Yellow labs eating while holding???????

[FishBuddy]

Hey you African gurus out there...

I have a question (perhaps a stupid one!).  I just witness my yellow labs that's been holding peacefully for 3+ weeks eats/chews NLS growth formula...  Is this normal at all?  Perhaps she's chewing up the food for the little guys inside her mouth?  Or is she desperate for food since she hasn't eat for a while?

[pegasus]

Is her throath clear or black?

[FishBuddy]

Is her throath clear or black?

I just checked...  Her throat is whitish in color with a slight tint of grey...   

[pegasus]

Then she may not be holding anymore. Look at how she eats... if it's as usual, wide mouth open, or often open it mouth while swimming then it is not holding. True, while she keeps a mouthfull, she will sometime try to sip some food for herself or for the fry.

[oenology]

My tangs especially will eat while holding. The tropheus I fianlly "stripped"(she spit immediatly as soon as I caught her)  had held for 35 days and she is in good body weight and the fry were huge.

[cory]

i have witnessed my yellow labs taking flakes around the same time. This is usually for the fry to eat inside her mouth. Without the yoke sacs they will starve without food. They are good parents!

[FishBuddy]

I guess it's time to strip her then :-)  I might do it tonight..

I know the fry are ok because I can see them movin' around inside her...  And I do believe this is the first time for this young female...

[cory]

i strip mine after 2 weeks everytime and have had around 30 fry each time. and this is consistant. every 2 months i get a new batch out of both my females.

[FishBuddy]

I just stripped the fish and got 7 fry out of her.  She's a first-timer and quite small in size herself so getting 7 from her is quite feast...  Also, I noticed her fry is slightly bigger than all the other females which I've stripped in the past.  They all get stripped at 3 weeks + a day or two apart so no discrimination here :-)  Perhaps the mother was bring in food for the young and this explains why they are bigger than the others...

Another thing which I've noticed is that as soon as the fry are released, they started to swim freely and feed right away; unlike the other which I've stripped in the past which tends to hang around at the bottom and not eat much for a day or two.

[pegasus]

I would say she lost quite a few. I strip mine at about 10th-14th day and never get less than a dozen fry from a young female lab. Of all my mouthbroothers, the eggs of the lab will hatch the fastest between the 7-10th day depending on water temperature.

[darkdep]

I've noticed several of my holding females eating.  The larger females tend to eat a bit I notice, so I usually throw in a little flake if I notice this as it's easier for her to get.

I don't strip my females.