This month I've been watching one of my fish especially closely. It started when I found one of my favorite fish, an electric yell lab cichlid named 'Marvelous Miss Mustard' was hiding for some reason.
Why is she hiding?
Cichlids are highly intelligent and very social creatures that can be aggressive to each other. This beautiful lady recently gave birth to a litter and I knew she was weak so seeing this made me quite worried. I take my role as a tank keeper serious and, if giving up a loved pet will keep it alive, I'm very ready to do this. It's happened before.
So I texted my fish-guy and, what did he say?
Good news is she is hiding because she is protecting her eggs WHICH ARE IN HER MOUTH. Thankfully I have a 'side-car' style hospital tank where I can separate her from the other fish while she is holding eggs and weak.
So, I set up the side-tank and got her in there.
Cichlid mouth brooding!
I'll let someone smarter than I explain this for me:
Mouth-brooding African cichlid mating occurs something like this: the male digs out a cave (nest) for the female and lures her in by doing this silly fin shaking dance (there's also a disturbing "kissing" version). She lays her eggs in the nest and he fertilizes them. Then she picks up the eggs in her mouth and carries them until they hatch.
female carrying eggs
The eggs will hatch between 10-15 days after fertilization. The female then hold the babies in her mouth for up to two more weeks, occasionally letting them out to feed them. Most new mothers will start releasing the babies about 2 weeks after you notice they are carrying them, but will suck them back in when danger threatens.
From MIT
So, shes got a mouth full of eggs again, one of the things not mentioned here: she cannot eat. As she is already weak this is very worry-some. I drop food in every few days but, if shes eating at all, she's sneaky about it. I know she is getting more and more thin and I hate it.
Let's take a look at some images of our girl:
Her own little place...
to relax and give her fins a rest.
Over the last 48hrs her eggs have hatched and I can see the babies eyes peeking out of her mouth. It's VERY trippy, thankfully this is not my first time so I now know what to expect. At this point her mouth is so full that she cant even close her mouth as you can see here.
What a mouthful, y'all.
Over the coming days I'm going to need to help her birth these little lads and shes going to be way too weak to go back in the main tank. I'm hoing to need a second hospital tank. God bless my wife for putting up with my hobbies.
When born her babies (called frye) will look like this as they grow. These pictures are of her last batch, her first brood ever. We've been through a lot together.
The gangs all here
Roughly three weeks post hatching
Thank you for reading friends. Is there anything at all you would like to know about my tank? If so I would be more than happy to answer.
Until we meet again stay safe.