babies?

[Kephren01]

so my new fish which we all guessed is female seems to be "holding"? from the little i've paid attention to on here (never really cared for breeding) these pics look like what you guys were tlaking about and when I fed my fish last night, she was right up there to eat but never opened her mouth...
what do you guys think? what do i do now, just leave it alone?

 

[Helena21]

Yep, shes holding. You can leave her alone, and she will spit the fry when she is ready. They will most probably get eaten though. You can also strip her, this is usually done around the 18th day (i do it about the 11-12th day with my saulosi) this involves catching the fish, and then you put her in a small shallow bowl, and use tweezers (or something similar) to open her mouth, and the fry will swim out. Then you can just put the fry in grow out tank.
The choice is yours

 

[Kephren01]

18 days!? they can go that long without eating?

 

[Helena21]

Yep they do it all the time

 

[SinisterKisses]

There's also a good chance that she will never have the babies or that they aren't even babies but unfertilized eggs. Female mbuna "spawn" alone all the time and just hold unfertilized eggs for a few days then spit or swallow them. Inexperienced females often will spit or swallow them after a few days even if they are fertilized, as well.

The other concern becomes, who is the father? If they're hybrids, I recommend not bothering to raise them at all...

And yes, they can go for months without eating if they have to. It's how they do it in the wild, silly

 

[Kephren01]

ohh hehe, thanks for the help. here i kinda feel bad when I don't feed them one day. if they are fertilized i guess it would have to be a hybrid b/c I don't have any others in the tank.