And we have eggs!

[kribkid17]

I noticed one of my female labs had eggs this morning. I'm assuming that they are from yesterday. When should I strip the eggs? And my tank is at 80f if that matters. Oh and these fish were just eating flake and pellets too, I guess that shows you how easy to breed they are.

[dennysfishroom]

Typically, the eggs hatch in 6-7 days, so if you're going to strip them, you should probably do it before then. I don't know whether people strip the females after hatching, but that could be an option, too. If you wait about 2-3 weeks, then at least the fry would be free-swimming, and you wouldn't have to worry about a tumbler. Denny

[brenna]

i noticed that alot of people "strip" their cichlids and was wondering what that means.

[dennysfishroom]

You net the female, and pry her mouth open. The eggs/fry will be spit out, and you can return the female to another tank and raise the fry by themselves. Denny

[TerriM]

Congratulations! Keep us posted!

[kribkid17]

I built an egg tumbler a couple weeks ago but last night I added a side mesh so I could get filtration. I used aquaruim silicone and was wondering can I use it if it's dried for 24 hours or do I have to wait the 48hours?

[mewickham]

It should be good to go. If you were gluing an aquarium together, I'd be more cautious.

[kribkid17]

I tested my egg tumbler idea and it was a fail, but I made a new and improved one. The new one works good, I'll post pics later. I stripped my lab and I got 15 huge eggs. The eggs are now in the tumbler getting bubbled.

[Jackielee]

Keep us posted with progress.

[kribkid17]

Well they've been in the tumbler for 24 hours and only 1 egg has fungused.

[kribkid17]

My tumbler must be good, I've yet to have another egg fungus. And these cichlids breed like rabbits once they get going! My acei has another batch of eggs.

[kribkid17]

When will I need to start feeding the fry? Their yolk sacks aren't all the way gone but the fry are starting to move around on the bottom.

[kribkid17]

Today I transfered the fry into a breeder box. I have about 15 lab fry. I also stripped my acei and she had 58 wigglers in her mouth! I have all the wigglers in the tumbler now

[Jackielee]

You go Evan!

[TerriM]

That's great!

[snakeskinner]

I typically put my fry in a tub with snails and cherry shrimp and I feed them a little bit earlier than when I think they probably need it. just in case a couple end up finishing off their yolk sacks early, and the shrimp/snails clean up any uneaten food. Kyle

[kribkid17]

Alls been good, haven't lost any fry! The fry are eating dafinia and sprillia flakes and growing well. I'll try to upload some pics.

[TerriM]

That's great! Congratulations.

@ snakeskinner ~ What species of snail?

[snakeskinner]

common ramshorns or pondsnails (not sure exact species, probably a few different ones). I have done my best to erraticate malaysian trumpet snails, that's one species I wouldn't mind seeing go extinct Kyle