Lab is holding!

[Marconis]

Well, after better examination of my Labs enlarged mouth, I can see movement within! She is holding! What do I do LOL?

 

[JustOneMore20]

I'd just let her be in the tank. Trying to catch them and move them to another tank is usually stressful and might cause her to spit prematurely (although if you see movement, it might be ok).

The fry might survive in the tank......if you are dead set on getting all of them that you can, try to catch her in the least stressful way and move her to another tank. After she spits the fry, move her back.

I know other people will have better advice than mine though....lol.

I recently sold all my Mbuna and a couple of my females were holding. They ended up spitting a few fry in the tank though while I was trying to round them up.....I found them before they were eaten though.

 

[Marconis]

There she is...if you look closely on the left of her mouth you can see an eye.

 

[JustOneMore20]

Yep, she's holding alright. Excellent picture! Mine always hid alot when they were holding.....most likely because of the males torturing them.

Congrats on the fry....I hope she holds them long enough, so you can raise them.

 

[WaterPond]

Awsome stuff! CONGRATS!

 

[darrin36]

if you are tryin to save them what most breeders and keepers do is after about 28 days or so after you see them mate . take her out of the tank have a clean cereal bowl filled with tank water and hold her face down and gentaly pry her mouth open and all the fry will come out and have a teng tank set up and let the fry grow out in it and feed freashly hatched brine or ground up fish food but pre soak the food so it will sink in the tank . And
do not worry it is not hard on the fish or else people would not be doing it . the person i know who does that treats her fish like a second set of kids . lol

 

[maxwell1295]

After 18-21 days, the fry should be developed enough to strip. Waiting 28 days will most likely result in the female spitting before then or becoming dangerously thin from a lack of food. I always strip in that 18 to 21 day period. Once you do this enough, you won't have to actually witness a spawn....you'll 'know' just by looking at the female.

 

[Zagz]

What I do if I want to keep the fry is I put the female into a cycled tank of her own alone. I have never had to strip the fry, the female always spitting on her own. I then feed the female a couple of times and then remove her back to the main tank. My poor females have learned to eat while holding. They seem to spawn every 2 months poor girls.

You certainly can strip if you want to, I prefer not to. I've never lost a female as a result of not stripping the female.

 

[darrin36]

ahh there just labs they are a dime a dozen. lol . ya it is always a nice feeling when your fish spawn mine have been spawning like crazy . nice to have fry from expensive fish

 

[jibboo]

I've had good and bad luck with my labs holding. In my 55g my large female has held at least 3 times that I can think of and I've never to this day seen any of the babies.

In my 20g where I'm growing out juvies, I've had a bunch of females holding and I've tried a couple things.

1. first time, I caught the female and attempted to strip into a floating fry tank. With the one female I did it too early and the fry weren't developed enough. The second time I did this, I ended up with 5 fry which i grew out and are now about 1/2" in with the other juvies (big enough to not get eaten).

2. next time, i caught 2 females that were holding and used a divider in the tank to separate them from the rest of the fish. This worked best in my opinion because then the mothers aren't harrassed and can spit when ready (which both did). I ended up with a 3rd female holding after the first 2 spit and put her in with the fry (counting on the fact that she wouldn't eat the fry babies free swimming ... which she didn't) ... then when the mothers spit, i move them out of the partititioned section (which I'd guess is about 1/5 of the 20g tank). I also threw some extra java fern for the fry to hide in.

I've been feeding my fry the Hikari "First Bites" which have worked well for me. I currently have 13 fry growing like mad. Its fun to watch how fast they grow and see them learn that when I walk over to the tank, food is coming and they all come out of hiding (since the larger fish aren't a threat).

(you can see the babies and java fern on the left and the larger labs in the main section of the tank)

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Labs may be a dime a dozen, but they are still pricey fish. Around here I spend roughly $16 to $20 for an mid-size.

I always remove the females if at all possible. Sometimes we can't get them out (150T) but for the most part, we do. I usually do it in the middle of the night when they are sleeping. It's much easier. Before lights out I'll put a net in the tank. That way all I have to do is stick my arm in and move it around. I put the female in a fish bag and take her to the 10 gal tank. Sometimes she spits in the bag, sometimes not. Even if she does spit I put her in the 10 gal anyway. I acclimate the fish slowly to the new atnk then dump the mother and fry. I leave the mother for a couple days in the 10 gal and feed so she can get some strength back.

Very rarely do we strip the fry. We've only had to do it maybe 6 or 7 times and only when she holds in excess of 3 weeks.

 

[darrin36]

holly smokes 16-20 bucks a fish wow . around here they are 6-7 dollars the more expensive ones are the white and blue ones around here . myself i am bored with malawi. all you realy get is the boring blues and yellows. i find tangs alot more intresting

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Whatever strikes your fancy. Our tank is full of blues, oranges, yellows, purples, whites, black, etc. There is more to malawi than blue and yellow.