Fry question

[alexx]

Hi all! I've never posted before, but this site has always been a wealth of information!!
I have a question that needs an answer-that miraculously I cannot find on this site!!
I have a yellow lab holding. (my first- so excited) Don't know who the daddy is- surely irresponsible parenting i know...I was in Vegas for a week- My "fishsitter" was not observing, just feeding!
But- I've pulled her out of my main tank because one of the big guys was nipping her fins and moved her to a 10 gallon. I had three Giant danios in there before I moved her- I have since removed them. SO. It's been three days. The female still appears to be holding. But- there are like 30 fry swimming at the top of the tank! The Female lab is ignoring them completely!! Are they hers? If they were- I would think she'd try to get them back into her mouth... Or do you think the danios could have spawned before I pulled them out?? I've only had the danios for a couple weeks and they are still pretty small...The fry are probably about a quarter to a half centimeter and pretty transparent. all eyes and bellies. Standard fish fry i guess... Do Cichlids ever spit out some of their fry? She's not too big- maybe she ran out of room? My guess is the danios, but let me know!

 

[kenyi]

Welcome to AC! I just have a few questions:

How long has she been holding? Mbuna normally hold for around 3-5 weeks before letting go of their fry. How old is she? Mbuna sometimes let their fry go early if it is their 1st or 2ed time holding. You said that the female was still holding at the time that you started to see the other fry. How big is her mouth? Is it the same size as before? Electric yellows probably can hold a maximum of 35 fry in their mouth, and the younger they are the less they carry. Electric yellow fry are normally not transparent, and are normally bigger than 1/2 a centimeter by week 2 or 3. Here's an image of them at a very young stage:

I really doubt that your danios bread in three weeks, and the electric yellow mother does normally let go of her fry to swim around and then puts them back and often spits them out and pays no attention to them, especially if the mother is younger. I'm pretty sure that you have electric yellow fry. They should develop a faint yellow coloring by week 3 or 4. I don't know why they would be completely transparent, however it's not impossible for your danios to breed and you can look at pictures of danio fry online too, however I'm 90% sure that it's just electric yellow fry. You should feed your fry crushed up flake/pellet food or baby brine shrimp. I also use Hikari firstbites but that's not entirely necessary.

 

[alexx]

She's probably about a year and a half old. This is definately her 1st time holding. She wasn't eating before I went on vacation, thought she was a he and just a little sick... Didn't think much of it... Her mouth is a little bigger than it was, but still not that big as she's not that big. No change in her behavior that I can note. Thinking about it- I might have had the danios a little longer... I threw them in the 10 gal to see if the water was still good... I have another female mbuna that was getting a little beat up. wanted to get the water right for her... quarentine you know..might be 2 months... I have no way of remembering. I can see fry in her mouth and they look pretty dark. The free swimmers are really clear, but also really tiny and look nothing like the fry in the photo. thanks btw. Still not sure!! But I did buy some frozen baby brine shrimp today- before there were any fry!!! Glad I'm ready!!

 

[nano cichlids]

I have a string feeling there danio fry. Just my two cents. I doubt she would release just a few fry and not the rest, plus there transparent your saying. EYs don't have fry that are clear IME but danio do I believe.

 

[alexx]

Leaning towards danios myself after seeing the pics of the EYs. Cute little buggers whatever they are. I Just can't wait for the EY to have her babies!!! Its so cool to watch her. This is why I keep fish.

 

[kenyi]

I have a string feeling there danio fry. Just my two cents. I doubt she would release just a few fry and not the rest, plus there transparent your saying. EYs don't have fry that are clear IME but danio do I believe.

Thats what confuesed me too, the fry color don't add up, and so your fry don't look like the picture? Well, then I guess that they are danio fry, I find it hard to believe, but I guess anything can happen. I had my danios spawn in my 10 gallon after a few weeks of them being in there, but the fry all died within a day so I thought that after around 3 days without notice they would be gone, but I suppose that it's possible, and it actually happened with you! :thumbsdown:for me, :thm:for nano cichlids and you! Good luck with your fry!

 

[kenyi]

So how are your fry doing?

 

[alexx]

So far so good with the Danios. I've got about a dozen or so that I managed to wrangle into a breeder net- they were really struggling against the filter- I had to do something and it seems like it's helping. They're tough to count- but I think they're all still swimming! Feeding them ground up flake food- tried the frozen baby brine shrimp but it seems to sink too fast for them to eat- they never leave the surface. It's been about 4 days and they look a little bigger and they're all still alive- so I guess the flake is working!
No Sign of the Electric Yellow Fry yet.... She's still holding on!! Hopefully any day now....Thanks for checking in! I'm sure (rather... I hope!) I'll have a new set of questions for you in a few days!!!

 

[kenyi]

So far so good with the Danios. I've got about a dozen or so that I managed to wrangle into a breeder net- they were really struggling against the filter- I had to do something and it seems like it's helping. They're tough to count- but I think they're all still swimming! Feeding them ground up flake food- tried the frozen baby brine shrimp but it seems to sink too fast for them to eat- they never leave the surface. It's been about 4 days and they look a little bigger and they're all still alive- so I guess the flake is working!
No Sign of the Electric Yellow Fry yet.... She's still holding on!! Hopefully any day now....Thanks for checking in! I'm sure (rather... I hope!) I'll have a new set of questions for you in a few days!!!

Sounds great! and, if you want, to help the baby brine shrimp not sink so fast, just plop the frozen cube in there, IMO works fine for me. Flakes are fine though, as long as they are small enough. If you think that this is coming to a routine (and you have a powerfilter), you could get a sponge filter for your fry tanks, I love my HMFs that I got, highly recommended. you could also put a sponge around your powerfilter to prevent the fish from getting sucked up in. When mama releases her fry, I had a few sucked up even with mbuna, so something to prevent that would be handy, or you could just keep mom in a net breeder with her fry in her mouth.

Another note, :clap: Congrats on the Danio fry! Looks like you'll have a nice batch of fry variety there! Hope the EY works out too! Keep us updated!

 

[alexx]

I have BABIES!!! and they're huge! Totally clears up my original question about the first fry--- clearly danios...
Mom still has a mouthful! is this normal? I've got about 7 or 10 swimmers so far....She seems like she's doing all she can to hold the rest in and she's ignoring the ones that are out... I got home from work a few hours ago-imagine my suprise to see the baby fish swimming about when I clearly could see mom was still holding!! I'm trying really hard not to plaster my face against the glass and watch every minute- it seems like there are slowly more and more of them popping up! I'm just afraid that once she spits the rest out she's just going to eat them up if I'm not watching.... These tiny fish are making me CRAZY!!!
(reassurance about natural selection, please!!!)
BTW- The danios are safe and sound and growing in their breeder net! Last count, all still kickin'!