FishBrain Posted January 4, 2005 Report Share Posted January 4, 2005 Holding? Is that when the fish holds the babies or eggs in her mouth until they are ready or do i misunderstand. My flameback female hasn't eaten in a while and her mouth is very big compared to how I remember it looking. Not sure as I am pretty new to the Cichlid circuit. Dont know why it took me so long to get into it. Well ok I do. No Hockey!! anyway, do I remove her and put her somwhere else or do I just let her do her thing and hope for the best. If I hope for the best, then should i remove the fry when they are seen? Any help would be greatly appreciated Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunl Posted January 4, 2005 Report Share Posted January 4, 2005 If she is holding, unless there is a great deal of cover for the fry, they will be eaten by the other cichlids when spit (even if they are vegetarians), If she is holding, she should look like she swallowed a marble. The throat area will be quite swollen. Does she look like the third picture down in this link?: http://www.africancichlids.net/Victoria/Ha...ack/gallery.htm if so, she is holding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted January 5, 2005 Report Share Posted January 5, 2005 IF your female looks like there is something in its throat and is hiding and not eating then its probably holding. The pic in the link dunl posted shows it quite well. If you want to keep the fry then i would suggest moving the female to a 10g about 2 weeks into her holding. She should hold for around 3-4 weeks. Then she will spit the fry out. At this point, after feeding the female a couple times, I would move her back to the main tank as she could decide to eat the new fry. Now you will have a tank full of new babies. Feed them frozen BBS, cyclops, and crushed flakes a cople times a day and do frequent water changes. Now if you dont' want to raise the babies its ok to let the female spit in the main tank. Most of the fry will get eaten by the tankmates. I do this sometimes when i dont' feel like keeping the babies or i dont' have any tank space to make a fry tank. Usually a couple fry survive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishBrain Posted January 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2005 YES, she is definetly holding then!! She looks just like that one, that sack sort of beats in her throat. I wouldn't mind having 2 or 3 more but i dont have the room for them. The best I have is 2, 2.5Gal tanks, one hex and one short , the 10 that I have is leaking. This is the first time that she was like this and I got her in Nov, so maybe I'll wait till next batch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawntraviss Posted January 5, 2005 Report Share Posted January 5, 2005 Watch her weight, i had to milk one of my females once because she got extremely under weight ( i bought her holding and the pet stores usually inder feed theyre fish) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishBrain Posted January 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2005 Milk? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted January 5, 2005 Report Share Posted January 5, 2005 I think he means strip. Striping is manually removing the fry from the female, before she spits them naturally. Yes, i have found that strip is sometimes necessary but most times the females are quite able to go the 3-4 weeks without the food(some females still eat while holding too). If your female gets very emaciated(sunken stomach, looking sick) you may need to to this too but if your female was healthy and well fed before breeding it shouldn't be a problem. This is the first time that she was like this and I got her in Nov, so maybe I'll wait till next batch Dont' worry, there will be many chances to raise the fry. Once africans start breeding its hard to get them to stop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rahim101 Posted January 5, 2005 Report Share Posted January 5, 2005 http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/stripping_fry.php http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/stripping.php The above are a couple of articles on stripping fish!!!!! If it is your fishes first time holding, she may not hold to term and will spit prematurely. How long has she been holding???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishManTy Posted January 5, 2005 Report Share Posted January 5, 2005 Because of my setups, I personally strip all my preg females. I find it easy to make sure the female won't spit them out, and plus, by doing this, I don't need to have a holding tank to place her in waiting for her to spit them out. Might even be able to get a few more this way, because none will get lost or eaten by other fish. Stresses out the female at the same time, so its up to you. Ty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rahim101 Posted January 5, 2005 Report Share Posted January 5, 2005 I also like to strip as that way the females don't get too skinny. I strip after 14 days to ensure the eggs have hatched and are somewhat free swimming. they will still have an egg sack, but I start feeding rightaway that way the egg sack seems to go away quicker!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RD. Posted January 5, 2005 Report Share Posted January 5, 2005 Males get milked, females get stripped. If you want to get an idea of how to properly strip a female (fish), check out the following video. http://www.flippersandfins.net/cichlidstripping.htm Hope that helps ....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishBrain Posted January 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2005 Man, you all are so much help. thank you everyone!!!! dont know how i got along without you :thumbs: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawntraviss Posted January 7, 2005 Report Share Posted January 7, 2005 I like to strip females but for some reason i always end up milking myself ok sorry, dont block me for this one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishBrain Posted January 7, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2005 No dont block him. That is a funny one lmao Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted January 7, 2005 Report Share Posted January 7, 2005 I like to strip females but for some reason i always end up milking myself ROTFLMOA :rofl: :beer: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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