Astatotilapia latifasciata fry

My sons Astatotilapia latifasciata is holding. She looks like shes been holding for a while, but just noticed her yesterday.


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Very nice, I have 6 of them right now, I think I have a male in the group thats starting to get some color, there at the 2" size. This friday im going to pickup 3 from Conway to add to my 6 I got from bobbys water world.

Madness, do you think when the fry grow bigger you might be willing to sell some?

Most definitely. This is our first spawn, so I am a bit new to what to do.

Have you ever raised mouth brooders? if you think they have been holding for awhile then maybe give them a week 2 at the most and strip the fry into a 10 gal of there own.

OK. How do I strip the fry? Is this a better way, or should I just pull the female out?

Ive done both and my opinion stripping is the best, look it up online maybe even on youtube. Its hard to explain without showing.

I would leave her alone until you see viable fry w/ no yolk sacs (watch her and she'll open her mouth every now and then).

-To strip her, net her and put her in a plastic bin (I use 5 gallon bucket).
-Put your hand in the bucket and she'll most likely freak out and swim all over. Let her burn off some of her energy and tire out.
-Once she's calmed down, gently hold her with your and, and use your other hand (thumb) to gently pry open the mouth.
-Hold her upside down (under water) and watch the fry come out.
-Try to net as many fry asap and put into separate tank/net.
-Repeat steps with mother.

Again, IME leave the female alone until her fry have hatched, then strip her.

I do all above, when I see a female holding I write it down on calendar and wait 2 weeks then strip her by using the end of a plastic zip tie.

ok, perfect. Noticed her yesterday, so I will give her 2 weeks.

Luckily they have big mouths so it should be pretty simple for your first time of stripping. I tried putting a female peacock holding for the first time in a tank by herself. She ended up releasing the fry after 3 days of letting them out and then back in the mouth, so on the 4th day I check on them and she had ate 16 out of the 18 fry.

Ive been told if you keep doing the same thing each time she holds the fish gets use to it and may even get to the point of spitting the fry into the net so you dont have to net her. Jim the owner of Conway Tropical has some female fish at home that do that for him.

Im really happy to see victorian cichlids taking off! this is great. good luck with the babes.

If I want to save fry, I put the females into holding tanks and let them spit when they are ready. I provide tons of hiding spots in the tank and remove the mom as soon as I see she has spit them. I've only had one female eat her babies. I have stripped before, but I do not like it!