Holding Females

[chr15_8]

One of the female afra's has something in her mouth.
about 2 weeks ago she had stufed her mouth with food, when i feed them she would come up and get more etc.

but now for the last 3 days she stays in a few caves and only moved out to chase a fish off. she has alot off black vertical barring(which i believe they show to make themselve more aggressive.)

so my main questions is.
1)if she is holding how long do they hold for?
2) i carnt catch her! ive spent around 2-3 hours. will she be ok if i let her get on with it?

thanks

chris

 

[darrel69]

i know very little about breeding and holding mate sorry. but, going on what ive read, i think they hold or about 3 weeks before they hatch, then the fry is in and out of the females mouth for safety and untill they're big enougth. not sure though, i may be wrong.

also, im sure your suppose to leave the female to it themselfs for the first cppl of times despite the danger of the fry getting eaten.

sorry i cant help anymore, good luck

 

[dthoffsett]

Darrel is right, they generally hold around 21-28 days, though I have a lab that tends to hold for around 30-32 days, apparently when kept in the community they'll hold longer.

She'll be fine in the tank as long as she isn't bullied too much so just keep an eye on her. If you want to keep the fry you'll need to catch her within the next two weeks and move her to her own 10gal (or more) tank. From there you can either strip the fry or let her spit on her own. IME they breed more successfully if you let the females spit on their own a couple of times to get the experience, then you can start stripping them.

Here're some great articles on breeding and rearing fry.
[URL="http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/breeding_list.php"]http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/breeding_list.php[/URL]

 

[chr15_8]

thanks as long as sheis ok.

not to botherd about the fry tbh, its a nightmare trying to catch here with all my rocks around the place.

she isnt getting bullyed at all doing her little thing, if someone gets too close she will chase them off for a split second.


thanks
chris

 

[fry_lover]

Darrel is right, they generally hold around 21-28 days, though I have a lab that tends to hold for around 30-32 days, apparently when kept in the community they'll hold longer.

She'll be fine in the tank as long as she isn't bullied too much so just keep an eye on her. If you want to keep the fry you'll need to catch her within the next two weeks and move her to her own 10gal (or more) tank. From there you can either strip the fry or let her spit on her own. IME they breed more successfully if you let the females spit on their own a couple of times to get the experience, then you can start stripping them.

Here're some great articles on breeding and rearing fry.
<a href="http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/breeding_list.php" target="_blank">http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/breeding_list.php</a>

very useful link. I have two Malawi's "holding" right now, i must say, to go to all that trouble of "stripping" fish seems quite mad to me, bonkers! I think i would understand if it was some rare fish that hardly ever breeds in home aquaria and a peep was desperate for the fry.

I would suggest either having a set up specifically for breeding or just let the fry take their chances, i dont agree with all this "stripping" and forcing the issue so much, although i do find the links interesting.

 

[dthoffsett]

very useful link. I have two Malawi's "holding" right now, i must say, to go to all that trouble of "stripping" fish seems quite mad to me, bonkers! I think i would understand if it was some rare fish that hardly ever breeds in home aquaria and a peep was desperate for the fry.

I would suggest either having a set up specifically for breeding or just let the fry take their chances, i dont agree with all this "stripping" and forcing the issue so much, although i do find the links interesting.

Stripping is most commonly used by breeders as you get a better fry yield. It also comes in handy if you have a stubborn female that would rather starve than spit. I have an l.caeruleus that tends to hold for around 32 days and have stripped her before to keep her from getting too thin.