CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

this is a futuristic questions for me.. since i am planning ahead ;-) family planning for my cichlids..
they are still juveniles right now.


i am told if i saw the mouth swollen (mouthbreeder such as red zebra) , i must remove the female and put her in a breeding tank.

will she eats her own baby from the stress of being move ?

how long to leave her in the breeding tank with her baby before moving her back to the regular tank ?

thanks.
maribel

Red Zebras are mouth brooders, meaning the female holds the eggs after spawning, in her mouth. She may hold them for up to 3-4 weeks before releasing them from her mouth. The females do not eat for this period, and can become extremely weak and vulnerable. It is best to strip the fry from her mouth, after 2-3 weeks to prevent this. On average, 20 - 30 fry are produced per spawn.
So, once you strip the fry, then yes, you must remove her from the breeding tank.

Of course it depends on how big your tank is and what fish you have in it, but I'm tending towards keeping mouthbrooders where they are for the duration and hoping the mum spits out her fry somewhere where the other fish won't .be able to get to them.

I figure this is probably less stressful for the mum than moving her to a seperate tank with no, or unfamiliar, tankmates. The number of surviving fry seems to be about the same.

For me yield is not so important -- I've got several young females approaching breeding age and when they start pumping out fry I'll have more fish than I can sell.