Breeding Questions

[MikeO]

Evening

I have a few breeding questions.

I have never had anything but livebearers breed before and think I may be about to have some babies!

I have two zebras and they have both been hiding recently more than usual. They have also come out in a lot more colour than usual. Having looked at their mouths they seem to be bulging underneath a bit and they arent opening their mouths much. When one did it looked as if there was something in there..........does this sound like they are holding eggs?

A couple of questions in case I am about to have baby zebras on my hands:

1. How big are the fry? Are they likely to be sucked into either of my filters? (U4 and FX5)
2. How many fry would there likely be?
3. How long are they going to hold the eggs for?
4. Are there any guides that I can have a look at that might give me some help that you caould link me to?

Thanks!

 

[reignofcheese]

Hey, it sure sounds like a holding fish to me. She will hold the fry for about 28 days before she spits. Then they come out at about 1/8" long, free swimming and ready to go, and will hide as best they can, so while they can be sucked into the filter it's not much of a worry really - keep in mind these guys breed lots, so there will be no lack of future fry if you lose some (if you have other cichlids in the tank they will do their best to eat them too). Brood size will vary and the fishes size has much to do with it - a very young breeder may have as few as 10 fry, while an big mature adult as many as 50 or more. The best site I know of to learn about cichlids is www.cichlid-forum.com.

 

[HappyGeorge]

Firstly here's a link to some photos of some of my fish, bottom 3 photos show females holding click here
1) I have a U4 and an FX5 but not aware that any of my fry have fallen pray to their suction.
2) My mbuna only seem to have about 8-10 per batch from the Cynotolapia Afra, don't know what the Yellow Lab is playing at only had one fry survive so don't know if she swallows them or if they get eaten.
3) Couple of weeks or so.
4) Loads out there mate, if your looking for advice on what to do with them just google it and pick the one you like. Personally I leave mine to spit in the tank, as I wasn't after them breeding. I am looking at a tank with 20 not so babies of 2-2.5 inches that will be going to LFS on Thursday. This will be 2nd lot of 20-25 to go and they have made a good size by hiding to survive and eating what they could scavenge.

Hope this helps.

 

[reignofcheese]

Oh yeah, one reason why it's recommended to keep one male with several females rather than pairs, aside form aggression, is breeding. Your female will go without eating during this 3.5 week period. With only one female, if he knocks her up again too soon after the first batch, which is entirely possible, she can potentially starve herself.

 

[HappyGeorge]

In my experience the female holds for 3 weeks max, don't know if Zebra are any different?
My Cyno Red Tops have ended up as a breeding pair, although I may keep some females before selling on the next batch, but the female doesn't get hassled at all when she gets a mouthful she just hides behind the pile of rocks and next time I see her she's has released and is eating again, she then eats for a week or so before she is prepared to mate again.

I have read articles about fish dying due to starving themselves, but I just doubt the theory, nature is normally a pretty clever beast and I would like to see the experiment that showed a fish died due to starving itself and not some other cause, mine is on her 8th batch in 9 months and is healthy, large, shows good colour and holds a good status in the tank. Those same articles also advocate removing the holding female which for breeders isn't a problem, but do you really want a spare set up to maintain just for holding females for the sake of a few quids worth of fish, and if you have a truly nice mbuna tank full of rocks, do you really want to empty it and chase the female about with a net harassing every fish in the tank? It takes me about 2 hours with a helper to empty the rock from my tank catch the juves going for sale and put the rocks back, now you could argue that I should do the same before the female spits, but its much more fun to see interaction between the adults and the fry, watching them hide and scavenge food.

I would add that this is just my experience, but it works for me so no-one can tell me it's not true or will end in disaster because it hasn't, others may take huge precautions and I have no doubt that would obviously work, but I'm not so sure that sometimes people are a bit over cautious and prone to scare mongery, so many people telling you what you can't do and highlighting dangers, in some cases stuff they haven't even experienced just regurgitating someone elses thoughts.

 

[MikeO]

Great, thanks for the replies guys, really helpful.

It does certainly seem like they are both holding then. I have 4 zebras - I thought it was three females and a male, but as they have matured it is clear now it is a 2:2 ratio, but one of the males is massively more dominant and is the "king" of the whole tank, which currently houses the list in my sig.

I will leave them to spit in the tank and net them into a floating nursery tank - I dont want any more fish but couldnt just let them get eaten / sucked up. Im sure I could find them a good home somewhere and if not then the LFS would probably take them off my hands. Its a shame I dont have room even for a small 1ft / 2ft tank to transfer them too (or the money for the extra equipment) as that would have been ideal as a "holding" tank until I can re-home.

I will let you know how it goes