macdre Posted February 4, 2011 Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 i have a rather large cluster of various cichlids in my tank and today I noticed my electric yellow doing the do with a usually timid male red zebra, the tellow is now holding eggs in her mouth what I was wondering does anyone have any idea of what I may end up with here? I know it isnt uncommon for the 2 to mix but i just wanted to know what they may look like? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunl Posted February 4, 2011 Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 To me? Bait. :smokey: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ishkabod Posted February 4, 2011 Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 Cichlids especially Africans are rarely crossed and if they are they don't normally get sold or the like. With a pair like this i'd have to say that most likely no one knows. The only thing i can say is be a good hobbiest and don't pass them on to someone else. Good luck L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macdre Posted February 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 I am aware of the purest theory of not allowing a species to cross breed and obviouslly i would not be selling them off as one or the other to anyone ,but I do believe the little guys have a right to exist lol genicide is not in my nature. I was more looking for a visual description of what they may look like. I have never been good at waiting for things xmas for example lol, Had I not watched the spawning process myself I wouldnt have know at all. but i cant take back what i saw so its got me curious. Im not a breeder for profit or anything but the idea of having my lil guys have there own offspring is interesting to me, and I find the whole mouth brooding process pretty amazing I mean really. Is it not true that cross breeding and such is part of the evolutionary path?, I realize that there fish but who knows they may be standard looking or plain jane but maybe they may be unique at least assuming they survive the dangers of being born in my african tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RD. Posted February 4, 2011 Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 This particular hybrid cross has existed for years. In a random breeding you will end up with mixed results, some looking like the father, some the mother, and some orangish looking yellow labs with no black (or lack of solid black) barring in the dorsal fin, and possibly anal & pectoral fins as well. Several yrs back this cross surfaced in various pet stores across North America, and can still be found today. Typically sold as yellow labs, when in fact they are not. Nothing more than a cheap short cut to producing more colorful yellow labs, out of poor yellow lab breeding stock. I believe that this cross originated in Asia. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rED O Posted February 4, 2011 Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 Strip the female Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macdre Posted February 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 Strip the female?, like to dispose of the eggs?, not an option, I appreciate the keeping pure species however im not in the business of selling fish im in the sitting at home enjoying my fish, if they cross breed then so be it , Thanks to all who replied Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rED O Posted February 5, 2011 Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 What I mean by strip her is... Catch her and take her out. Hold her in your hand gently, take a cotton swab and open her bottom jaw and have her tilted head down, so the eggs just roll right out of her mouth and toss her back in the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayba Posted February 6, 2011 Report Share Posted February 6, 2011 What I mean by strip her is... Catch her and take her out. Hold her in your hand gently, take a cotton swab and open her bottom jaw and have her tilted head down, so the eggs just roll right out of her mouth and toss her back in the tank. Doubles as a good snack for everyone else in the tank. If you aren't prepared to do the right thing later, do the right thing now and strip her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ishkabod Posted February 6, 2011 Report Share Posted February 6, 2011 Stripping her has 2 benifits. 1. if in the future you want to or need to change your setup and sell some fish you won't have to deal with passing on hybrid fish to another and 2. the female won't have to go through the starvation they do when they are holding the eggs so it's much less stressfull for her. Unless you have allot of small small spaces in the tank that they rest of the fish can't get at or have a hard time doing so then you most likely will have no surviving babies anyway and then a female that hasn't eaten in a month. I know about the thrill of having the first female holding babies and my favorate thing to see in my tank is the inside mouth of one of my electric yellows with the small little itsy bitsy babies stuffed inside. If you don't want to strip her then may i suggest waiting for the female to spit and then catching her and placing her in a recovery tank. I'd do that for mine except the fact that it's a 4 hour job with little chance of success on my part because of the rockwork and my lack of talent in catching the fish so it'd be waayyy more stressful for all the fish let alone the female and not to mention me in order to do this. Good luck L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandi Posted February 7, 2011 Report Share Posted February 7, 2011 I had a reb zebra male mate with one of my electric yellows and I let the fry get big enough to see what they turned out to be...basically they were pale, barred eletric yellows. So they all become feeder fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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