Puh Puh Puh Puppies!

So about a week ago I noticed my female lab is holding. I wanted to see if anyone can provide some tips about when to isolate her. I dont think i'll be setting up a seperate tank, so any recommendations on an intank breeder would be greatly appreciated!

Update: I've been able to finally get a peak in her mouth and can see eggs, given the fact she's been holding for at least 8 days and probably a couple more before I noticed, at what stage would the fry be in? Are they still primarly in "egg-form" or should they be further along than that? I've been cautious about doing a close inspection as I don't want to stress her out and will most likely only grab her I think it's about time to strip. Into which I intend to try and macguyver a moderately sized tumbler.
On the topic of stripping, I've seen a lot of posts about waiting 15-18 days, some of the videos i've seen show whole ranges of development though so how do I tell?
Her stomachs looking pretty sunk in so I'm a bit worried about her health. First time dealing with this so any confirmation I'm on the right track would be awesome!

electric yellow lab's are my favorite cichlid!!! your so lucky!!!!

i would just leave her be, they are excellent parents!

if you have a mess of fry to rehome, dont take them to the fish store, leme know, ill set up a whole 55 for some electric yellows! i used to have some... but then i ended up with an oscar...

for months the oscar ignored them. and then in a 4 day period of time it ate them all except one... and i had the last one for another 6 months probably...

https://2img.net/h/i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd44/spawntriad/oscarchow.jpg

then as i was sitting here snapping photos of the tank one day... the little lab quit watching the oscar... and started watching me... and paid for it...

https://2img.net/h/i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd44/spawntriad/DSCN0504.jpg

YOU SON OF A....


sigh.


i want some more. the oscars are gone. lol....

dang it cut off on the right side of my pics, so i changed them to links instead.

Depending on your water temp.

If you have your temp around 78 or higher the eggs will go thru there process much faster. If it is a cooler water temp the eggs will develope slower. My water temp is a little cooler b/c I hate heaters. (around 73) I tend to wait atleast 15 days before I even think about stripping. I have learned that if you strip to early you can loose fry faster. I never remove any of my females when holding until ready to spit. Once they are ready I grab a little peice of tubaware and put some tank water in it....Pull the female from the tank and make her spit in the tubaware. Put the fry in a 10G and let them do there thing. Put the female back in the tank she came from.

If the fry still have egg sacks but are wiggiling you are ok. Just make sure there is a little current in the tank to slightly keep them moving. If you see nothing but egg you need to get a egg tumbler ..or create some kind of make shift device to keep the eggs SLIGHTLY moving. If you move them to much you could damage/kill the eggs. Damaging them is almost as bad as killing b/c they can grow up with a deformed face or something else.

Practice makes perfect thats all I can say. You are going to lose some but it's all in the learning process.

Ya, so the fact she was holding was one of the reasons I upgraded to a larger tank, I'd been wanting to go bigger for a while but this was what helped me convince the wife not to kill me lol... It's funny though, last night she gave the green light on getting a 10G to use as a fry tank! (Don't get me wrong, this is my hobby and I make the decisions but she has to live with me so I check her temp on things to find out if I'm going to get murdered for it)
Prior to the move I was keeping the water at a constant 78*, however I'm actually keeping the new tank at around 82* and PH is sitting at about ~8.0
To be honest I'd rather just let her spit on her own but don't want to happen in the big tank for obvious reasons...

if you have a mess of fry to rehome, dont take them to the fish store, leme know, ill set up a whole 55 for some electric yellows! i used to have some... but then i ended up with an oscar...

How far do you live from Dallas? I'll probably only keep a few once they get big enough so you're welcome to some provided you don't live in amarillo or somehting lol.
When I first got started I had a Tiger, an Albino Tiger, and a Midas cichlid, shortly there after the Midas(who was gorgeous) bullied the albino to death so I took it back to the store... the other tiger grew to about 8 to 9 inches before I had to get rid of him (he was pooping too much and was on the verge of being really cramped in the tank. I love Oscars, think they have some of the most beautiful irridescent red, and I would just start at him for hours!

I am in Mansfield. I am in Plano atleast once a month.

im in longview, 2 hour drive from dallas. i dunno y but i replied and its not here... so i must have hit preview instead of send... wierd.

Hey guys, quick question, I noticed a bump on one side of her mouth this morning while I was getting ready for work. It was pretty big so not easy to miss, I didnt time to get a photo since I was already running late so I'll snag one when I get home tonight, but does this sound like anything you're aware of?

So good news I guess, the bump was gone when i got home

Oh man I can't even begin to describe it, fully developed eyes on what looks like fry ready to enter the world! Macro Lens for the win

I just hope they she doesn't spit before I can get the old tank set back up...

That's an awesome pic.

Verdict? Is she about to spit? I plan on setting the old tank back up as a nursery tomorrow. The emperor hasn't cycled as long as I hoped but it will have to do as I need the old filter to set things back up... Definitely going to keep an eye on the ammonio and lower the temp in the community tank once she's moved, nothing drastic per day though, 82 to 80 is the first step...

it would be really great if that pic wasnt cut off on the right side.

It's happening when I upload the photo, here's the link:
https://i.servimg.com/u/f39/16/09/63/20/babies11.jpg

Shank wrote:It's happening when I upload the photo, here's the link:
https://i.servimg.com/u/f39/16/09/63/20/babies11.jpg

When you click the host an image button, where it says resize image set it for 640 for websites.

gotcha, this is the first forum where I've ever avidly posted, thanks for the tip!

WOW that is awesome !!! i wish i had fish breeding to watch the life cycle. how long has she been holding? how many babies do you say she has in that mouth of hers?

My guess is over 20 days, I'm new at it but I'd say she's close to spitting, and I want to get her out of the main tank before it happens.... I've had the 60G setup for a couple weeks but have had her for a couple months, and I think the act occurred shortly after I started raising the pH above 8.0 which would put her right at 30 days. I didn't see the deed but that would be my guess because I did see them circling

Spit them! I can see They are ready! Congrats!

I stripped the Lab tonight, keeping them in a breeder net in the nursery to give mama some space to recover, she hasn't eaten yet but I'm going to test her appetite at breakfast... This is my first time stripping and dealing with fry so I'm really F-ing stoked right now

I'm using Hikari First Bites but they seem to still have some yolk so I doubt they be feeding for a few days... Mom seems ok, maybe a little pissed but stripping wasnt too hard, ended up having to use the wood end of a medical q tip and then a syringe to floosh anything else out at the end. I may be speaking too soon but I think it's been a success

30 Fry at least, 33 to 35 based on other pictures

I'm counting 35, anyone else coming up with something different?

Woot!! Very cool. Best of luck with the little guys, and certainly keep us up to date!!