Breeding Mbuna

[dalewatkinson]

hi guys i have a great mbuna tank set up and one of the males has created a little den underneath one of the rocks and it has started shaking its body infront of the female does this mean that the female is releasing eggs or that the male is waiting for the female to do so? is there anything that i can do to encourage them? and what would you recomend to make sure that the fry have a good chance of surviving?
thanks in advance

 

[caboose_122]

if the male is shaking infront of the female, then they could breed, it could also be a sign of dominence. if they do breed the female will lay her eggs on a flat rock, then the male will fertalize them, they female will then pick them up, if you want to raise the fry successfuly i could move the female to a 10 gallon while she is holding, if its the first time she has held fry then i would let her spit them, if she successfuly holds the fry and spits the fry you can later strip the fry from her, using something to carefully open her mouth and the fry will just swim out. as for feeding the fry they will eat there yoke sacks for the first few days, when they are young they can eat some neutrients in the water but after 5 days its best to start feeding a commersial fry food. once they are about 1 centimetre in length they can start to be fed on crushed flake food.

for more info:
http/www.cichlidforum.com/articles/breeding_list.php

any other questions we will be happy to anser

alex

 

[dthoffsett]

is there anything that i can do to encourage them?

Just make sure they have water!

Seriously though, I've found mine most often seem to spawn after a large (50%) water change with cool water.

Caboose gave you some great info there.

 

[nukeonekitty]

A lot of my mbuna breed with out me doing anything to provoke it. I know some are more picky than other, but some (yellow labs in particular) breed nearly every other week in my tank.

 

[australia]

remeber u also want alot of rocks and caves