2 female yellow labs having babies, what to do before & after givingbirth

[Jimmy]

I have 2 female yellow labs that are holding. There're other cichlid
in the community tank (29 gallons) as well (1 male yellow lab who
probably is the father, along with 10+ fishes). I had another
breeding tank (may be about 20+ gallons) setup with a small filter &
heater (suppose to be for 10 gallons or less). I've taken out water
from the community tank to the other tank gradually for 2 days now.
Going to put gravels & rocks (some from community tank & some are new)
into the breeding tank tonight.

Can someone help me with these questions?
- Does the breeding tank need gravels?
- Or is it enough if I just put some rocks in the breeding tank for
the females to lay eggs on? If so, rocks from the community or some
new rocks?
- Should I take the 2 holding females together into the breeding tank
at the same time? With or without taking the male (possibly father)
over?
- If there are only 2 holding females in the breeding tank, will they
fight before and/or after breeding?
- My friend's cichlid female got killed when put back to community
tank after breeding, how soon or how I can prevent this from
happening? Say I put one back at a time or use a breeding net in the
tank to separate them for a bit? ... as I do have 2 breeding nets.

Thanks,
Jimmy

[Jim Anderson[_2_]]

In article <6fe7ae15-74d1-47c2-b56c-4594019be341
@u28g2000hsc.googlegroups.com>, says...
> I have 2 female yellow labs that are holding. There're other cichlid
> in the community tank (29 gallons) as well (1 male yellow lab who
> probably is the father, along with 10+ fishes). I had another
> breeding tank (may be about 20+ gallons) setup with a small filter &
> heater (suppose to be for 10 gallons or less). I've taken out water
> from the community tank to the other tank gradually for 2 days now.
> Going to put gravels & rocks (some from community tank & some are new)
> into the breeding tank tonight.
>
> Can someone help me with these questions?
> - Does the breeding tank need gravels?
> - Or is it enough if I just put some rocks in the breeding tank for
> the females to lay eggs on? If so, rocks from the community or some
> new rocks?
> - Should I take the 2 holding females together into the breeding tank
> at the same time? With or without taking the male (possibly father)
> over?
> - If there are only 2 holding females in the breeding tank, will they
> fight before and/or after breeding?
> - My friend's cichlid female got killed when put back to community
> tank after breeding, how soon or how I can prevent this from
> happening? Say I put one back at a time or use a breeding net in the
> tank to separate them for a bit? ... as I do have 2 breeding nets.
>
> Thanks,
> Jimmy
>

If female has not layed the eggs, they have not mated yet. They lay the
eggs, then the male sprays them with his sperm/milt. After the eggs have
been fertilized, the female may scoop them up in her mouth and incubate
them for about 3 days. When they hatch, the babies stay in the females
mouth until they can free swim, after which they still swim into her
mouth when they get scared. The whole time her mouth is full of
eggs/babies she can not eat and gets very weak. She should have her own
tank and be feed very well for 2-4 weeks, or longer, to get her strength
back or the male will chase her to death.