FishFolk

My msobo is either holding or sick. The last week or so, the male has chased her all over the tank while sporting his bright colors. Since yesterday, she spends a lot of time hiding and he has stopped chasing her. When I went to feed yesterday a.m., she didn't come out until the very end. When she did, she managed to hold a tiny piece of food in her "lips". Then she swam off to her hidey hole. She didn't come to supper. This a.m. she didn't emerge so I dropped a few flakes in her area. Tonight she swam a few laps long after feeding ( I fed a few flakes and she managed to take in a few small ones. )Then back to her hole. I can't get a good look as she id hiding. She has chased a few tankmates away but most are leaving her to her own devices.

Water parameters are good - Just did a water change yesterday - I do 1 -2 a week depending on parameters.

I hope she is holding even though I will have to rearrange the tank to get her out in a couple weeks.

steveangela1

Sounds like she might be holding!! I hope she is! Its so much fun to raise the fry, cichlid fry grow so fast.

FishFolk

Here's a pix of the female. Still pretty early on if she is...I took this tonight.

Attached Images

DSC06190.jpg (195.0 KB, 10 views)

Dino

I think she is holding.
Watch for her lower jaw to get more and more extended.

steveangela1

She looks like she could be. Good luck!! I haven't had that species of cichild so I am not familar w/ breeding them to give advice, I know all of my females hold about 21 days almost exactly. Do watch her about close to the 18th day they do spit early sometimes and will eat them, after all starving for a few weeks, they will be quite hungry. My kenyi ate all but 2 from her first batch on her 18th day, I just happend to be in the next room and saw her making a mad dash at the fry and saved them, they are 2 inches long now, I am so proud of those two, I have sold some of my kenyi fry from batches after that and lab fry, but I cannot part w/ my first two fry, both of them look to be girls. My second batch has already had some change to yellow, and the labs have some pretty black stripes now. Its so much fun to watch them grow!

FishFolk

Yipee. I'm guessing it happened late Sunday. So , she could spit on my birthday! How cool would that be!

Jiminey- Now it looks like the greshakei are in breeding mode. I think I have one too many males - The greshakei are coloring and it looks like I may have a 3/3 on the juvies. I moved one last week that I felt pretty sure is a male. Catching them is horrible. It is hard to tell who is what -the seem to chase anything when they are in "the mood" - Guys chase girls and vice versa - in hopes of mating. Guys chase guys and girls chase girls - to get rid of competition. Isn't this why we love cichlids?

I always forget to say thanks - sorry. I get so wrapped around the topic, I forget basic courtesy.

steveangela1

Cichlids are def entertaining I got a bunch of polits and cynatilapia afra both of them were unsexed when I bought them, and now you can tell what is what. I have 3 male polits out of the 8 and its all out war when the males see each other, the girls do fine w/ each other I am going to get rid of the 2 non dom males in that tank. Then the cynatilapia afra I am pretty sure I have 3 males also and going to do the same with them. They don't seem to fight nearly as much.

The Hongi I got only has one male, and he has already dug a "honey hole" in the tank, thats what I like to call it when the male does his little courting thing it seems like they dig like crazy right before they are ready to spawn.

that would be a great birthday gift if she spat on or near your birthday.

Slug

Looks like holding to me!

Allie

Yup she's holding. Sometimes they don't hold them for the full 3 weeks and swallow them...especially when it's their first time.

FishFolk

Allie and all,
That's what she did. I guess she got tired of being hungry - Cause yesterday she started eating with gusto. Oh well,there's always next time Thanks for your tips .

rifter098

sorry to hear that maybe next time...

steveangela1

that really bites! Im sorry! I hope she is holding again soon! Maybe when she is more mature she will have better luck holding longer, I have one yellow lab that I have said over and over I would get rid of for the same reason.

FishFolk

did she ever start doing the right thing?
I'm okay with it- She is still pretty young. Not sure about the greshakei - there;s a alot of shakin goin' on. Odd how at "bedtime" the tank looks empty -

steveangela1

One thing that I have noticed, which I am going to start taking log of everything I do to try to figure out their breeding habits, what makes them more likely to breed. I the moon lights have really made a difference, just a week and a half and now I have my labs holding again. The whole tank was on strike so to speak on breeding for a while until this week.

I will then know if the now more mature lab will be more likely to hold long enough and spit like she should this time. The other one seems to improve with each batch.

FishFolk

Please keep me in the loop on this one. I will eventually need new lights for this 55 - might as well get a double I got a double for my other tank. My lights go off between 7-8 but we don't bed down til about 10-11. So they get "moonlight" from the room, but not all night and not the right type of light. When I get up in the morning, it is dark outside so, I turn a nearby room light on for about 30mins, then switch on tank lights. I have to wait for them to "wake up" after I turn on tank lights. They don't come around for another 5 or so minutes. When they do they are usually hungry

I am still trying to figure out my labs - sex I mean. They are still sort of small. Younger than the greshakei I think as they are considerably smaller -

Thanks -

steveangela1

I don't know how much you are willing to spend but we bought our lighting system for our 55 from foster and smith, it was a sat light w/ the moonlights, and I know w/ my husband picking it out it wasn't expensive. I think it was about 170ish at the most. It may be even cheaper w/ their big sale they have now. (I think its the nova satlite?) It has the atenic bulbs and reg bulbs in it and then the moonlights that you can run on sep timers plus the fan to cool it on the day time.
I love the lighting system, it really brings out the colors in the fish, but its pricey too. We are planning to buy one for the 58g too.