Red Zebra Holding?

[clancaster23]

My albino red zebra seems to be holding eggs although I have no experience with this as these are my first so I'm not sure. Posted a short video and you can see in some shots that the bottom of her mouth is a bit bigger and if you get a good enough shot, you can see she has something in her mouth. Also, she will occasionally do the shuffling thing that they do where it looks like they are chewing something. Before a few days ago she was a pretty active fish but since then she has been lurking around a lot under the log and through the tree stump and under a nearby rock. She still will dart out at other fish and swim around occaasionally but not as much as before. She also hasn't been eating. Typical behavior when one is holding?

Video: http/s303.photobucket.com/albums/nn124/clancaster23/?action=view&current=IMAG0001.flv

 

[Redrum]

sounds like she is going to be a mother to me

 

[dthoffsett]

Yup, she's holding. And the P.crabro that kept getting in the way of your shots is a female, I know you weren't sure of the sex in your other topic.

For more info on breeding mbuna: http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/malawi_cichlids_breeding.php

 

[clancaster23]

Well unfortunately she doesn't appear to have them anymore. As of yesterday she no longer has the swell in her mouth and is no longer hiding and is eating. Basically her typical behavior before this. I guess she either swallowed them of spit them out somewhere. Wasn't home when it happened.

They P.crabro, you were talking about the one with the dark stripes? That's good to know. Now to find out about the other one.

 

[dthoffsett]

That's too bad, it happens though, sometimes it takes them a few times to get the hang of holding, I know I wouldn't want to stop eating for almost a month!

Yup the one with the dark stripes is a female. Can you get me a pic of the other one?

 

[clancaster23]

Standing anywhere near the tank makes them go nuts so I can't really get a good steady pic so I just did up another short video. It starts off on my non-albino red zebra then onto the other bumblebee. Then just random shots on what's in there now.

http/s303.photobucket.com/albums/nn124/clancaster23/?action=view&current=IMAG00012.flv

 

[dthoffsett]

Standing anywhere near the tank makes them go nuts so I can't really get a good steady pic so I just did up another short video. It starts off on my non-albino red zebra then onto the other bumblebee. Then just random shots on what's in there now.

http/s303.photobuc...t=IMAG00012.flv

I don't think the one in question is a crabro. Are you talking about the one with a yellow head and fins and a bluish body with vertical stripes? If so, I think that may be a Labidochromis sp. "Hongi".

 

[Bungy]

Looks like a young male Lombardoi - think I saw a Lombardoi female (blue stripe).

Bungy

 

[clancaster23]

I managed to get two pics of it with my cell phone. This is the one in question. I do have three electric yellows "Labidochromis" but I was under the assumption that whether male of female, those were always yellow. This on ein the pic was sold me with me thinking it was another bumblebee, just a lighter shade of a different sex.


http/i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn124/clancaster23/GetAttachment1.jpg
http/i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn124/clancaster23/GetAttachment.jpg

 

[dthoffsett]

Looks like a young male Lombardoi - think I saw a Lombardoi female (blue stripe).

Bungy

I think you're right Bungy, I was having a hard time telling on the video.

I managed to get two pics of it with my cell phone. This is the one in question. I do have three electric yellows "Labidochromis" but I was under the assumption that whether male of female, those were always yellow. This on ein the pic was sold me with me thinking it was another bumblebee, just a lighter shade of a different sex.


http/i303.photobuc...Attachment1.jpg
http/i303.photobuc...tAttachment.jpg

I'd agree with Bungy that it's a maturing male Metriaclima lombardoi. Your electric yellows are Labidochromis caeruleus, there are several Labidochromis species.

 

[clancaster23]

So it's a male Kenyi? Meaning I have two males and one female (the blue/purple one) although the one male I know I have is much larger, it doesn't have any yellow in it. Will this other one eventually lose the yellow and look like my bigger one?

 

[dthoffsett]

So it's a male Kenyi? Meaning I have two males and one female (the blue/purple one) although the one male I know I have is much larger, it doesn't have any yellow in it. Will this other one eventually lose the yellow and look like my bigger one?

Female and juvenile kenyis are light blue with dark vertical stripes while mature males are yellow. So if the "male" you know of isn't yellow, it isn't a male.

 

[clancaster23]

Ok. Another video. The one I started on is the one in question. Is it just a really light colored female? After I was on her, I moved to my smaller very blue female just to show the difference in the two. Maybe the one in question isn't a Kenyi but I bought it thinking it was.

http/s303.photobucket.com/albums/nn124/clancaster23/?action=view&current=IMAG0002.flv

 

[JMatthew]

Buy an egg tumbler and in the future you can strip her once you notice she is holding. She also won't have to wait weeks to eat this way.

 

[dthoffsett]

Ok. Another video. The one I started on is the one in question. Is it just a really light colored female? After I was on her, I moved to my smaller very blue female just to show the difference in the two. Maybe the one in question isn't a Kenyi but I bought it thinking it was.

http/s303.photobuc...nt=IMAG0002.flv

Your one in questions does look like a male that's still transforming, you can see the yellow coming in on the edges of his fins.