Red Zebra egg & young & female questions...

A story and then some questions...

So I have a 55 gallon tank, 3 red zebras, 3 blue socolofi(sp) and 2
yellow (forget the names, you cichlid folks know the ones). First
time with these cichlids, had them for a few months now, have done
some reading on breeding and want to try to salvage some young when
they do spawn.

So a couple weeks back I notice the male red zebra and one female
doing the circle dance tango with girations, then female has a
cigarette, doesn't eat and hides between rocks for next couple of
weeks with noticable bulge in lower jaw (like a case of serious saggy
chin, not puffy cheeks, but saggy chin). Holding eggs I figure.
Reading some posts on this group, I realize to get some living fry I
need to get female to her own tank, so last nite I set up a 15 gal
with sponge, heater, no gravel and a few big rocks for cover for her.

As I am siphoning water from the 55 gal to the 15 gal tank I notice
that female with eggs has emerged from her hiding spot and is now
locked mouth to mouth with the other female red zebra and they are in
a violent struggle to put some serious hurt on each other!! Ouch I
sez!! Then crap, she is probably getting those eggs sucked right out
of her!! The other female now has egg momma by the lower jaw and is
thrashing her about!! Cripes what is with these females!! The big
male could care less!!

As I search desperately for my net to break up this ugly dust-up, I
realize that my boy has only a few minutes earlier absconded with it
(in spite of my warning not to) and it is now too late to break up the
fighting females. When I finally do retrieve my net (and scold the
boy), I spend 15 more minutes chasing the female around the tank,
between the rocks before finally catching her (note to self: next time
dont't panic and start by taking out all rocks). There were many
rocks and I'm good with the net usually and wanted her out quick but
I'll heed my note to self next time so don't rag on me on that one.

With female safely in 15 gal she looks calm but really slim (needs to
eat!) and I now am having real hard time determining if she indeed
managed to save some eggs/young after her ordeal, or if her jaw is
just still saggy but empty. I read about holding her upside down and
flushing water through her gills to flush out eggs/fry but man I don't
want to put her through that now and if she has eggs still, they have
a better chance with her, so not going to do the flush.

Questions for the more experienced folks with these fish...

Any way to know if she still has eggs/fry without flushing her or just
waiting it out ?

Do the females ususally fight when one is holding eggs ?

Got any suggestions on catching her quickly without taking everything
out of tank which will also stress her and the others ?

What is max time to wait before feeding her ?

If I left her in the tank what is typical survival rate for fry or
would any survive ?

Do the yellow guys and blue socolofi do the mouth holding routine also
(they are beginning to line up dance partners now too, the tiny lava
lamps and Barry White tunes I'm piping in are really paying off!) ?


Many thanks for any input!!


jetsfan

"jetsfan" wrote in message
m...
A story and then some questions...

So I have a 55 gallon tank, 3 red zebras, 3 blue socolofi(sp) and 2
yellow (forget the names, you cichlid folks know the ones). First
time with these cichlids, had them for a few months now, have done
some reading on breeding and want to try to salvage some young when
they do spawn.

So a couple weeks back I notice the male red zebra and one female
doing the circle dance tango with girations, then female has a
cigarette, doesn't eat and hides between rocks for next couple of
weeks with noticable bulge in lower jaw (like a case of serious saggy
chin, not puffy cheeks, but saggy chin). Holding eggs I figure.
Reading some posts on this group, I realize to get some living fry I
need to get female to her own tank, so last nite I set up a 15 gal
with sponge, heater, no gravel and a few big rocks for cover for her.

As I am siphoning water from the 55 gal to the 15 gal tank I notice
that female with eggs has emerged from her hiding spot and is now
locked mouth to mouth with the other female red zebra and they are in
a violent struggle to put some serious hurt on each other!! Ouch I
sez!! Then crap, she is probably getting those eggs sucked right out
of her!! The other female now has egg momma by the lower jaw and is
thrashing her about!! Cripes what is with these females!! The big
male could care less!!


The male did his thing.. He don't care now... The Females do that.. Trying
to show their dominance over each other...


As I search desperately for my net to break up this ugly dust-up, I
realize that my boy has only a few minutes earlier absconded with it
(in spite of my warning not to) and it is now too late to break up the
fighting females. When I finally do retrieve my net (and scold the
boy), I spend 15 more minutes chasing the female around the tank,
between the rocks before finally catching her (note to self: next time
dont't panic and start by taking out all rocks). There were many
rocks and I'm good with the net usually and wanted her out quick but
I'll heed my note to self next time so don't rag on me on that one.


Thats a good idea while chasing cichlids.. What until you have fry and try
chasing them around to catch them..Good Luck...


With female safely in 15 gal she looks calm but really slim (needs to
eat!) and I now am having real hard time determining if she indeed
managed to save some eggs/young after her ordeal, or if her jaw is
just still saggy but empty. I read about holding her upside down and
flushing water through her gills to flush out eggs/fry but man I don't
want to put her through that now and if she has eggs still, they have
a better chance with her, so not going to do the flush.

Questions for the more experienced folks with these fish...

Any way to know if she still has eggs/fry without flushing her or just
waiting it out ?

I am trying not to sound like a smart ass, but look inside her mouth.. When
the fry are large enough you can generally see the eyes of the fry looking
at you...


Do the females ususally fight when one is holding eggs ?

As mentioned above, it is a dominance thing...The females also have a
pecking order....

Got any suggestions on catching her quickly without taking everything
out of tank which will also stress her and the others ?

In reality, no... By removing everything you have a better chance of
catching her.. Eithier way, chasing her or removing the rock work is going
to cause her stress any ways...

What is max time to wait before feeding her ?

I have a Kenyi that will take a small bit of crushed flake , even with a
mouth full.. As soon as the female drops her brood, its the right time to
feed her...


If I left her in the tank what is typical survival rate for fry or
would any survive ?
Most Cichlids are excellent mothers.. Protecting their brood, even
taking them in the mouth if they fear danger. Although I have heard of
younger females turning into cannibal's and eatting thier young, as they get
older and more expierianced, they realize eatting their own young is not the
responsible thing to do..


Do the yellow guys and blue socolofi do the mouth holding routine also
(they are beginning to line up dance partners now too, the tiny lava
lamps and Barry White tunes I'm piping in are really paying off!) ?

Being that the fish you have described are from Lake Malawi... Yes, they
are all mouth brooders... I really don't think Barry White does much for
them, although a healthy heavy diet just might be responsible for a breeding
trigger.. Also now that is spring time, the tanks water might be warming up
a bit or temperature is staying a lot more constant.. I find by cutting back
the feedings to minimal and dropping the tank temperature to around 74F for
a week and letting it sit generally is not condusive to them breeding. But
the following week I generally trigger the response by raising the tank
water back to 80 to 82F ( rasing the temperature is done over a three day
period ) and start heavy feeding ( I am seriously over filtered in my 55g
and broke from all the extra filtration I have picked up for my 55 ) and few
decent sized water changes during the week and I have fish doing the wild
thing ( Thank you Tone Loq )all over the place... I have six fish holding
right now after I followed this same process about 3 wks back ( which brings
me to the chasing them around to toss them in their own little 10g birthing
Centre )..

BTW.. Welcome to African Cichlids.. Now that they are breeding expect to
see a whole bunch more fish sooner than later..

Tim....

Many thanks for any input!!


jetsfan

"T" wrote in message link.net...
"jetsfan" wrote in message
m...
A story and then some questions...

So I have a 55 gallon tank, 3 red zebras, 3 blue socolofi(sp) and 2
yellow (forget the names, you cichlid folks know the ones). First
time with these cichlids, had them for a few months now, have done
some reading on breeding and want to try to salvage some young when
they do spawn.

So a couple weeks back I notice the male red zebra and one female
doing the circle dance tango with girations, then female has a
cigarette, doesn't eat and hides between rocks for next couple of
weeks with noticable bulge in lower jaw (like a case of serious saggy
chin, not puffy cheeks, but saggy chin). Holding eggs I figure.
Reading some posts on this group, I realize to get some living fry I
need to get female to her own tank, so last nite I set up a 15 gal
with sponge, heater, no gravel and a few big rocks for cover for her.

As I am siphoning water from the 55 gal to the 15 gal tank I notice
that female with eggs has emerged from her hiding spot and is now
locked mouth to mouth with the other female red zebra and they are in
a violent struggle to put some serious hurt on each other!! Ouch I
sez!! Then crap, she is probably getting those eggs sucked right out
of her!! The other female now has egg momma by the lower jaw and is
thrashing her about!! Cripes what is with these females!! The big
male could care less!!


The male did his thing.. He don't care now... The Females do that.. Trying
to show their dominance over each other...


As I search desperately for my net to break up this ugly dust-up, I
realize that my boy has only a few minutes earlier absconded with it
(in spite of my warning not to) and it is now too late to break up the
fighting females. When I finally do retrieve my net (and scold the
boy), I spend 15 more minutes chasing the female around the tank,
between the rocks before finally catching her (note to self: next time
dont't panic and start by taking out all rocks). There were many
rocks and I'm good with the net usually and wanted her out quick but
I'll heed my note to self next time so don't rag on me on that one.


Thats a good idea while chasing cichlids.. What until you have fry and try
chasing them around to catch them..Good Luck...


With female safely in 15 gal she looks calm but really slim (needs to
eat!) and I now am having real hard time determining if she indeed
managed to save some eggs/young after her ordeal, or if her jaw is
just still saggy but empty. I read about holding her upside down and
flushing water through her gills to flush out eggs/fry but man I don't
want to put her through that now and if she has eggs still, they have
a better chance with her, so not going to do the flush.

Questions for the more experienced folks with these fish...

Any way to know if she still has eggs/fry without flushing her or just
waiting it out ?

I am trying not to sound like a smart ass, but look inside her mouth.. When
the fry are large enough you can generally see the eyes of the fry looking
at you...


Do the females ususally fight when one is holding eggs ?

As mentioned above, it is a dominance thing...The females also have a
pecking order....

Got any suggestions on catching her quickly without taking everything
out of tank which will also stress her and the others ?

In reality, no... By removing everything you have a better chance of
catching her.. Eithier way, chasing her or removing the rock work is going
to cause her stress any ways...

What is max time to wait before feeding her ?

I have a Kenyi that will take a small bit of crushed flake , even with a
mouth full.. As soon as the female drops her brood, its the right time to
feed her...


If I left her in the tank what is typical survival rate for fry or
would any survive ?
Most Cichlids are excellent mothers.. Protecting their brood, even
taking them in the mouth if they fear danger. Although I have heard of
younger females turning into cannibal's and eatting thier young, as they get
older and more expierianced, they realize eatting their own young is not the
responsible thing to do..


Do the yellow guys and blue socolofi do the mouth holding routine also
(they are beginning to line up dance partners now too, the tiny lava
lamps and Barry White tunes I'm piping in are really paying off!) ?

Being that the fish you have described are from Lake Malawi... Yes, they
are all mouth brooders... I really don't think Barry White does much for
them, although a healthy heavy diet just might be responsible for a breeding
trigger.. Also now that is spring time, the tanks water might be warming up
a bit or temperature is staying a lot more constant.. I find by cutting back
the feedings to minimal and dropping the tank temperature to around 74F for
a week and letting it sit generally is not condusive to them breeding. But
the following week I generally trigger the response by raising the tank
water back to 80 to 82F ( rasing the temperature is done over a three day
period ) and start heavy feeding ( I am seriously over filtered in my 55g
and broke from all the extra filtration I have picked up for my 55 ) and few
decent sized water changes during the week and I have fish doing the wild
thing ( Thank you Tone Loq )all over the place... I have six fish holding
right now after I followed this same process about 3 wks back ( which brings
me to the chasing them around to toss them in their own little 10g birthing
Centre )..

BTW.. Welcome to African Cichlids.. Now that they are breeding expect to
see a whole bunch more fish sooner than later..

Tim....

Many thanks for any input!!


jetsfan


Tim,

Thanks for the good info. Six fish holding - excellent. I'm going to
try your water change, temp raising. How many adults do you keep in a
55 ? I guess with the over filtering you mentioned, you can support
more. My only filtration is a Magnum 350 and an air wand. I
originally had 9 adults and a 7" pleco but mysteriously lost 1 yellow
guy so down to 8 cichlids. Didn't see it sick, just one day vanished,
no remains. And I do have tank covered with only a one inch space at
one end so don't think she went on a road trip. Who knows, maybe
pleco had carnivorous moment.

Had been trying to look in zebra mom's mouth for fry but couldn't see
much. Was tempted to do the gill flush thing to be sure but instead
just now put a bare 60 Watt lite bulb against the glass behind the
tank where she is sitting and shazam! She is translucent! You can see
right through her and can see at least 4 sets of fry eyes in her and
can actually see their bodies and the little buggers moving!
Definately going to wait for her to spit them on her own now. Her
belly is sure concave though. Hope she spits them soon so she can
eat.

A water change did spark the initial spawning of my red zebras. I
still think the Barry White helps too but I gave up on the tiny lava
lamps, couldn't keep the candles lite. I don't recommend Tone Loc
though, that stuff only fuels the females bad attitudes.

jetsfan.

"jetsfan" wrote in message
m...
"T" wrote in message
link.net...
"jetsfan" wrote in message
m...
A story and then some questions...

So I have a 55 gallon tank, 3 red zebras, 3 blue socolofi(sp) and 2
yellow (forget the names, you cichlid folks know the ones). First
time with these cichlids, had them for a few months now, have done
some reading on breeding and want to try to salvage some young when
they do spawn.

So a couple weeks back I notice the male red zebra and one female
doing the circle dance tango with girations, then female has a
cigarette, doesn't eat and hides between rocks for next couple of
weeks with noticable bulge in lower jaw (like a case of serious saggy
chin, not puffy cheeks, but saggy chin). Holding eggs I figure.
Reading some posts on this group, I realize to get some living fry I
need to get female to her own tank, so last nite I set up a 15 gal
with sponge, heater, no gravel and a few big rocks for cover for her.

As I am siphoning water from the 55 gal to the 15 gal tank I notice
that female with eggs has emerged from her hiding spot and is now
locked mouth to mouth with the other female red zebra and they are in
a violent struggle to put some serious hurt on each other!! Ouch I
sez!! Then crap, she is probably getting those eggs sucked right out
of her!! The other female now has egg momma by the lower jaw and is
thrashing her about!! Cripes what is with these females!! The big
male could care less!!


The male did his thing.. He don't care now... The Females do that..
Trying
to show their dominance over each other...


As I search desperately for my net to break up this ugly dust-up, I
realize that my boy has only a few minutes earlier absconded with it
(in spite of my warning not to) and it is now too late to break up the
fighting females. When I finally do retrieve my net (and scold the
boy), I spend 15 more minutes chasing the female around the tank,
between the rocks before finally catching her (note to self: next time
dont't panic and start by taking out all rocks). There were many
rocks and I'm good with the net usually and wanted her out quick but
I'll heed my note to self next time so don't rag on me on that one.


Thats a good idea while chasing cichlids.. What until you have fry and
try
chasing them around to catch them..Good Luck...


With female safely in 15 gal she looks calm but really slim (needs to
eat!) and I now am having real hard time determining if she indeed
managed to save some eggs/young after her ordeal, or if her jaw is
just still saggy but empty. I read about holding her upside down and
flushing water through her gills to flush out eggs/fry but man I don't
want to put her through that now and if she has eggs still, they have
a better chance with her, so not going to do the flush.

Questions for the more experienced folks with these fish...

Any way to know if she still has eggs/fry without flushing her or just
waiting it out ?

I am trying not to sound like a smart ass, but look inside her mouth..
When
the fry are large enough you can generally see the eyes of the fry
looking
at you...


Do the females ususally fight when one is holding eggs ?

As mentioned above, it is a dominance thing...The females also have a
pecking order....

Got any suggestions on catching her quickly without taking everything
out of tank which will also stress her and the others ?

In reality, no... By removing everything you have a better chance of
catching her.. Eithier way, chasing her or removing the rock work is
going
to cause her stress any ways...

What is max time to wait before feeding her ?

I have a Kenyi that will take a small bit of crushed flake , even with
a
mouth full.. As soon as the female drops her brood, its the right time
to
feed her...


If I left her in the tank what is typical survival rate for fry or
would any survive ?
Most Cichlids are excellent mothers.. Protecting their brood, even
taking them in the mouth if they fear danger. Although I have heard of
younger females turning into cannibal's and eatting thier young, as they
get
older and more expierianced, they realize eatting their own young is not
the
responsible thing to do..


Do the yellow guys and blue socolofi do the mouth holding routine also
(they are beginning to line up dance partners now too, the tiny lava
lamps and Barry White tunes I'm piping in are really paying off!) ?

Being that the fish you have described are from Lake Malawi... Yes,
they
are all mouth brooders... I really don't think Barry White does much for
them, although a healthy heavy diet just might be responsible for a
breeding
trigger.. Also now that is spring time, the tanks water might be warming
up
a bit or temperature is staying a lot more constant.. I find by cutting
back
the feedings to minimal and dropping the tank temperature to around 74F
for
a week and letting it sit generally is not condusive to them breeding.
But
the following week I generally trigger the response by raising the tank
water back to 80 to 82F ( rasing the temperature is done over a three
day
period ) and start heavy feeding ( I am seriously over filtered in my
55g
and broke from all the extra filtration I have picked up for my 55 ) and
few
decent sized water changes during the week and I have fish doing the
wild
thing ( Thank you Tone Loq )all over the place... I have six fish
holding
right now after I followed this same process about 3 wks back ( which
brings
me to the chasing them around to toss them in their own little 10g
birthing
Centre )..

BTW.. Welcome to African Cichlids.. Now that they are breeding expect
to
see a whole bunch more fish sooner than later..

Tim....

Many thanks for any input!!


jetsfan


Tim,

Thanks for the good info. Six fish holding - excellent. I'm going to
try your water change, temp raising. How many adults do you keep in a
55 ? I guess with the over filtering you mentioned, you can support
more. My only filtration is a Magnum 350 and an air wand. I
originally had 9 adults and a 7" pleco but mysteriously lost 1 yellow
guy so down to 8 cichlids. Didn't see it sick, just one day vanished,
no remains. And I do have tank covered with only a one inch space at
one end so don't think she went on a road trip. Who knows, maybe
pleco had carnivorous moment.

Had been trying to look in zebra mom's mouth for fry but couldn't see
much. Was tempted to do the gill flush thing to be sure but instead
just now put a bare 60 Watt lite bulb against the glass behind the
tank where she is sitting and shazam! She is translucent! You can see
right through her and can see at least 4 sets of fry eyes in her and
can actually see their bodies and the little buggers moving!
Definately going to wait for her to spit them on her own now. Her
belly is sure concave though. Hope she spits them soon so she can
eat.

A water change did spark the initial spawning of my red zebras. I
still think the Barry White helps too but I gave up on the tiny lava
lamps, couldn't keep the candles lite. I don't recommend Tone Loc
though, that stuff only fuels the females bad attitudes.

jetsfan.

The 55 show I believe I have some like 20 adults in there.. Over filtration
seems never enough.. Can't keep the water clean enough.. I will wait and see
what my Red Zebra's do now.. I pulled a 30% water change in the tank
today... One problem is there is a horny dominant Red Top blue in there..
Apparently he likes the Red Zebra's too.. We shall find out soon enough...

Tim..

"T" wrote in message hlink.net...
"jetsfan" wrote in message
m...
"T" wrote in message
link.net...
"jetsfan" wrote in message
m...
A story and then some questions...

So I have a 55 gallon tank, 3 red zebras, 3 blue socolofi(sp) and 2
yellow (forget the names, you cichlid folks know the ones). First
time with these cichlids, had them for a few months now, have done
some reading on breeding and want to try to salvage some young when
they do spawn.

So a couple weeks back I notice the male red zebra and one female
doing the circle dance tango with girations, then female has a
cigarette, doesn't eat and hides between rocks for next couple of
weeks with noticable bulge in lower jaw (like a case of serious saggy
chin, not puffy cheeks, but saggy chin). Holding eggs I figure.
Reading some posts on this group, I realize to get some living fry I
need to get female to her own tank, so last nite I set up a 15 gal
with sponge, heater, no gravel and a few big rocks for cover for her.

As I am siphoning water from the 55 gal to the 15 gal tank I notice
that female with eggs has emerged from her hiding spot and is now
locked mouth to mouth with the other female red zebra and they are in
a violent struggle to put some serious hurt on each other!! Ouch I
sez!! Then crap, she is probably getting those eggs sucked right out
of her!! The other female now has egg momma by the lower jaw and is
thrashing her about!! Cripes what is with these females!! The big
male could care less!!


The male did his thing.. He don't care now... The Females do that..
Trying
to show their dominance over each other...


As I search desperately for my net to break up this ugly dust-up, I
realize that my boy has only a few minutes earlier absconded with it
(in spite of my warning not to) and it is now too late to break up the
fighting females. When I finally do retrieve my net (and scold the
boy), I spend 15 more minutes chasing the female around the tank,
between the rocks before finally catching her (note to self: next time
dont't panic and start by taking out all rocks). There were many
rocks and I'm good with the net usually and wanted her out quick but
I'll heed my note to self next time so don't rag on me on that one.


Thats a good idea while chasing cichlids.. What until you have fry and
try
chasing them around to catch them..Good Luck...


With female safely in 15 gal she looks calm but really slim (needs to
eat!) and I now am having real hard time determining if she indeed
managed to save some eggs/young after her ordeal, or if her jaw is
just still saggy but empty. I read about holding her upside down and
flushing water through her gills to flush out eggs/fry but man I don't
want to put her through that now and if she has eggs still, they have
a better chance with her, so not going to do the flush.

Questions for the more experienced folks with these fish...

Any way to know if she still has eggs/fry without flushing her or just
waiting it out ?

I am trying not to sound like a smart ass, but look inside her mouth..
When
the fry are large enough you can generally see the eyes of the fry
looking
at you...


Do the females ususally fight when one is holding eggs ?

As mentioned above, it is a dominance thing...The females also have a
pecking order....

Got any suggestions on catching her quickly without taking everything
out of tank which will also stress her and the others ?

In reality, no... By removing everything you have a better chance of
catching her.. Eithier way, chasing her or removing the rock work is
going
to cause her stress any ways...

What is max time to wait before feeding her ?

I have a Kenyi that will take a small bit of crushed flake , even with
a
mouth full.. As soon as the female drops her brood, its the right time
to
feed her...


If I left her in the tank what is typical survival rate for fry or
would any survive ?
Most Cichlids are excellent mothers.. Protecting their brood, even
taking them in the mouth if they fear danger. Although I have heard of
younger females turning into cannibal's and eatting thier young, as they
get
older and more expierianced, they realize eatting their own young is not
the
responsible thing to do..


Do the yellow guys and blue socolofi do the mouth holding routine also
(they are beginning to line up dance partners now too, the tiny lava
lamps and Barry White tunes I'm piping in are really paying off!) ?

Being that the fish you have described are from Lake Malawi... Yes,
they
are all mouth brooders... I really don't think Barry White does much for
them, although a healthy heavy diet just might be responsible for a
breeding
trigger.. Also now that is spring time, the tanks water might be warming
up
a bit or temperature is staying a lot more constant.. I find by cutting
back
the feedings to minimal and dropping the tank temperature to around 74F
for
a week and letting it sit generally is not condusive to them breeding.
But
the following week I generally trigger the response by raising the tank
water back to 80 to 82F ( rasing the temperature is done over a three
day
period ) and start heavy feeding ( I am seriously over filtered in my
55g
and broke from all the extra filtration I have picked up for my 55 ) and
few
decent sized water changes during the week and I have fish doing the
wild
thing ( Thank you Tone Loq )all over the place... I have six fish
holding
right now after I followed this same process about 3 wks back ( which
brings
me to the chasing them around to toss them in their own little 10g
birthing
Centre )..

BTW.. Welcome to African Cichlids.. Now that they are breeding expect
to
see a whole bunch more fish sooner than later..

Tim....

Many thanks for any input!!


jetsfan


Tim,

Thanks for the good info. Six fish holding - excellent. I'm going to
try your water change, temp raising. How many adults do you keep in a
55 ? I guess with the over filtering you mentioned, you can support
more. My only filtration is a Magnum 350 and an air wand. I
originally had 9 adults and a 7" pleco but mysteriously lost 1 yellow
guy so down to 8 cichlids. Didn't see it sick, just one day vanished,
no remains. And I do have tank covered with only a one inch space at
one end so don't think she went on a road trip. Who knows, maybe
pleco had carnivorous moment.

Had been trying to look in zebra mom's mouth for fry but couldn't see
much. Was tempted to do the gill flush thing to be sure but instead
just now put a bare 60 Watt lite bulb against the glass behind the
tank where she is sitting and shazam! She is translucent! You can see
right through her and can see at least 4 sets of fry eyes in her and
can actually see their bodies and the little buggers moving!
Definately going to wait for her to spit them on her own now. Her
belly is sure concave though. Hope she spits them soon so she can
eat.

A water change did spark the initial spawning of my red zebras. I
still think the Barry White helps too but I gave up on the tiny lava
lamps, couldn't keep the candles lite. I don't recommend Tone Loc
though, that stuff only fuels the females bad attitudes.

jetsfan.

The 55 show I believe I have some like 20 adults in there.. Over filtration
seems never enough.. Can't keep the water clean enough.. I will wait and see
what my Red Zebra's do now.. I pulled a 30% water change in the tank
today... One problem is there is a horny dominant Red Top blue in there..
Apparently he likes the Red Zebra's too.. We shall find out soon enough...

Tim..


She released 4 fry today. My boy saw them on the bottom today and she
immediately came out and picked them all up when she saw him. She has
retreated back between the rocks with the fry in her mouth and won't
come out. I'd sure like to get them and seperate her to feed her.
What an excellent mother!!

I'd watch your pairings too, socolofi will interbreed with zebras. (socolofi
babies will look like thier parents, not orange and blue like zebras (I know
I had a cross breed, my dinosaurs will love the fish though)) Yellow labs
should be fine. And I find once they start, they just keep going, my yellow
lab just spit her 4th batch! I usually try to net at night when they are
"sleepin" to minimize damage.Good luck, its great to raise the babies. Oh
and I would put food in with mom, if she spit them once, she will probably
spit them again and eat and suck em back in if she finds trouble.
Kelly