in months or atleast there at walmart. he is already looking ten times better since i got him and since all the others are picking on him the holding female is being ignored. all my cichlids are slightly differant sizes and there is a well established pecking order so aggressive behaviour has been lite.
 
#26 ·
Keep an eye on the Kenyi, they are rather aggressive and even small there is nothing stopping a fish of less than 2" taking over the whole tank.

I suspect you may have issues in the coming weeks as it settles into its new home and learns the current tank setup and who is boss at the moment.
 
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