Yellow Lab Maternal behavior

[Gary K.]

Hi,

I've had good experience lately with my yellow labs spawning in my 75 gallon
community tank. After the first female spawned, I removed her to a well
planted 10 gallon tank and eventually noticed 5 babies swimming around the
rocks. I returned the female to the community tank, and moved a second
female that was also holding eggs into the tank with the fry from the first
female(I only have two tanks). As the second female was carrying eggs and
had no apetite, she co-existed well with the 5 fry. She is at the point
where she is still holding most of her fry, but a few have escaped her
mouth. She seems very interested in recovering her fry, but they seem to be
afraid of her and run when she attempts to re-capture them. Is this typical
behavior among yellow labs? Interestingly, the female's maternal instincts
are also directed toward the original 5 fry which are twice the size of the
new guys, and definitely don't want to be in her mouth! The only other
africans that I've had spawn were malonochromis johanni many years ago, and
as I recall, the fry would swim back into the mother's mouth when she gave
them a "signal"and opened her mouth. These fry seem to want nothing to do
with mother once they leave her mouth.

BTW, I enjoy the posts made to this group.

Gary K.

[Amateur Cichlids]

Typically, after release, no further care is given from the mother to fry
for Labidochromis species. However, Labidochromis are famous for holding
their fry for longer periods of time and picking up fry if they're not ready
to give them up. I once read an article that gave an account from Paul
Loiselle I think it was. He had two packing fish in one ten gallon maternity
tank. One Labid and One peacock. He noticed one day that the Aulonocara was
no longer packing, but the Labidochromis' mouth looked huge. A few days
later she finally spit her own fry and the fry of the Aulonocara she'd
picked up.
Enjoy your fry,
Tim
www.fishaholics.org

[Gary K.]

Hi Tim,

Thanks for sharing you experience with me Tim! Looks like about 5 more
babies have escaped the female, but judging by the size of her bucal pouch,
she's still stubbornly holding onto a few more! In your experience, how long
does it take before the female loses the maternal drive and starts viewing
the fry as "food"?

Gary


"Amateur Cichlids" > wrote in message
om...
> Typically, after release, no further care is given from the mother to fry
> for Labidochromis species. However, Labidochromis are famous for holding
> their fry for longer periods of time and picking up fry if they're not
> ready to give them up. I once read an article that gave an account from
> Paul Loiselle I think it was. He had two packing fish in one ten gallon
> maternity tank. One Labid and One peacock. He noticed one day that the
> Aulonocara was no longer packing, but the Labidochromis' mouth looked
> huge. A few days later she finally spit her own fry and the fry of the
> Aulonocara she'd picked up.
> Enjoy your fry,
> Tim
> www.fishaholics.org
>
>

[Amateur Cichlids]

"Gary K." > wrote in message
news:3UE3e.10756$k66.10516@trnddc03...
>
> Hi Tim,
>
> Thanks for sharing you experience with me Tim! Looks like about 5 more
> babies have escaped the female, but judging by the size of her bucal
> pouch, she's still stubbornly holding onto a few more! In your experience,
> how long does it take before the female loses the maternal drive and
> starts viewing the fry as "food"?
>
> Gary
>

Gary,
The times I've separated the female from the fry and allowed her to spit
on her own, I've never left her with the fry for any length of time. Once
the mother spit all the fry, I moved her back to the main tank. If her
stomach looked real sunken, sometimes I'd move the females to a separate
tank to recondition them prior to returning them to the fray. Mother's I've
left to spit in the main tank I've found usually ignore the fry after the
first day.
Tim

[Gary K.]

Thanks again, Tim. It's a pleasure to talk with a fellow cichlid-lover.

"Amateur Cichlids" > wrote in message
m...
>
> "Gary K." > wrote in message
> news:3UE3e.10756$k66.10516@trnddc03...
>>
>> Hi Tim,
>>
>> Thanks for sharing you experience with me Tim! Looks like about 5 more
>> babies have escaped the female, but judging by the size of her bucal
>> pouch, she's still stubbornly holding onto a few more! In your
>> experience, how long does it take before the female loses the maternal
>> drive and starts viewing the fry as "food"?
>>
>> Gary
>>
>
> Gary,
> The times I've separated the female from the fry and allowed her to
> spit on her own, I've never left her with the fry for any length of time.
> Once the mother spit all the fry, I moved her back to the main tank. If
> her stomach looked real sunken, sometimes I'd move the females to a
> separate tank to recondition them prior to returning them to the fray.
> Mother's I've left to spit in the main tank I've found usually ignore the
> fry after the first day.
> Tim
>
>