Mouth Brooding Cichlids

[luckyone]

My female cichlid is holding. I was wondering if it's safe to leave the male in the same tank as the female. Will the male eating the fries once they are released? or will he protect the fries like the Central American cichlids? Thanks in advance and Happy Holidays.

[cichlid]

Africans will not ( too my knowledge ) protect. I have a female who is holding in a 15 gallon tank. I think its hit or miss, but generally not advised. I would provide porice rock like lace rock, or a limestoneish base rock, in fact in my 90 I have a random 1/4 fry. My guess is he is surviving off algae on the rocks, but i have no idea who the parents are! So they can survive.

Its your call tho. If you want to keep the fry I say complete seperation.

[clintgv]

If you leave in the main tank and give plenty of rocks and hiding spaces for the fries to hide in, they can survive. The other cichlids will eat them when they get hungry. But if you want to grow them out it's better to set up a small tank for the fries. You could strip the female in a bucket or just put the female in the small tank set up and let her spit them out when she feels confortable to do so. Just provide her with lots of limestone rocks or something to make her feel more confortable.

But for me, I stripped the female and after taking out all the fries in the mouth, I let her back in the main tank and fed her. You could watch some videos on youtube on how to strip african cichlids to help you with your decision of stripping her or just let her spit them out

[sweetlowride]

I can guarantee that all the fry will be eaten, With or without hiding places. I have extensive rockwork and if I dont stip the batch of fry and let her spit them they all end up as a meal, Some last a few days in the rocks but they eventually get confidence to leave the rock then its all over for them

[luckyone]

Wow really? My question is about the parents. Will they eat their own? I am not asking about the other predators. I am asking about one mating pair in a tank all by themself. I don't want to separate the male as I want the process to be as natural as possible.

[luckyone]

As a follow up I know for a fact that red jewels, convicts, and kribs will protect their babies. I am just not sure about mouth brooding cichlids.

[Momobobo]

In my experience with SA Mouthbrooders, I find its hit and miss with the father. Sometimes he holds but he gets distracted and eats them often. Female is much more protective and attentive and I am sure she'd hold to term and protect them after very well.

[sweetlowride]

Yes in most cases the parents will eat the fry, In my experience with africans over the eight years once she spits them out there on their own. Thats why its best to strip the fry. There has been a few times where one of my females spit them out then felt threatened and gathered them all in her mouth again.

If you decide to see if the parents are going to be ok with them and let them free in your tank dont forget to put something over your filter intake to keep those little guys from getting sucked up, I use screen or spounge.


goodluck

[clintgv]

I can guarantee that all the fry will be eaten, With or without hiding places. I have extensive rockwork and if I dont stip the batch of fry and let her spit them they all end up as a meal, Some last a few days in the rocks but they eventually get confidence to leave the rock then its all over for them

Not completely true . Right now there are 10 yellow lab fries in my main tank. Which are now around 2". I have yellow labs and demasoni cichlids in my tank. The smartest will survive and the not so smart will get eaten. It denpends on you if you actually want to grow these out. If not, i wouldn't see why not leave the female in there and let her spit it out herself. I usually get around 30-35 fries every spawn. And around 10 or a little bit more survived and ended up growing to 2".

[clintgv]

Wow really? My question is about the parents. Will they eat their own? I am not asking about the other predators. I am asking about one mating pair in a tank all by themself. I don't want to separate the male as I want the process to be as natural as possible.

In my experiences, The female tend to know that its there baby and not eat them but the male just don't care and would eat any fry he'll see.