A New Baby Fish Just Seen In My Tank ... Pics Are Here :)

[didz04]

Hi
I am very excited because as shown in the title I have seen a baby in my cichlid tank and he looks like he has grown quite a bit.
I only saw the one baby swim past which my sister pointed out, and they think that they saw 2 altogether but not together. The one i saw looked twice as big as a convict baby just born and already seeing stripes going down on the baby. So it seems like they have been in the tank for a while hiding and eating when fish weren't watching.

I quickly got the breeding net into the tank and since then i haven't seen the baby. I was thinking would the baby go back into the mums mouth since they are mouth brooders. However, it seems like the parents don't get on too well as they don't really attack each other but the male follows the female and she swims away and the male sometimes does that vibrating thing like he seems annoyed or angry. But generally they do stay near each other near the red rock and they have dug the white sand floor so you can see the glass, do lay eggs on the rock or glass?

I don't no for sure if the baby is alive but i think he has been hiding well and surviving, or is it that he/ she has been going back into the mothers mouth.

How long will it be when they breed again? and do they leave their babies to swim and find food once they have come out of the mouth.

I am really excited as i have had convicts breeding and now Malawi's, i have the net setup to catch them and put them in there so they have no chance of getting eaten, as there are all different kinds of cichlids in there.
But no sign of the baby yet...
Mean while can any give any advice about them?
Thanks

 

[didz04]

any help or advice or suggestions will be much appreciated.
Thanks

 

[kribensis12]

What kind fo fish are in the tank? What kind of fish is the fry? How big is the tank?

 

[didz04]

Hi thanks for reply

There are:
2 Kenyi Cichlids - male & female - Which i suspects its theirs and pretty sure.
1 Yellow Lab
1 Johanni Cichlid
1 African Congo Tinanti Cichlid - Bottom Dweller
1 Albino cichlid - don't know real name
1 Golden Sucking Loach
4 cory's
1 Red Claw Crab

They are all in a 4ft tank. The parents (Kenyi) which i suspect seem to be around each other but the male sometimes does that vibrating thing to the female but never seen them properly act like parents. Are they not like convicts where the parents work together?
The baby looked like it had been in there for a few weeks because the baby was twice as size as a born fry and had stripes going down which made me think that it was the Kenyi cichlids breeding. I am pretty exceited and hope they do breed again.

 

[kribensis12]

Aren't the corries being bullied? If not, I'm surprised. The Kenyi's may very well be the parent's. Or they cross-bred.

 

[didz04]

Actually they were slightly at the start but now not at all, when the cory's start swimming all the cichlids swim around more and seems like no aggression in the tank since i have added them. However, lately the blue female Kenyi is pushing and chasing away the cory's when they go near the big red rock where they have moved most of the sand, you can see the glass which i suspect thats where they are breeding. Why do they do that, meaning move the sand so you can see the glass as my convicts did that and they end up breeding on the cave.
I don't know if they are cross-bred with the list i have given, which 2 is likely to cross breed?

 

[didz04]

I have just seen the baby again and looks blue with stripes going down just like the Kenyi female, I have read that they are usually blue when they are born.
I tried catching the baby as even though there is only one but still really want to raise it, and it may even be a cross breed, but too hard to tell at the moment.

 

[mp0033price]

Glad to hear you have a baby on board! Congrats. I'm new so no answers here, Sorry. Just wanted to say hope the lil' fry makes it. Would love to see a pic if you can get one. I'd say the only way you'll catch it is to totally tear everything out of the tank (lots of work) if it's like my lil' fry. I still had a hard time with no rocks and a couple inches of water, so I can't imagine trying it with all setup. Good luck.

 

[didz04]

Glad to hear you have a baby on board! Congrats. I'm new so no answers here, Sorry. Just wanted to say hope the lil' fry makes it. Would love to see a pic if you can get one. I'd say the only way you'll catch it is to totally tear everything out of the tank (lots of work) if it's like my lil' fry. I still had a hard time with no rocks and a couple inches of water, so I can't imagine trying it with all setup. Good luck.

Hehe lol actually i have caught the baby 30 minutes ago whoo . Yeah i was looking for my Red Claw Crab because he can escape easily and since i am still looking for a 4ft hood i have put glass pieces on top 3 of them and still have gaps so i have covered them with 2 pipes, but one came off so i went to have a look in the tank to see if i can find him and even around the living room lol.
I was just thinking that i could look for the baby as well as the crab. So the first big red rock i picked up where he was last time but the baby was really quick to catch and went into the rocks and plants. I picked it up thinking the crab could be on the other side of the rock clinging, and underneath there the baby was. I got the biggest net and caught him and i was so releaved lol. Don't worry i found the crab aswell he really is a good escaper, i took the crab out and fed him peas and he ate it all.

I will add pics on tomorrow so watch out for them and thanks. I think there is one more which my brother is certain there is a bigger one swimming around, so hope he/she is still alive and catch him too.
The babies do look like they are from the African Kenyi cihlids, I don't know how many they must have had but the female did have a bigger throat like she was carrying something. We really didn't expect that they will have babies but they have and now I demand another batch hehe lol.

Thanks for the reply and i will get you updated later on today with pics, right now it is 3:23am so better get some sleep lol

 

[didz04]

I have finally got pictures of my baby. It had escaped over night as it seems or there are 2 in the net because i caught another one swimming around the big rock. I caught this one and i saw another one swimming around and there is still one in the net. The reason why the baby may have escaped is because i have a net that is ript and so i put a small bag around it and stuck through toothpick for holes and it may have escaped through there.
Today i am going to buy a small breeder tank so i can raise them in there until i can get them a bigger tank.

Here are the pics sorry not too clear but will get better pics once in other tank.

I think the mother is holding babies again but not sure, I have sent some pics on another topic here is the link (pics).

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/316504-is-my-female-kenyi-holding-eggs/

 

[JMatthew]

He's actually brand spanking new rather than been in the tank for a while. Since Mbuna are mouth brooders unlike Convicts when you see the fry they will tend to be weeks while convict fry will be fresh out of the egg. Unfortunately, there was likely anywhere from 15 to 25 more that apparently got chomped on by other fish. There the the SLIGHTEST possiblity that she simply spit on early so I would take an extra close look at the mommy and see if her mouth is bulging...is she eating...hiding? These are all signs that she is holding. If you want the rest of the fry seperate her in a holding tank until she had spit the rest of them.

Aren't the corries being bullied? If not, I'm surprised. The Kenyi's may very well be the parent's. Or they cross-bred.

Don't see anything they could cross with. The Lab is the closest related African an they still aren't close enough, I believe.

 

[didz04]

Yeah i am looking extra close at the female as she is hiding a bit but has been more aggressive however all the fish are a bit scared of the Johanni as he is a bit bigger but last night it was funny as she flipped at the johanni and attacking from all different angles lol. But today back to be a bit scared of him but aggressive to the other fish. Actually she had looked like she was carrying couple weeks back and i think she is on her way again i hope. To my research it takes 3 weeks for them to let the fry out is that right?
I am going to buy a plastic breeder net today for now as the net just looks messy and may have holes for the fry to escape.
So that will mean clearer pics of the babies. So will it be a good idea to put the female in the breeder tank until she spits them out? Will she eat her own babies, like mollies have a hormone that doesn't make them hungry for a while so the fry can escape, are cichlids like that to?

 

[didz04]

Hi Guys to everyone reading this
I have just bought a plastic breeder tank for now and I put the 2 babies that were swimming around.
Just before i was going to catch the female as she was holding more babies but i wasn't too sure, a baby came out from her mouth and she chased it and back into her mouth again lol. I caught her which was a right hastle as she was swimming into the decorations so I had to take most of them out, so I used 2 nets to catch her.
I put the mother into the breeder tank and tried to massage near the mouth where the babies are and i couldn't do it. She kept really squiggling about which it was my first unsuccessful time .
Since she seemed too stressed so I left her in the breeder tank and sorted the decorations out. I could see she was stressed and she jumped around and babies were now hopping out of her mouth lol. 5 More babies came out and she was still jumping around and no more and it looked like they had all come out but never know she could be still carrying more.

So now I have 7 babies really cute looking and they really look like cichlids when they are just born, not like the convicts. I will get pics of them and put them on

Thanks everyone for your help.

 

[Faythee]

So cute ! Congrats