Hi all. I have a female aulonocara baenschi that I think might be holding but I'm not sure. She doesn't seem to be sick, but hides under the rocks, or stays in the back of the tank and she isn't eating. Every now and then I see her making chewing motions and her cheeks are slightly puffed. If she is holding, how long until she spits babies?
Quote from: StevieHi all. I have a female aulonocara baenschi that I think might be holding but I'm not sure. She doesn't seem to be sick, but hides under the rocks, or stays in the back of the tank and she isn't eating. Every now and then I see her making chewing motions and her cheeks are slightly puffed. If she is holding, how long until she spits babies?
WOW congrats I would definitely say she is holding. Is she the one you got from Quebec Cichlides with our order?
Well the general consensous for me would be that if you plan on "stripping" her of the fry then do it at or after the 18 day mark, if you are going to let her spit naturally, you're probably looking around 25 days or so.....
the best thing to do is put her in a separate tank with minimal decorations, (1 hiding spot (brick) for mom, and hiding spots (small rocks) for fry , same temperature, lighting and chemistry, and leave her alone until you see fry. then put her back in the tank
I agree with art, as I have said before, to me stripping is something to only do in an emergency, and when the girls pay me enough..lol (joking) stripping is a big production, i've tried before with little success, I perfer to take the female out around day 12 (around how long it takes the eggs to turn into fry) move it to a "holding tank" I like to have alot of stuff in there, the more secure the female feels the faster she will release her fry, my holding tanks are just tanks under 5.5 gallon, a sponge filter and a heater..no lid, no light..(althought they do seem to spit while there's light on in the room) and obviously, don't feed her, when you have fry, just feed either powdered flake or brine shrimp and not too too much, they are very small, won't eat a whole lot, as the days go by feed more and more, preferably a little many times a day..(I am upto about 7 times a day now lol)
Quote from: StevieIf she is holding, how long until she spits babies?
In the show tank my Ngara already holding them for 23 days and does not want to spit - maybe she is afraid for her babies :wink:
that often happens, in a show tank atmosphere the female knows the other fish will eat her babies so she holds then as long as possible, maybe going on the thought that the longer she holds on the bigger they will be and the less chance they will all get eaten
drew you and I seem to have very similar thoughts with regards to the mouthbrooding philosophy.
just some questions to compare notes-
1) if you dont have any hiding spots in the spit tank how long do you leave mom with babies?
1b) will mom eat babies after a while? how long?
2) are there any other tanks or traffic in the vicinity, ie, if you have spit tanks beside other tanks do you black out the sides?
3) have you ever raised the temperature slightly to speed up the growth of the fry.
4) you remove females at day 12 - have you ever tried other times, like immediately after breeding, or just before spitting?
I have done both and they either spit eggs in the bag, or spit fry accidentally as they are being transferred to the tank.... I think 12 days or at max 2 weeks is a good time to move females
trying not to make this too complicated but the science behind it is interesting. how females left in tanks will hold onto fry until they literally swim out of their mouths (I've had females hold onto fry for 5 maybe even 6 weeks in the show tank)
Quote from: artwdrew you and I seem to have very similar thoughts with regards to the mouthbrooding philosophy.
just some questions to compare notes-
1) if you dont have any hiding spots in the spit tank how long do you leave mom with babies?
I would take her out as soon as I noticed fry
1b) will mom eat babies after a while? how long?
I have all hiding spots, I suspect she would take longer to let go of them and there is a much higher chance they would be eaten without them, I have observed fry will hide even in the holding tank until the mother is removed, why would they do this unless they felt they were in danger? longest I have left mother with fry is 5 days at which point I saw her running at them
2) are there any other tanks or traffic in the vicinity, ie, if you have spit tanks beside other tanks do you black out the sides?
no. tho, my spit tanks are one on top of the other and no other tanks in the area, but this wasn't on purpose.
3) have you ever raised the temperature slightly to speed up the growth of the fry.
alot of my tanks I don't even have a thermometer..but the ones that do, no.
4) you remove females at day 12 - have you ever tried other times, like immediately after breeding, or just before spitting?
I have done both and they either spit eggs in the bag, or spit fry accidentally as they are being transferred to the tank.... I think 12 days or at max 2 weeks is a good time to move females
I used to follow the 12 days religiously, but now I have time restraints and basically take the female out when I maintenance the tank, and when multiple females, I will take the one that seems to be holding the most
trying not to make this too complicated but the science behind it is interesting. how females left in tanks will hold onto fry until they literally swim out of their mouths (I've had females hold onto fry for 5 maybe even 6 weeks in the show tank)
I did observe my esterae female hold for a long long time, and I watched when she was frightened after spitting taking the fry back into her mouth, it was interesting
I think it will be difficult to catch her - she's in a 150 gal. tank that is six feet long with extensive rock work. I'll give it a try though. I don't want to stress her and have her end up eating the eggs. I'm leaning towards leaving her in and hoping that she spits the babies when I'm around so I can scoop up at least some of them and put in a fry tank.
And yes, Matt it's one of the females from Quebec Cichlides.
well for what its worth I have a 110 with extensive rockwork and removing rocks is a pain but its part of the hobby IF you want to breed and raise fry. besides its always fun putting the rocks back in and making new formations.
Quote from: ambushman2jI did observe my esterae female hold for a long long time, and I watched when she was frightened after spitting taking the fry back into her mouth, it was interesting
Ha, I for sure agree here! Actually for me it seems the most interesting part. Sometimes even mother think that there is no danger, but these small guys are afraid and jumping into the mother's mouth :)
This is really interesting...
I have very little experience, but the first time I took my whole tank apart, and put Mom in a separate tank. I ended up with about 7 fry, she spit about a week after I moved her.
Then I had an Afra white top and I left her in my show tank and I ended up with 3, we are not breeding to sell, therefore the second option is no work and much more interesting and exciting, trying to find fry in the show tank. Good Luck
some people have excellent luck breeding fish in the main show tank..I know someone who seems to be a master of it, I was going to put some of his fish up here to sell for him but I have lost his number