danben
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Hi there everyone!
So something super interesting just happened in my aquarium and google/forum searches got me nowhere so I thought I'd share and see if this has happened to anyone else.
I just recently moved two of my holding Mbuna (one bluish-striped one and one bright yellow one - I don't know the exact subspecies) into a small breeder box (the ones you hang off the tank) and this morning the blue one seemed to have a much smaller mouth and a little guy was swimming around the box so I figured she probably spat them all and they either somehow got back into the main tank or she ate all but one of her own fry, so I decided to toss her back into the tank too.
However, the yellow holding mbuna seemed to have an even larger mouth and I thought maybe she's ready to release them but is reluctant, so I decided I'd try stripping one or two and if their egg sacs are off to strip the rest.
Lo and behold, I start letting a few of the fry out and they look the same as the one swimming around, but then I notice there's smaller fry coming out too that still have fairly large egg sacs attached.
So it appears to me that as the blue cichlid released her fry the other one picked them up into her mouth?
Is this known to happen or has this happened with anyone? Because it's quite funny to think that two batches of fry about a week apart are swimming around in one mother's mouth.
So yeah, just thought I'd share.
So something super interesting just happened in my aquarium and google/forum searches got me nowhere so I thought I'd share and see if this has happened to anyone else.
I just recently moved two of my holding Mbuna (one bluish-striped one and one bright yellow one - I don't know the exact subspecies) into a small breeder box (the ones you hang off the tank) and this morning the blue one seemed to have a much smaller mouth and a little guy was swimming around the box so I figured she probably spat them all and they either somehow got back into the main tank or she ate all but one of her own fry, so I decided to toss her back into the tank too.
However, the yellow holding mbuna seemed to have an even larger mouth and I thought maybe she's ready to release them but is reluctant, so I decided I'd try stripping one or two and if their egg sacs are off to strip the rest.
Lo and behold, I start letting a few of the fry out and they look the same as the one swimming around, but then I notice there's smaller fry coming out too that still have fairly large egg sacs attached.
So it appears to me that as the blue cichlid released her fry the other one picked them up into her mouth?
Is this known to happen or has this happened with anyone? Because it's quite funny to think that two batches of fry about a week apart are swimming around in one mother's mouth.
So yeah, just thought I'd share.
