Hey guys,
I have an Acei that I am almost 100% sure is a female. She is big, 5" now. I bought her at 4" from my LFS, and as far as I know she has never held before.
Here's where I need input. The past few days I have noticed she acts like there is something in her mouth. Rolling her mouth around and generally doing the mouth movements that my yellows do when they hold. And at times I swear I can see something in her mouth. Here is what is confusing the heck out of me, her throat is not bulging and she is eating. I know that experienced mom's will eat the whole time they hold, but I don't know if she ever has before. She rolls whatever is in her mouth around and chases any fish who gets too near away. I have a yellow holding right now and that is exactly what she does. My other Acei who was holding last month could not help herself and swallowed all her eggs while she ate.
Is it possible that she has a few fry in her mouth? Just enough to still be able to eat and not have her throat bulge????
If so, what is your suggestion I do? My fry tank is full of 1" yellow fry right now, would she be OK in there with them? If she is holding I REALLY want to save the few fry she has!!
African Experts, need your input!
2 posts
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miami754 - Posts: 373
- Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2008 9:18 am
Hey Cathy - long time no talk.
Is this her first time holding? Is her mouth open at all (like you see in your yellows when they get closer to spitting)?
If you are worried about keeping the fry then I would just setup your partition that you used before and see how things go. One thing to keep an eye on is to make sure she is not eating and then spitting out the food. I had an obliquidon one time that acted like something was in his mouth all the time as well and he eventually died. I was new to the cichlid scene so I didn't realize that he was showing the early signs of bloat when he was spitting the food out like that. If she acts really hungry, runs at the food, eats it, and then immediately spits it out then write me and I'll tell you what to do. Also white, stringy feces are a sign.
If she doesn't display any of these signs and everything else seems normal then just separate her (or just leave her be - some fry will survive) and see what happens.
Oh, and yes it is very possible that she just has a few fry in there. My sister-in-law had her first batch of Acei fry (only two survived after being spit into her main tank - not sure how many were actually spit), but you could hardly see any bulge at all. In fact, she didn't notice it at all, but I noticed her behavior (couldn't tell from the bulge because there wasn't any) and could tell she was holding.
Good to hear from you.
Is this her first time holding? Is her mouth open at all (like you see in your yellows when they get closer to spitting)?
If you are worried about keeping the fry then I would just setup your partition that you used before and see how things go. One thing to keep an eye on is to make sure she is not eating and then spitting out the food. I had an obliquidon one time that acted like something was in his mouth all the time as well and he eventually died. I was new to the cichlid scene so I didn't realize that he was showing the early signs of bloat when he was spitting the food out like that. If she acts really hungry, runs at the food, eats it, and then immediately spits it out then write me and I'll tell you what to do. Also white, stringy feces are a sign.
If she doesn't display any of these signs and everything else seems normal then just separate her (or just leave her be - some fry will survive) and see what happens.
Oh, and yes it is very possible that she just has a few fry in there. My sister-in-law had her first batch of Acei fry (only two survived after being spit into her main tank - not sure how many were actually spit), but you could hardly see any bulge at all. In fact, she didn't notice it at all, but I noticed her behavior (couldn't tell from the bulge because there wasn't any) and could tell she was holding.
Good to hear from you.