Paul wants to know:
it is a cynotilapia afra red i think it might be pregnant because when i feed my cichlids she gos up to the flakes but dosent eat it or munches on tinny peaces very small and by her throat it looks swelled and she always stays down it the rocks
it is a cynotilapia afra red i think it might be pregnant because when i feed my cichlids she gos up to the flakes but dosent eat it or munches on tinny peaces very small and by her throat it looks swelled and she always stays down it the rocks
July 25th, 2009 at 8:28 am
Fish lay eggs. Look for eggs.
July 27th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
The cichlids lay eggs.You have to put your cichlid that you think is pregnant in a other tank with a male cichlid without any sand on the floor of the tank.That way you will see the eggs and when you see the eggs layed you will take your female and let your male there for about 30 minutes until it fertilizes the eggs.After that put it back in the tank.Then put your heater in the other tank where the eggs are and put it on temperature of 25 C.The eggs will hatch about a week.When they hatch let the fry stay in the baby tank for about 5 weeks and feed the baby food four times a day little amounts.I hope i helped good luck.
July 28th, 2009 at 4:13 am
Cichlids are egg layers, so she won’t be pregnant. If she’s full of eggs then the lower half of her will be a little larger then normal.
If she’s really swollen then you should worry as she has Dropsy. This is hard to treat, and it would also explain why she hasn’t been eating and stays at the bottom of the tank.
Cichlids will stay with their eggs or brood to protect them, but they wouldn’t just stay there and take food that drops by their faces.. they would quickly get some food then return back.
Hope this helps, and that your fish will be fine.
Cordi
July 30th, 2009 at 5:30 am
ITS FUNNY HOW TOP CONTRIBUTORS GIVE THE MOST UNEDUCATED GUESSES THESE DAYS THEY HAND THEM SIGNS OUT TO ANYBODY THESE DAYS!!!!!……..NOW FOR THE QUESTION
Your fish may very well be full of fry to the people who dont know some cichlids are moutbroaders this means they carry there fry in there mouth until there 2-3 weeks old. she may be nibbling and acting as if shes eating but she really is not, females do this so they dont bring alot of attention to them, they act as if everything is normal so they dont get harassed while there in a weakened state!
July 31st, 2009 at 1:40 pm
yes for sure
July 31st, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Enough already, Triple J is right. I’ve noticed some awful advise from many others that makes me wonder what the heck is going on here. She’ll hold the brood in her mouth and will “spit” them out soon for the fry to start eating on their own but, she will gather them up as soon as a threat appears. Usually, both parents will do this as they raise their brood. I’ve raised Africans since the mid seventies and think they can rival any Saltwater fish as far as color and beauty.
August 3rd, 2009 at 5:17 pm
If she is carrying fry in her mouth and youd like them to survive my advice would be to fish her out when u think the mouth is sufficiently swollen, she will then spit them out in the net. From my experience if the fry are spat out in the tank, 99% of them will be eaten..
August 6th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
wow there are some crappy answers here! lol. first off, africans are mouth brooders. That means the female will carry the little ones in her mouth and will spit them out in the tank. she will hold the babies for up to a few weeks-you may notice like you said that she wants to eat, but if she tries she will risk spitting the fry, or swallowing them. she will lose some of her weight and get a little skinny too.
if i were you, i would separate her into just a 10 gallon tank. or if you dont want the fry then keep her in the tank, when she does finally spit them they will just be eaten by the other africans. I dont bother separating my africans, as i have them in a 180 gallon tank with alot of rockwork-and catching the moms is impossible without taking the rockwork out. i just let nature take its course.
August 8th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
I have to agree with the shouting person, and this is a big reason not to ask a question as “cichlid” but rather what species you have. Sure, South and Central Americans by and large lay eggs, as do a handful of Africans, but the majority of Africans like yours are mouthbrooders, not broaders LOL.
It does sound very much like holding a brood as not eating food is a big sign of that, spending time alone and away from the group, the pocket in the mouth, and sometimes if you look at the fish from back to front, the gills will appear to be flared out slightly.
In this case, if you want fry to survive, you should isolate out the female to her own tank. A few quick things. Don’t get discouraged if this doesn’t work out. It sounds like the first time you’ve encountered this and many first time females fail to spit out a brood as they need to learn what to do. If you let her spit in the tank with adults, the others will eat them. African cichlids, only the carrier of the brood guards the fry, the other parent and other adults will target fry as food, which is why you need to isolate the holder.
It would be worth your time also to list your species of what you have total in the tank. If you do not have male/female groups of the same species, it’s possible the fry could be hybrids and worthless in that case.
There is no question that anyone with any amount of years with mouthbrooders would know that A, not always does the female carry the brood there are some males that do, B. the non holding parent can and will eat up fry. I have several community tanks as well in which I chose not to take a holding female out, and not one single fry grew out in the main tank as the others ate them on sight. Even with enough hiding places, they have to venture out for food at some point and they will get picked off. Plain and simple. You want fry, you isolate the female, period and fact.
August 10th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
Your fish may very well be full of fry to the people who dont know some cichlids are moutbroaders this means they carry there fry in there mouth until there 2-3 weeks old. she may be nibbling and acting as if shes eating but she really is not, females do this so they dont bring alot of attention to them, they act as if everything is normal so they dont get harassed while there in a weakened state!
August 19th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
I was wondering–is it possible for a female labidochromis to be carrying eggs without any males in the tank? That is, would she produce eggs (unfertilized) and carry them for a while? Mine seems to have done this twice. Once she carried them for 2 weeks, and then they were gone. Most recently for only 48 hours.
January 3rd, 2010 at 11:57 am
Sam,
While I’ve yet to experience this myself, I have friends who raise yellow labs, and they have experienced this. After about 24 hrs, the eggs die if not fertilized. There’s information you can find out at http://www.thecichlidrecipe.com or your local fish store (hopefully you’ll have someone in there that can give you advice on this). If not, you can contact our pro at his shop here in SC. That website is http://www.aquaticimportsintl.com and they’ll be able to help you with answering these kinds of questions.
Best of luck! Cichlids are the best fun to raise!
We’re expecting yellow labs and red zebras now!
February 2nd, 2010 at 6:05 am
I have to disagree that all of the fry will be eaten as soon as released from the mouth not only are many rocks/caves needed but also thick groupings of plants where most of the larger fish cannot fit into diff colors to help camo the babys as well we have had many babys survive that way our problem is getting to the egge the egg layers put down before the other fish eat them lol. Try not to use toe neon colored plants good luck.