My first ever African cichlid breeding experience

Today when feeding my fish I seen one female maingano going for the food but not eating. After closer inspection I noticed she had a mouthful of eggs already! I'm so happy but I'm not really sure what should do now... I'd like to have little maingano fry but I don't want to strip them or anything. I think I'll just let nature take it's course

nice one bro!!

i know where you might be able to sell some fry

The eggs should be safe untill they develop but I think the fry care only lasts a few days after she starts releasing them.

The fry won't make it in the tank with all the others. I would strip them from her after a little while. Alternatively pop her in a separate tank until she spits.

Very unlikely they would make it in your tank without your help. I always put my female in a different tank till release then feed her up till she has the strength to spawn again, as once they start males can starve a female if you don't have the proper numbers of males to females

I normally get a few fry that survive each spawn if I let the female spit in the main tank, but it will depend upon how many hiding places there are in your tank. However, if you want a lot to survive, then it'd be best to either put the female in a separate tank until she spits, or strip her (usually about 16-18 days after they spawned).

It seems my africans are loving theyre tank. Have most of the female mainganos holding and also all my peacock females lol. Im not sure there are any surviving fry in the tank as the black calvus is always hunting through all the rock crevices lol

i breed 14 diff africans along with my BN and i ALWAYS put the female in another tank or i strip her , that way most of the fry has a chance to make it and i have more to sell

Finally! After months of just leaving the females in the main tank I recently put 2 holding females (separated of course) in a small fry tank. As of today female 1 has spit her fry All the fry are hiding at the moment from the other female (she can't hurt em ay? She's got a mouthful as it is...) I counted about 5 fry all close to 1cm long. Surprised how much these girls can fit in their mouths

Oh I forgot to add the female that spit the fry is in a fry saver box in the fry tank. I put her in there because I knew she had been holding longer. Figured I'd let her spit the fry out and tge other female wouldn't be able to eat them due to her mouthful. Any comments on this?

it's not that the 2nd female holding will eat the fry in all probablility she will think that they are fry of hers and try to scoop them up to keep them safe. I used to have yellow labs that would do that. Gratz on the little ones.

DLJ

They will be very hungry so feed them up before you return the females to the main tank and remember, When you return them might have to rearrange the tank as they will be viewed as intruders sometime when re adding to the main tank..
I have some Tangerine peacocks that I watch the holding female drop her brood at feeding time gobble some food down then re approached the fry opened her mouth and they swam back in her mouth. Very smart girl she is!!

Iv been watching the fry now they have the tank to themselves. It seems they have setup their own little territories. The fry are just as bad as the parents lol

well the maingano fry are growing nicely and are over 2cm now

one of the smaller ones...



and low and behold.... my black calvus have bred!!!!!!!!!! yay problem is they have bred in a hole in a large piece of rock making taking the fry out when its time almost impossible spewing as i actually put shells in the tank for them to breed in

mum fanning


dad joins in


nosey wanted to get in the shot (pffft calvus never want me to take pics of em any other time )


so i made use of the opportunity and took another happy snap of it