Is my lab holding?

Just noticed it has that "turkey neck" look like it's holding.

 

Yes

 

Does that mean babies?! Eeep! Cichlid beebees!!!

 

Certainly not holding gobstoppers

 

But.. But those are delicious

 

I guess this means I need a fry tank or a hang on fry net if I don't want them to be ate.... I'm def not going to pull the rocks out to catch her tho. Maybe just let Mother Nature run her course this time?

 

I guess this means I need a fry tank or a hang on fry net if I don't want them to be ate.... I'm def not going to pull the rocks out to catch her tho. Maybe just let Mother Nature run her course this time?

Good way to ensure only your strongest fry survive

 

ive ALWAYS wanted to breed labs

 

If I would have known they'd breed this early in a new tank then I'd have plenty of rocks with small drill holes.

 

Are you guys sure? that looks like a male to me. My Female Lab never had that much black

 

Are you guys sure? that looks like a male to me. My Female Lab never had that much black

That's not a good way to sex them, only sure way is venting. Looks like she's holding does she eat? If this is her fist time holding just let nature take its course. Because you can make the new mom get scared and eat her fry.

 

I'm sure its not the best way but those black vertical stripes are definitely more common in males. Is its throat moving? When mine held it looked like she was constantly swallowing.

 

I'm sure its not the best way but those black vertical stripes are definitely more common in males. Is its throat moving? When mine held it looked like she was constantly swallowing.

True but all is possible with this fish, friend of mine had what look like a dominate male holding.

 

she is not eating and looking a little pale. I been watching them for a good part of the day and it seems like a few fish are staying near her. Kind of like she has their next meal.

I might pull some of the top rocks and drill a few holes for any fry to hopefully use to escape being ate. Add the rest of the willow moss back to the tank as well.

Do you guys/gals think if I stacked more rocks and put the moss near the surface the fry would hang out there for easy feeding?

I'm sure its not the best way but those black vertical stripes are definitely more common in males. Is its throat moving? When mine held it looked like she was constantly swallowing.

Yes, she is doing the chew motion. At first I thought she was doing it because she was stressed but there's eggs or fry in there.

True but all is possible with this fish, friend of mine had what look like a dominate male holding.

This is because they are considered "dirty" right? Not pure.

 

Ok, so she is holding you can't really save the fry in the main tank without removing her. You can try proving hiding spots but once the fry survive they will get a litte cocky and venture to far and get eaten. They get male coloring to try to protect themselfs from bulling and other males in the tank.

 

she is not eating and looking a little pale. I been watching them for a good part of the day and it seems like a few fish are staying near her. Kind of like she has their next meal.

I might pull some of the top rocks and drill a few holes for any fry to hopefully use to escape being ate. Add the rest of the willow moss back to the tank as well.

Do you guys/gals think if I stacked more rocks and put the moss near the surface the fry would hang out there for easy feeding?

Before you start restructuring your tank have you thought about what you will do with the fry? This being her first hold likely most will accidentally eaten by the mom and you'll be lucky to get 20 that survive unless you strip them (wouldnt recommend on her first hold). If you do "save the fry" you might have up to 100 in her next batch, do you have room for 50-100 more fish? What if they start inbreeding? Labs are fairly common and easy to bread so not a lot of LFS will take them let alone buy them off you. If you let them stay in the tank with your other cichlids you'll be lucky to see the 5-10 strongest survive to adulthood, rehoming 5-10 is much easier than 100. Maybe you can find someone near by who keeps a species like needs live food such as a Pike Cichlid, Dovi, Jaguar cichlid etc who will take them from you for feeders.


My recommendation is leave mom and her babies in the tank and let nature take its course and either keep the survivors or re-home them.

 

I do plan to leave her alone this time. But I'm still prob going to drill some of the rocks for the future. I think if I was going to actively breed, it would be demasonI only tank, which I am thinking about doing.

 

DemansonI are really cool fish but they are mean, mine killed every female he had.

 

DemansonI are really cool fish but they are mean, mine killed every female he had.

I think one of mine is female. I have 2 in the tank and so far they leave each other alone for the most part. I'm having a hard time finding females for a decent price. I'm not willing to pay 12 dollars per fish from these lfs.

 

Mine killed 3 females, at that point he became a permanent bachelor, where I live they are closer to $20 a fish

 

the demasonI around here are only 8$ for sub-adults!?

 

That's nuts! Must be more in Canada, I paid $12 for my Labs $18ish for the DemonsonI and $15 for my Red Zebras. They are expensive but you can't beat the color of Africans with any other Freshwater fish

 

That's nuts! Must be more in Canada, I paid $12 for my Labs $18ish for the DemonsonI and $15 for my Red Zebras. They are expensive but you can't beat the color of Africans with any other Freshwater fish

Wow, I paid 5.xx dollars for my red blotched zebras.

 

You can make some good money selling fry from Africans. I sold the fry from my yellow lab female at .75inches for $3 each made $60. African are nice but I sold mine to go with something more calm.

 

That's nuts! Must be more in Canada, I paid $12 for my Labs $18ish for the DemonsonI and $15 for my Red Zebras. They are expensive but you can't beat the color of Africans with any other Freshwater fish

Hey now lol

 

Hey now lol
View attachment 164495

Agree there's other cichlids who can give Africans a run for there money. Like discus or the electric blue acaras or the ones I want to get red spotted severums.

 

I'd luv electric blue acara breeding but my tank is too small..

 

happens to the best of us

 

Haha ok, on an individual fish there are definitely some beautiful SA/CA cichlids too lol. Green Terrors, Acara, Discus, Angels etc, BUT as a whole

 

I do love the overstocked colorful African look. But I like how the different SA/CA colorfuls also come in very different shapes. I may just not be well versed in Africans but most of the brightly colored tanks I see all the fish are shaped relatively the same.


Now, give me that tank pls.

 

If you wish to save the fry, you could " strip " the fry at about 16 days old, and place them in a grow out tank.
If you perform this procedure, make sure you know exactly the safe method of doing this, or the female may get extremely stressed or injured.
Prices paid for fish are usually relative to the quality of them IE Wild fish are most expensive followed by F1, then F2, after which they become " tank bred " of which some will have a provenance and some will not.
FYI useing Texas Holey Rock gives the fry a multitude of hiding places, and some will survive

 

I do love the overstocked colorful African look. But I like how the different SA/CA colorfuls also come in very different shapes. I may just not be well versed in Africans but most of the brightly colored tanks I see all the fish are shaped relatively the same.


Now, give me that tank pls.

I prefer the "predator" aspect of SA cichlid vs their mostly vegetarian African counterparts. SA just seen more cool. That said I want 100G tank of each.

 

I'm thinking if my yellow labs were F1s i'd breed to sale, but since they aren't, I'll leave them to the fray of mother nature.

 

Let's get back on topic folks.
Here's the original post

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Just noticed it has that "turkey neck" look like it's holding.

View attachment 164437View attachment 164438

 

Let's get back on topic folks.
Here's the original post

We answer that already lol we just talking about random things now lol.

 

We answer that already lol we just talking about random things now lol.

LeoDiaz then start a new thread rather than taking over some else's.
It's rude to do so.