Venustus holding, now what?

[kdpuffer]

Putting her in her own tank works too, I personally prefer keeping mine in their home tank with cover, more natural that way and with stripping the fry you reduce predation even by the mother, but ultimately it's up to you to do what you feel comfortable with, though I discourage stripping eggs and using a tumbler as it can be difficult to get it set just right. It also depends on tank mates aswell. I keep my electric yellows in with my very juvenile frontosas so the only harassment the female gets is from her male.

 

[Arborist131]

The tank has lots of stacked slate and many hiding spots. The female seems to be fine, if anything she's the aggressive one and the males off showing off to other non pregnant females.

Going to seperate her after work tonight then I guess it's just a waiting game.

 

[Arborist131]

I've divided my 35 gallon in two and removed the two pregnant fish from the main tank to the 35. They seem a lot less active then they were in the main tank, their breathing fine and still cycling the eggs around in their mouth. Just wondering if that's normal behavior because their no longer stressed by other fish or if I have done something wrong.

 

[Arborist131]

Any ideas? They just sit their spaced out in a trance. Is this normal or is something wrong?

 

[kdpuffer]

I've never separated a holding female so I'm no expert but I would wager they just sit there zoned out as a result of not having other fish chasing them around trying to get some eggs for breakfast. As long as they are breathing fine and appear content and not stressed I wouldn't worry about it but it may be a good idea to add a little hiding spot for them. Also be aware that once the eggs hatch you will want to provide food, even if they are still in the mouth as the mother will take food for the fry. I just break up cichlid pellets into smaller pieces so the mother can easily take them. Its pretty neat to watch the fry feed in her mouth too.

 

[HUKIT]

Any ideas? They just sit their spaced out in a trance. Is this normal or is something wrong?

There's always some additional stress on the female when she is moved from her main tank, especially while she's holding.

 

[Arborist131]

Came home from the weekend away and found the first female had released her fry. I siphoned them all into a 10 gallon tank that was already running, got about 35 or 40 in the grow tank now, only a few left in the female tank that I couldn't catch. I waited till later at night and turned most my lights off before transferring female back to the display tank.

When I first went to the tank and noticed a few fry then a large school of them the female came out of her daze and started sucking fry back into her mouth. Just wondering how I can tell of shes got fry in her mouth?

Crushed some 1mm nls pellets up and fed the fry.

First picture is of holding tank, only female on right side is still in there. She should release this coming Friday.

Second picture is of a few fry, took it in the morning so most were hiding

 

[kdpuffer]

Awesome to hear, before you know it your going to be over run with fry. When I had ruby reds they bred every month and there was four females so I was hard pressed to keep up. I used to strip and tumble the eggs and had to pull all my rock out every week during a water change to catch the latest holding female.

 

[Arborist131]

Won't let me attach pictures, will post as soon as it allows

 

[Arborist131]

Yea that's kinda what I'm worried about. I've got 4 female venustus' one large male venustus and a small male which I'm getting rid of soon. The two got pregnant so close together I'm worried it's going to
Continue like that. Dislike removing hundreds of pounds of slate everytime I need catch one.

What's the best way to get rid of fry/how big should I get them before I begin selling them

 

[HUKIT]

Yea that's kinda what I'm worried about. I've got 4 female venustus' one large male venustus and a small male which I'm getting rid of soon. The two got pregnant so close together I'm worried it's going to
Continue like that. Dislike removing hundreds of pounds of slate everytime I need catch one.

What's the best way to get rid of fry/how big should I get them before I begin selling them

I sell my peacocks on craiglist, aquarium clubs, Aquabid, and once in a while to a LFS, when they reach around 1.5in. If you start shipping fish it's best to have someone show you the best way to package and bag them, I killed my first couple shipments. Your going to have to decide whether or not your going through this every month or just let them spit in the main tank. I would try to sell the first batch to see what the market is like around you. There are times when I can't give mine away, then other times I don't have enough fish. I have between 6-11 holding females at any given time, it's a pain chasing and removing them so I've decided to open a fish room dedicated to breeding purposes only.

 

[Arborist131]

I think I'll be able to manage the few females I have just need to make sure I've got somewhere to sell them to. No point in continuing if I'm gonna stuck raising them all. I'll have to make some calls to LFS, put adds out and see if there is any fish clubs around me tonight. If no interest I guess I'm done. If I let them spit in main tank they will get sucked into filters and canister and just get pulverized and ruin water quality also stress every other fish out in the tank. Then I'd still have to remove all rocks to catch fry.

 

[HUKIT]

I think I'll be able to manage the few females I have just need to make sure I've got somewhere to sell them to. No point in continuing if I'm gonna stuck raising them all. I'll have to make some calls to LFS, put adds out and see if there is any fish clubs around me tonight. If no interest I guess I'm done. If I let them spit in main tank they will get sucked into filters and canister and just get pulverized and ruin water quality also stress every other fish out in the tank. Then I'd still have to remove all rocks to catch fry.

No that won't happen, the fry are dispatched very quickly but the other fish. I've never found fry in one of my canisters, although when they were in the RR tank I would find them in the sump once in a while.

You might do well selling them, around here I don't see them very often at the LFS. Try the Aquabid thing to, just learn how to bag/ship them.

 

[Arborist131]

Ok thanks for the advice, I rarely see venustus' in my LFS and was thinking the same thing. I'll have to take a look
At this aquabidding thing, never heard of it before. Hopefully I find some how to get rid of them soon, I've for another female releasing this Friday lol

 

[Arborist131]

Just found a red top zebra pregnant now! Don't get to finish with one and another gets pregnant. Pretty sure my tropheus is holding as well. She's the only of her kind in the tank so her babies are definitly an inbred mix but the pregnant red top was impregnated by my dominate red top.

Any point in keeping any? Red tops aren't worth much and I know how much everyone hates mixes. Soo are they good for fish food or should I keep a couple of the mixes to see what they are. (would keep them by themselves as to make sure I don't continue to muddy that blood line)

 

[HUKIT]

There's only a few mbuna I'll keep to sell, everyone wants yellow labs, Hongi, saulosi, and afra cobue are the only ones I keep any longer.

 

[Arborist131]

Thanks hukit. I'll just let them spit in the main tank as their not worth the trouble.

 

[Kat1103]

I've got a yellow lab that's holding. She was most likely knocked up by one of my peacocks bc I have no male yellow labs. But I'm going to let her release them in the main tank as well and let "natural selection" do its thing.

 

[Arborist131]

Second venustus finally released during the night. Probably got another 30-40 fry. Going to syphon the fry into the grow tank tonight and relocate the mother back to the display tank. Figure I may as well net the red top and tropheus that are holding and put them in the birthing tank. May also have a holding yellowfin acei but not positive.

 

[Arborist131]

Relocated second female Venustus back to display tank after a few days of watching her with the fry. Very interesting to watch. She didn't so much feed them out of her mouth as I was expecting but she would gather food and put it in the corner behind a rock that all the fry would hide around. At night I did notice she'd somehow fit all 50-60 fry back into her mouth which was pretty cool to watch.

After relocating the mother I did a pwc on the birthing tank and syphoned all the fry from the first hatching into the it. All together I say I'd have atleast 100 baby venustus'.

Had someone offer me $20 for all them but I figure he's just going to grow them a inch and make a lot more then that. He showed interest quickly so I'm going to grow them for a while and see how well they sell.