Yep, she definitely has a mouthful of eggs!
After 3-4 days the eggs hatch into tiny fry. Then they live off their egg yoke until its gone. The mom holds them for the whole time, which takes 21 days or so. Start looking at about day 15 and you may see eyes peeking out. Its so adorable! Your daughters are going to love it!
Acei fry are tiny! I was surprised at how small they are. My Red Zebra spawned the day after my Acei and I stripped them the same day. The Red fry were twice as big as the Acei fry. My Acei female is twice as big as my Red too! My Acei didn't spawn till almost 5" because there was no male. They started spawning with each other when they hit large maturity. I got the male about 4 months ago and have been having Acei fry ever since.
I will give the ones I am growing out to the lfs, but the ones that are being held now will get spit in the main tank. I am over loading my lfs with fry and they said no more for awhile. So, after this batch I give them I will not save any fry for a few months. When mine first started spawning I did keep one or two of the fry for myself. I have 3 Red Zebras and 3 Yellow Labs I kept for me that are now almost 3".
Since its her first time and she is still small, she probably only has about 10 or 15 in her mouth. If you decide to move her to her own tank to release, wait at least a week before you try catching her. If you try before the eggs hatch she is more likely to spit them, especially a new mom. Once the eggs hatch they are more prone to hold onto them.
Here is what Acei fry look like when first released. See the Red Zebra fry too? It is actually a day younger than the Acei fry! The mom's both had about 30 fry in their mouths and the Red mom is half the size as the Acei mom. This was taken about an hour after I stripped the mom's. So, very newly released fry.
Acei fry at 3 weeks old, getting the yellow fins
Here's a video I did of how Mbuna fry develop in a mom's mouth. I made an egg tumbler to see how they develop. It starts at 5 days past the spawn then goes on to show different development at different ages up to 19 days. Pretty cool!
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