Raising Yellow lab fry

Which would be the better route if I want at least 5 of her fry to make it?

a) Putting a divider in the tank to give the mother and her fry a small part of the 55g?

or

b) Keep the mother in a breeder net until she spits, then remove her and keep the fry in the breeder?

or

c) After she spits let her and her fry out of the breeder?

 

I would do the divider. That way she has her own little space and won't get picked on. Then she will spit all by herself then she can go back in with the rest.

 

The breeder net will just stress her out. Make sure there is a hiding place on the divided spot also.

 

Using the divider method might be the easiest in the long run, as she won't have to reestablish herself in the pecking order, having never left the tank. Just ensure that she has access to bolt holes, etc., to make her feel secure.
In truth, I generally do nothing to protect yellow lab fry, as I find the combination of the large number of retreats available, the strong maternal instinct, and the mouthbrooding sufficient to ensure good survival rates.
In fact, I sometimes feel a little inundated with them, but then they do make good barter material at the LFS.
Best to you------rick
Btw, before removing the divider, you might help her along a bit in recovery with extra food to make it easier for her to reintegrate.

 

Hi, I am with rick in that I never separate out my brooding fish. You will be surprised imo at how many fry will make it as long as you have sufficient hiding places.

 

Is this the first time this female has held? If so I recommend letting here spit naturally in the tank and let nature take its course. Wait till she holds again then move her to her own tank.

If you are bound and determined to have fry now then I would buy myself a twenty gallon tank. Set it up. After two weeks net her and move her to the new tank. Just do a basic tank no substrate and a sponge filter. Run your new sponge filter in the main tank until you pull the female to cycle it.

You can also strip her. Google it and you will find videos.

I don't really like breeder nets or dividers. You will need to raise the fry so a grow out tank is the way to go imo.

I don't know if the above posters have ever had Mbuna before but I've have a fair few holding females in my main tanks and have only had three fry survive. Mbuna eat them pretty quickly.

 

Is this the first time this female has held? If so I recommend letting here spit naturally in the tank and let nature take its course. Wait till she holds again then move her to her own tank.

If you are bound and determined to have fry now then I would buy myself a twenty gallon tank. Set it up. After two weeks net her and move her to the new tank. Just do a basic tank no substrate and a sponge filter. Run your new sponge filter in the main tank until you pull the female to cycle it.

You can also strip her. Google it and you will find videos.

I don't really like breeder nets or dividers. You will need to raise the fry so a grow out tank is the way to go imo.

I don't know if the above posters have ever had Mbuna before but I've have a fair few holding females in my main tanks and have only had three fry survive. Mbuna eat them pretty quickly.

I was just about to say that I had to put another mesh net around the breeder because the other labs were coming up trying to eat the fry through the net.

She still has a good amount in her mouth. I think she spit some out when I moved her to the breeder. They are yellow and fast little swimmers. They also don't appear to want to go back into their mother's mouth. Could she be holding them to long?

 

In my experience over the last two years once they are out they are out.

 

First no flash, second with flash

 

Cool. Since you already have the net set up see how it goes I guess. Just make sure you have good circulation so the water in the net doesn't get toxic.

I would still get them a small grow out tank. A ten would be ok until they were 3/4" with water changes a few times a week. By that time they can go into the main tank and probably be fine.

 

Now the fun begins

 

I think she just finish spitting. Theres about 12-20 fry.

edit: would it be okay to feed them a little sea weed along with powdered hikarI gold?

 

Just crush up whatever you normally feed.

 

I turned my aq50 into a hob fry tank for now. I run an air hose through the plastic pipe and it is drawling water up and flows out the aq at a slow rate. Hopefully this works better than them being in a breeder net.

 

Is this the first time this female has held? If so I recommend letting here spit naturally in the tank and let nature take its course. Wait till she holds again then move her to her own tank.

If you are bound and determined to have fry now then I would buy myself a twenty gallon tank. Set it up. After two weeks net her and move her to the new tank. Just do a basic tank no substrate and a sponge filter. Run your new sponge filter in the main tank until you pull the female to cycle it.

You can also strip her. Google it and you will find videos.

I don't really like breeder nets or dividers. You will need to raise the fry so a grow out tank is the way to go imo.

I don't know if the above posters have ever had Mbuna before but I've have a fair few holding females in my main tanks and have only had three fry survive. Mbuna eat them pretty quickly.

Yeah, I've been raising Rift lake cichlids for a few years now, and have found that within a year, yellow labs come to dominate any of my mbuna tanks when left totally alone (by me).
Perhaps if you can't raise labs to adult size you need more rockwork and boltholes in your tank.
Anyone with no experience at it should not be stripping fry unaided, IMO----rick

 

According to aquadvisor my tank is only 105% stocked assuming my labs and 3 kenyI are fully grown. So I think I have plenty of space to raise them to a rehoming size.

 

+1 ricmcc on stripping the fry

 

Yeah, I've been raising Rift lake cichlids for a few years now, and have found that within a year, yellow labs come to dominate any of my mbuna tanks when left totally alone (by me).
Perhaps if you can't raise labs to adult size you need more rockwork and boltholes in your tank.
Anyone with no experience at it should not be stripping fry unaided, IMO----rick

When you say dominate. Do you mean they're able to grow in numbers with no aid, no special feeding the fry?

 

Yeah, I've been raising Rift lake cichlids for a few years now, and have found that within a year, yellow labs come to dominate any of my mbuna tanks when left totally alone (by me).
Perhaps if you can't raise labs to adult size you need more rockwork and boltholes in your tank.
Anyone with no experience at it should not be stripping fry unaided, IMO----rick

Don't take offense I was just sharing my experience.



I think I'm good on rock work, thanks for the advice. Good looking out.

 

Sorry, Greentea101, I sounded harsh and shouldn't have, no offence was taken. Great looking tank.
Yes, Delta, that's what I meant, I've never used dividers in mbuna tanks, just let nature take its course. As to feeding them, my tanks are covered in algae, save the front pane, and I believe create enough of a micro-environment of micro-plankton to see them through.
Have a great weekend, all, Happy Thanksgiving to Canadians, I'm off for a couple of days up north, trying to enjoy freezing my extremities off-rick

 

How are things going with the babies?

 

How are things going with the babies?

I took ricmcc advise and released them into the tank. I'm not sure if any have survived. The mother became a carpet surfer... She started eating and I went to give her another pellet and realized I forgot to shut the lid before. Guess she really wanted out of the breeder net...

I'm trying to decide on some sort of moss that I can attach to the rocks for future spawns. I want a moss that will be okay with >1watt per gallon and will just spread out over the rock and not grow really long.

 

Aw dang, that sucks. Hope some fry survived.

 

Ten or twenty gallon tank and a sponge filter. You have time now to get set up right.

 

Already have 3 tanks. It is tempting to rehome the tiger barbs and use their 20 gallon long for fry. Luckily the 40 gallon breeder only has a pair of black convicts so no need to do anything special for their fry.

I checked and I have 1 yellow lab fry that is staying in the rock cave on the right side of my tank. I think if it doesn't do anything stupid it'll make it. The rock its hiding in is very porous and should be a good food source for it, I hope.

At the rate i'm going. I'll be having a hard time rehoming black convicts in the next 3-4 months.

 

What's one more tank? Go ahead and do it. You will like it.

# MTS

 

What's one more tank? Go ahead and do it. You will like it.

# MTS

Another tank isn't an option. Honestly after the loss of the lab I'm feeling a little burnt out.

 

Another tank isn't an option. Honestly after the loss of the lab I'm feeling a little burnt out.

Cheer up. This kind of stuff happens.