I figuerd out she is a mouth brouder bc she holds the fertilized eggs in her mouth till babys hatch then let go one by one well till thers no more room in her mouth.
So far i devided her off the others , now she hase let go 4 babys i have been feding them ground up flake food. I dont know how mutch i sould feed them ive feed them 2 times . Qeustion what do i do when all the babys are out , do i put her back with the male? on the other side? or do i leave her in with the babys? I have never done this bevore . Thanks
Help please female african hase babys
29 posts • Page 1 of 3
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dizzcat - Posts: 648
- Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:30 am
Exactly what kind of African are you talking about? Where is she now? In a different tank? A little more info will help to answer your questions. :-)
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milky648 - Posts: 194
- Joined: Sat Mar 10, 2007 4:41 am
She is in the same tank i just put a divider in , she is a yellow african with black strips ontope of her dorsalfin her ill try puting a pic up of her ,im not sure the name I got her from a friend
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miami754 - Posts: 373
- Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2008 9:18 am
I can't see the picture, but if it is a solid yellow with a single horizontal black stripe on her top fin then it sounds like a yellow lab. If it is then you have somewhat of a problem with your setup (besides the mix of other species you have but I won't get into that here). You cannot have a single male and a single female with most mbunas. What will happen is that the male will go right back to harassing the female and trying to mate when you put her back with him. He will be successful and then she will hold again for the alotted time. Now the problem is that she is not eating very much if at all when she is holding. So I think you can see that if you repeat this pattern, the female ends up slowly dying away from lack of nutrition. She is always holding and almost never eating.
Now, to combat this, you can do one of three things (a) leave her in a separate tank for a couple of weeks so she can eat and build up her strength (b) separate her from the male in the main tank with some aparatus or (c) buy 2-3 more yellow lab females so the male's attention is diverted to a number of individuals.
Putting a single female in with a single male is really pretty cruel as he will just bug her to death. There needs to be multiple females there to give the females a rest. Either that or return the female to the store and just have a single male.
Hope that helps. If you have more questions, feel free to ask. Feeding the fry crushed up flakes several times a day is what I do so it sounds like you are on the right track there. Just make sure they are quality flakes.
Now, to combat this, you can do one of three things (a) leave her in a separate tank for a couple of weeks so she can eat and build up her strength (b) separate her from the male in the main tank with some aparatus or (c) buy 2-3 more yellow lab females so the male's attention is diverted to a number of individuals.
Putting a single female in with a single male is really pretty cruel as he will just bug her to death. There needs to be multiple females there to give the females a rest. Either that or return the female to the store and just have a single male.
Hope that helps. If you have more questions, feel free to ask. Feeding the fry crushed up flakes several times a day is what I do so it sounds like you are on the right track there. Just make sure they are quality flakes.
Last edited by miami754 on Thu May 28, 2009 3:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
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josmoloco - Posts: 189
- Joined: Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:21 pm
no pic, sounds like a Labidochromis caeruleus, or a electric yellow lab. I would strip her, and put her back in the main tank, but defiantly keep the babies separate. To strip, look up "striping African cichlid" on youtube.
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miami754 - Posts: 373
- Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2008 9:18 am
I wouldn't worry about stripping her now. If she is already spitting them out then it is only a matter of days until they are all out. In the future, though, josmoloco's suggestion is good as it minimizes the amount of time she has to hold. I personally do not strip mine because I don't have a problem with survival rates and such, but I know many people that do.
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milky648 - Posts: 194
- Joined: Sat Mar 10, 2007 4:41 am
oh i see what striping is, no i dont want to do that i cant even catch her shes so fast i dont woant to stress her out. Ya i have 5 that are out right now and she is still holding, i feed them nutrafin max apirulina alge fale food and then just regular falk food . yesterday i put like brime shrimp in and the mom eat them i hope she didnt eat her babys . i can still see babys in her mouth. i ll let her drop them . when ther all out ill put her in a differnt tank shell havto go in my empty 10 gallon i only have a algi eater in there , shes not very big shes like 4". I never met to have one male and one female , i got her from a friend i thoet it was a male. i knew the ornge one was .
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josmoloco - Posts: 189
- Joined: Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:21 pm
the male sounds like a red zebra, so the fry are hybrids, raise them for feeders or your own use, but don't distribute them.
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dizzcat - Posts: 648
- Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:30 am
Jos has a point. Is the male a Yellow Lab (yellow with black dorsal) or an orange fish?
If he is orange you have hybrids and should NOT try to sell them. It would not be fair to anyone buying them who thinks they are pure Yellow Labs.
If he is orange you have hybrids and should NOT try to sell them. It would not be fair to anyone buying them who thinks they are pure Yellow Labs.