Lone Hap Is Carying Eggs In Her Mouth

[Scott MacAdam]

Ok, here is something I found interesting, a friend of mine has a tank with only 1 hap cichlid in it. He's had it for quite a few months now and it's still pretty small (about 3 inches?) So anyway, it's not eating and it appears that it has a rock stuck in it's mouth, as we all know some cichlids move everything in a tank around including gravel. It turns out It had about 15 eggs it was carrying around in it's mouth. I've only ever kept a male melano chromis and kribness as for african cichlids but I found this pretty weird.

Was this normal, or is something a-miss here.....?

 

[fatheadminnow]

This is perfectly normal for this fish.

When she lays eggs, and then the eggs become fertilized, she will carry them around in her mouth until they hatch, and then for like anther 2 weeks after they have hatched.

When she feels like the time is right, she will release the fry into the tank.

The first batch of eggs for these types of Cichlids will usuallly not make it, and in this case, the eggs were not fertilized.

-FHM