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. Posted via Mobile Device
Well I have four Kenyi's this one is just the latest. My Yellow male remains boss of the tank. I have had a kenyi for four months and she is one of the more easy going and keeps the other kenyis in line. I also have what I think are four Jalo Reef Afras as well. Yellows I have six.
I went ahead and striped mom of her fry. I now have ten free swimming yellow lab fry in my molly and platy fry tank. they all look good and mom is recovering with some of my other molly young.
the reason I chose this route is mom cichlid is less than two inches or right at. she has burned off all her fat reserve just to get this far. i think if i alloud her to continue she would have been so weak she would have died. being her first try all the fry didnt stand much of a chance. I stripped thirteen in all. all are fully developed and free swimming at seventeen days age.
Well there a month old and doing fine. Mom has recovered nicly and is healthy babies have started to swim more of the tank and are exploring there area. They are in a ten gallon with some mollie and platy young.
Just by hand. I used slight pressure on her jaw and made her open her mouth. I used my finger to put slight pressure to cause her to give up her fry. Was able to feel how much pressure so not to hurt her.
Usually all it takes is a few fry to come out and she will spit the rest anyway.
Once you strip a female it is best to remove her to an isolation tank (if possible), not only does it allow her to recover her strength from not eating for nearly 28 days, it also makes it less likely she will try and roundup the fry into her mouth and potentially harm them.
Once the females spit the fry, she will not really mother them anymore, it is survival of the fittest. If she is very hungry and not isolated she can see the fry as an easy food source.
If any of the fry still have a small amount of egg sack attached DO NOT feed the tank, they will get all the nutrients they need from the remainder of the egg sack. Flake food / liquid food when there are still egg sacks attached can actually cause the egg sacks to go bad and cause a disease outbreak in the tank. Wait until there are no egg sacks left on any of the fish before starting to feed the tank.
If they are in the main display tank and not a breeder tank, then you have no option but to feed the tank. Fry should not be in a display tank with other cichlids until at least an inch long or in a tank with an awful lot of hiding places.
This information came directly from one of North Americas premium cichlid suppliers / breeders.
I striped them at day 17 after they were concived. They nolonger had the egg sacks. I have since lost about half of them but the remaining ones are very healthy and growing fast. They are sharing a ten gallon tank with some mollie and platy fry.
Both male and female are a darker yellow almost the same on most consteuction equeptment what is called John Deere yellow almost a faint orange. The male is very colorfull but cant seem to get a great picture of him.
Am not 100% sure but picture 18 makes me think that she is a Pseudotropheus saulosi and not a yellow lab. It could also be she is not a true yellow lab (which many in the hobby are not).
Is there visible barring on her back?
Still though, they like the water conditions you have given them and have spawned so that is always a good sign things are going well in the tank.
Nice pictures . Im still trying to figure out how to get the 4 fry out of my main tank. and seperate them. But i think i might just leave them they have some hide spots. But heres my question the female lab you have that had the fry was only 3inches? because i have actually noticed another of my Zebras are holding and shes barely 3inches. Should i be concerned for her holding full term?
She is less than two but not by much. The male chased her for a month before she gave in to him. She is very young and is why I choose to strip her young. At four weeks I feel she would have died. Only six of the orignal thirteen fry are still alive so I lost a few. However the remaining ones are very healthy and growing fast.
She sometimes shows the bars but only when stressed I think only lions cove show the bars constant. She is srill yellow but just a very dark yellow. I think camera and screen settings make her look orange
The young are now two months old and have reached an inch. I haved moved them back in with the adults since there are plenty of places they can get to that the adults cant
Round two. She is holding again. I got home after a run to get some cattle and walked in at midnight. Same pair as last time.
The last group is stull in with the adults and have been doing fine.
Depending on what size the original batch are now, you might have to keep an eye on them with the younger fry. Having two batches of fry can sometimes make the older ones, a little inquisitive and go after the babies.
Older adults will generally leave them alone provided they get enough food at feeding time.
The first batch is in the main tank with the adults and are over an inch in length. I am thinking of moving the female out into another tank. I may move the male with her to allow another to take over as the dominate male. The female is still under three inches so I may again strip the young from her around day twenty. I still have six from the first batch and they are doing well.
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