Do male mbuna sometimes hold eggs instead of the females after a spawn

[jandj1]

OK just to update first, after having some serious aggression issues with my kenyi and deciding to use another time out to try and calm him down only to have him die due to a parasite (the parasite was isolated to his time out bucket) last month, I have restocked and have added 2 female and 1 male yellow labs.

Now everything is going good in my African tank no aggression issues or anything, but I noticed 2 days ago that my male yellow lab wasn't eating, after sitting on the floor and watching the fish intently for bout half an hour I noticed a small bulge under his chin that looked like he was holding.

He has been hiding a lot more since I noticed this and watching during feedings I've noticed that he just looks at the food and turns away.

I thought my labs were too small to spawn, they're all juveniles, my male is maybe 2 and a half in. and my females are a bit smaller than him, so is it even possible that he may have spawned with them? And why would the male be holding instead of a female?

Now I have been researching this and have found a few articles and papers that say that it is possible but extremely rare for a male to hold a brood among mbuna species. Just wondering if anyone else here has had this happen or have heard about it.

Thank you all



Sent from my XT1032 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

To my knowledge no males do not hold. How do you know it was a male? My guess you have a female and it spawned with one of the others or its hybrid breeding.

 

[jandj1]

That was a guess of mine as well but I know that my rusty is female (before I added the labs I had my rusty, her 4 month old fry, my livingstonii and my jewel) and according to my lfs my two smaller yellow labs are female and he's the male. The lfs guy did know about venting and the fish was trying to mate @ the store and in my tank with the other labs and my rusty, just trying to possibly rule this out before I start looking @ some kind of illness.

I can post a pic of the male if it would help confirm his sex and I can try and get a pic of how he looks for me to suspect holding, if it would help.
Sent from my XT1032 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

Yes post a picture, never trust lfs. I am guaranteeing it's female. What you say is mating could easily be aggression especially towards other females


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[jandj1]

This is my suspected male.. One of my other labs is in the background but the one front and center is the said male. This was taken a day or so after adding them. Will try and get a fairly close picture of why I suspect holding asap (kinda hard when my livingstonii loves the camera and keeps getting in the way), lights out here now tho.

Sent from my XT1032 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[jandj1]

And this is why I suspect holding (bad angle I know), he's been like this for 3 days now, not eating but acting like he would, jostling around something in his mouth, and then the slightly extended chin. But like I said might be an illness, might be holding just looking @ possibilities.

Sent from my XT1032 using Aquarium Advice mobile app