My Astatotilapia Have Eggs...

[Ludwig Venter]

The 3rd lady released her fry today... (2nd one swallowed & first batch coming on famously).....

She has a lot more than the previous lot. I'll leave her with the fry till Sunday then move her in with the other lady - (who swallowed) with tight fitting lid before I re-introduce them both to the remaining male (also with tight fitting lid).

 

[dthoffsett]

The 3rd lady released her fry today... (2nd one swallowed & first batch coming on famously).....

She has a lot more than the previous lot. I'll leave her with the fry till Sunday then move her in with the other lady - (who swallowed) with tight fitting lid before I re-introduce them both to the remaining male (also with tight fitting lid).

Congrats on the second batch, glad to hear the first is doing well, and good luck with reintroducing everyone.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

I was so disheartened this morning before leaving for work..... I checked the new Momma and saw no fry in the tank and also noticed there was nothing in her mouth..... so I assumed she ate them and called her numerous names during the day......

This afternoon coming back,..... they were all there and swimming around happily.... (must've hidden behind a rock).. So, I'm in better spirit now and withdraw all the bad things I said about her.....

 

[dthoffsett]

I was so disheartened this morning before leaving for work..... I checked the new Momma and saw no fry in the tank and also noticed there was nothing in her mouth..... so I assumed she ate them and called her numerous names during the day......

This afternoon coming back,..... they were all there and swimming around happily.... (must've hidden behind a rock).. So, I'm in better spirit now and withdraw all the bad things I said about her.....

Poor Momma, all that abuse for no good reason.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

OK... so I moved the 2nd Momma out this afternoon & placed her in with the first Momma...... Then I moved her fry over to the (bigger tank) with the first batch......

Here they are (bad photo, but I'll try get a better one) 105 fry was moved over to (approximately) 70.

 

[dthoffsett]

WOW. That's a lot of fry. Hope you have a low mortality rate.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

WOW. That's a lot of fry. Hope you have a low mortality rate.

OK so there... We all know what happened to the mortality rate (as reported in some other topic)....

Now,.... After all this time, I have (tonight) re-introduced the 1st momma to the only remaining male in a 3ft tank with about 5 or 6 caves and nothing else in the tank.....(no gravel either)...

The male immediately started chasing her around, and at times, she turned around and faced him in the characteristic "lipfight"........

My question is.... Should I rather put both the remaining females in with him to devide his attentions, or should I first wait & see??... (the other female is also "conditioned" for breeding)

 

[Ludwig Venter]

My question is.... Should I rather put both the remaining females in with him to devide his attentions, or should I first wait & see??... (the other female is also "conditioned" for breeding)

Since I got no reply to that question, I took the innitiative and put the second female in there as well......

Tonight, I notice that the first female is very battered (removed her and hopes she'll survive) and the second female (of last night) is swimming around with a batch of eggs in the mouth......

The male seems to leave her alone, but I'll rather remove him as well tommorrow and the countdown can begin.... Last time it took her 15 days before she released the fry from her mouth.

 

[dthoffsett]

Sorry I wasn't on to answer you earlier, I just got my internet back after moving. wooohooo!

Anywho, it's best to keep them in groups especially when breeding, they are harem breeders so not too surprising the first girl was beat up. Definitely remove the male from holding female as he will start petering her to breed again. Men.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

My question is.... Should I rather put both the remaining females in with him to devide his attentions, or should I first wait & see??... (the other female is also "conditioned" for breeding)

Since I got no reply to that question, I took the innitiative and put the second female in there as well......

Tonight, I notice that the first female is very battered (removed her and hopes she'll survive) and the second female (of last night) is swimming around with a batch of eggs in the mouth......

The male seems to leave her alone, but I'll rather remove him as well tommorrow and the countdown can begin.... Last time it took her 15 days before she released the fry from her mouth.

OK... so then the first female did not survive the battering, & I'm down to one male and one female.....and of course the surviving fry, Mcgiver...(from the original 2 males and 3 females) The second female also subsequently swallowed the batch of eggs.... I'm ready to give up on these and dump them all in the pub tank as display fish.

I'll give them one more trial tommorrow.

 

[dthoffsett]

I understand your frustration, you've had a pretty bad run with them. But, whatever you do don't add them to the pub tank, you're going to have all kinds of aggression problems if you do.