Female Yellow Lab Spawns without Mate!

Hi,

When I noticed that my yellow lab was carrying eggs, I moved her to her own
10 gallon tank. After she released the fry, she was kept in another tank in
which she is the sole occupant to build up her strength. I've been feeding
her well for about eight weeks with some cichlid flakes and occaisionally
some frozen bloodworms. I recently noticed that she has apparently
"spawned" on her own, and is now carrying a mouthful of eggs! The poor soul
has been dutifully carrying her eggs for several days now. I assume that the
eggs will eventually decompose as they're infertile. Has anyone seen this
behavior before with african cichlids? Any explanations?

Gary K

I've got a trio of female blue dolphins (crytocara moorii) and have
discovered two of them holding eggs before without having spawned with a
male. Not exactly sure why.

They normally held the unfertilized eggs for about 3 or 4 days before they
presumeably ate them. My largest one has done that twice (on about a 30-day
cycle) but they haven't done so since I moved them into a larger tank with
other fish.

kay-bee



"Gary K." wrote in message
news:k3gLe.1428$1b5.340@trnddc05...
Hi,

When I noticed that my yellow lab was carrying eggs, I moved her to her
own 10 gallon tank. After she released the fry, she was kept in another
tank in which she is the sole occupant to build up her strength. I've
been feeding her well for about eight weeks with some cichlid flakes and
occaisionally some frozen bloodworms. I recently noticed that she has
apparently "spawned" on her own, and is now carrying a mouthful of eggs!
The poor soul has been dutifully carrying her eggs for several days now. I
assume that the eggs will eventually decompose as they're infertile. Has
anyone seen this behavior before with african cichlids? Any explanations?

Gary K

Thanks Kay-Bee. I guess this is not so unusual with the africans,then.

I've never seen anything similar with the various south american cichlids
that I've kept.

Gary

"kay-bee" wrote in message
news:w4lLe.4904$Al5.915@trnddc04...
I've got a trio of female blue dolphins (crytocara moorii) and have
discovered two of them holding eggs before without having spawned with a
male. Not exactly sure why.

They normally held the unfertilized eggs for about 3 or 4 days before they
presumeably ate them. My largest one has done that twice (on about a
30-day cycle) but they haven't done so since I moved them into a larger
tank with other fish.

kay-bee



"Gary K." wrote in message
news:k3gLe.1428$1b5.340@trnddc05...
Hi,

When I noticed that my yellow lab was carrying eggs, I moved her to her
own 10 gallon tank. After she released the fry, she was kept in another
tank in which she is the sole occupant to build up her strength. I've
been feeding her well for about eight weeks with some cichlid flakes and
occaisionally some frozen bloodworms. I recently noticed that she has
apparently "spawned" on her own, and is now carrying a mouthful of eggs!
The poor soul has been dutifully carrying her eggs for several days now.
I assume that the eggs will eventually decompose as they're infertile.
Has anyone seen this behavior before with african cichlids? Any
explanations?

Gary K