Half Developed Fry

[Lisa67]

As I posted last week I had a yellow lab carrying eggs. I wanted to move her to her own tank so that the fry wouldn't be eaten but I didn't have another tank. This morning a friend lent me a tiny (1.5 gal tank). Even though its small I figured atleast the babys would be safe if they were born in there and then I could move the female back into the main tank.

She was in the little tank for about 8 hours and didn't seem to be too stressed about the move. I put a few rocks at the bottom that she was hiding in. About an hour ago I gave her a few food pellets. I don't know if she was attempting to eat, but she started spitting out fry that are alive, but kind of look like insect larva sitting at the bottom of the tank wiggling around.

Is it possible some could still be in her mouth? What happened??? Stress of the small tank? Food? I'm so disappointed.

 

[KittyKat]

Stress of moving, stress of small tank, stress of you staring at her.. probably all of them to some extent. If you have enough rockwork in your main tank, about 2-6 fry should survive out of each batch.. if you're not getting any at all, consider adding more rock with little hidey holes for the fry.

 

[elisew]

Lisa how many fry has she spat?


If you have a few then it might be an idea to put the female back into your main tank and leave her to spit any remaining fry in there, granted they`ll probably get eaten but that`s a risk you`ll have to decide on taking. On occasion the female will gather the fry back into her mouth and continue to hold for a while longer. Females generally spit the fry when they feel safe so although it`s a possibility that she`s stressed, it could also be that she feels safer with no other fish as a threat. The female is as likely to eat her own fry as any other fish would be too so be mindful that if you leave her with the fry that it could happen.

It may well be that she`s spat early because she`s a young female who`s holding her first batch, it can take a few attempts for them to get it right and hold for the desired length of time.
Sometimes even though the fry are spat early, they have egg sacs still attached and do look a bit like wiggling larvae yet they can survive providing they have good regular water changes and are fed small amounts of finely crushed flake or similar tiny foods approx 3 times a day.

I think all you can do is give the fry a bit of time and see how they go over the next few days, but I would definitely put the female back in the main tank and give her a chance to get things right with a bit of practice

 

[Lisa67]

Thank you both for your replies. Now I'm at work wishing I had put the female back in the main tank before she eats the fry that she spit! LOL, parenthood!!!
It does look possible that she still has more in her mouth. She spit out about a dozen I would guess. When I left my house a few of them were still wiggling around.