I have a carrying yellow lab, probably been about 3 weeks now. She's looking extremely thin and the fry can be seen quite easily.
I was considering stripping the fry as I`ve read now that some fish won't release in the main tank. I haven't set up a fry tank yet as this kind of caught me by suprise, as I wasn't even sure of the gender until recently obviously !
Will they make it in the main tank? I guess I don't have too much choice at the moment.
It is highly recommended that when a female is carrying that a person should strip the fry from her mouth...but since you don't have a backup tank then you should either run out and get one or just let nature takes it's course...As we are doing the latter. We have a female lab that has been holding for almost a month (female mouthbrooders will hold from 3-4 weeks). Hubby noticed one very small lab when he was gravel vacuuming yesterday..and we kept looking and now we have 3 so far..There are alot of nooks and crannies in our 80 that the fry can hide in along with a bunch of plants...Our female still has some in her mouth and we are anxiously waiting for her to spit out the others..Our female is looking very skinny, also..The female will take in food for the fry she is carrying..and they will eat...So if you have alot of places for the fry to hide then it is your call...But most people will tell you that the mama should be stripped....Which is a good thing to do if you want to have more labs..10 gallon tanks are cheap if you have the other things to put in the tank...Air stones..some plants...and maybe some rock...But we are letting the mama in our tank do it on her own in the huge home that the new fishies now have...And we are still waiting and waiting and waiting...
Mouthbrooders will eventually release their fry, even in the main tank, and mbuna like yellow labs can mouthbrood fry for over three weeks (I had a had a lab hold for about 35 days once), though fry are commonly released within 18-21 days. You could probably prompt the female to release her fry by keeping the tank unlit during the times when the tank is not being viewed.
If she releases them in the main tank, the survival rate will depend on the amount of adequate hiding spots available and quantity of other fish in the tank (typically the more hiding spots, the more fry survive). Stripping the mother will maximize the number of surviving fry, though you will need to house and rear them in a separate tank. 0-10% might survive if the mother releases in the main tank, however your female yellow lab will mouthbrood several times a year, each brood comprised of 12 to 25+ fry.
my yellow lab just started spitting fry today:dance:
she is taking her sweet time though, she's averaging spitting about 2 fry every 1/2 hour and so far up to about 12 or 13 fry and she still is holding more, she held for 23 days before she started releasing in a seperate tank because daddy wouldn't leave her alone
OK, well I decided to leave her to it for now. If things haven't changed by the weekend (which will be 4 weeks) then I`m going to have to intervene. I have a small tank but not the accessories for it. I`ll get it set up ready for next time though.
Thanks for the advice. I think I`m just going to let nature take it's course this time.
I will begin the preparation of the fry tank this weekend, as I see that I will be needing it for others soon enough!
Although she looks very thin, she's able to find hiding places and keep out of the way. I find that if I place the lettuce feed in the johanni's zone, that causes sufficient other arguments to keep her out of harms way
If the tank is up and running this weekend, I will place her in there to be on the safe side. I reckon there can't be more than 6 fry in there anyway, but at least she can be fed back up and grow her nipped fins out in peace and quiet. I think every other species in the tank is in some stage of reproduction right now! This setup has got to be the most interesting I`ve ever had.
Well, I got the small tank set up and placed the female lab in the tank (and yes, I did have to virtually dismantle the main tanks rockwork to get her!)
So, she's in the tank for 2 days and still looking pissed off, so after watching some vids of and reading about it, I thought I`d strip the fry so she can get on and eat.
Seeing as this was the first time I`d done it, I was quite apprehensive, but it was quite easy (for me anyway - not sure about the fish!) and very quickly got 9 well developed fry out. I placed the female and fry quickly back in the small tank and everything seemed to be going ok.
Then, the female started trying to snap up the fry again and as I write this, she's probably got about 7 of them back. Seems like I`ve made a fundamental error then.. if you strip the fry, it's only if you are going to separate them from the mother? I could have put her back in the main tank then? but I thought the idea was to keep her out until she fed up and got fit again.. Guess If I`m going to leave the mother in the fry tank for a while, I should just leave her to it... **** my impatience
I found this paragraph at the website below..and apparently people are supposed to remove the mother after she spits out the fry from the breeding tank...ooopppssss...I guess we all have to learn sometime...I would have never guessed to remove the mommy after she has finally spit out the fry or from stripping her of the fry....
Spawning starts at about 7 months or five centimeters (two inches) and they will usually carry their first brood to term. The fry are very small and already have their bright orange coloration when released from their mother's mouth, usually after brooding for 24-34 days. I have found them to be quite variable in brooding time depending on the particular female. I have one that holds to around 34 days every time and just when I threaten to finally strip her, a light tempting of brine shrimp seems to convince her that it is time for the fry to be on their own. Which by the way, is exactly as they need to be. Females will eat their young if left with them for very long. It is very helpful to clip a bushy plant to the side of the tank for the fry to hide in. In addition, the nursery tank should be filled with small rocks and caves for the fry to hide in until the female is removed. I remove her as soon as I am sure all fry have left her mouth and she has eaten a meal. She is easily re-integrated back into the main tank at night after the lights have been turned off. Take care that the tank temperatures are the same and that the pH is within a reasonable range so that you do not shock her as she is still weakened from holding fry. Also, having a good number of rocks piled up to form caves gives her somewhere to hide and feel secure. Females recover lost weight quickly and are ready to spawn again in a month or so. I find that my male will pretty much leave the females alone until they are ready for spawning, at which time he can be as persistent as any full sized mbuna!
