Interesting Cichlid Behaviour

[jibboo]

I have a tank of juvenile yellow labs and had 2 of the females holding fry.

I caught one of the mothers again this morning and managed to coax 5 fry out of her mouth into my floating baby tank.

But I just walked by the tank and there is the mother (who apparently still has at least one baby still in her mouth) swimming beneath the floating fry tank trying to get her fry back into her mouth. And the fry are looking down at her, but not exactly trying to get to her. Which is funny because when the other fish come up to the bottom, the fry swim up away from the bottom of the floating tank. They appear to know that she is the mother ... or else they see their brother/sister still hiding in her mouth. The mother is also chasing away the other fish from going up to the bottom of the fry tank. I'm surprised by this as well, since I didn't know that africans were protective parents like that.

Do you think I should just enjoy the mothering behavior (although I'm surprised as most said once you strip the mothers, they don't care), or should I catch her for yet a 3rd time and try to get the rest of the fry out?

 

[Gillie]

I would leave her with the fry she has. Don't subject her to any more stress than she's already has. From my experience the fry care usually stops when the fry are to large to get into the mouth.

 

[jibboo]

I'm trying to keep them alive ... I'm fairly certain the other labs in the tank will eat them if/when she spits them ... that's why i was trying to get them into the baby tank ... so I can grow them til they are too large to eat.

 

[Zagz]

Moved to cichlid discussion. The other fish will eat them, I have had great success with the mothers protecting the fry but the other fish is another story. If you are trying to save them, a grow out tank is a must. You could just keep her in a tank of her own until she spits rather than trying to strip her.