# Sad Update - Fry with no egg sacks



## user_error (Aug 15, 2010)

hey everyone

thought i'd share some pictures of the fry and eggs i got from two females tonight. i hadn't planned to strip the eggs from the other female but, well i wasn't sure how far along the process was so i went to check the contents of the mouth and a bunch came out...










as you might be able to see, i got 8 fry from the other one and the fry are already quite big so looks like i waited too a little too long to strip that one... but hey, it's my first time with breeding cichlids

here's one mom recovering. the other one is back in the breeder box, still has some eggs in her mouth










the fry will go in my fry tank, but what do i do with the eggs? any advice on how to keep them alive? can they go in the breeder box with the fry? or should i put them back in with the mom? the box she is in has a separate chamber below, can i put them down there?

* Note - I originally posted this in the wrong section of the forums, sorry mods please don't strike me down :/


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

the eggs will be fine, put them in your hob breeder box and keep it clean with one of those testing pipettes. keep the water flowing through it. i did that with a batch of demasoni and they turned out great. with the floating breeder box you risk fish trying to suck the eggs out thru the slits in the side (my acei even did it to some of their own fry once, its why i switched to the hob style)
i think the hob should keep the eggs oxygenated better too and move them around a bit on the bottom almost like the egg tumblers you can buy.
gl tom


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## Cichlid2010 (Apr 21, 2010)

I put the eggs in the floating breeder with an air pump right beside it. The air pump will keep the water in the breeder moving. I also had a heater set to 82F. It usually take about 10 days for the eggs to become free swin frys.


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## user_error (Aug 15, 2010)

update - i have made a DIY egg tumbler from a spare UG filter i had, water flow seems to be enough to just make the eggs vibrate / wiggle a bit so hopefully that's sufficient... 

i'll see how that works, thanks for tips guys (and by the way, thanks again gavin for the suggestion to strip the moms)

now to see how long until the eggs begin to hatch... i guess if they die / turn not viable they will stop sinking to the bottom of the tumbler and start to float?


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

theyl turn white


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## user_error (Aug 15, 2010)

oh yes one more thing i forgot to post before

apparently if you stripped the eggs accidentally like i did, then put the eggs back in the breeder box with the female, she will pick the eggs back up, even if you've handled them some

good thing to know, i put two eggs back in her box so far and like a good mom she noticed right away and sucked them back up

it's actually really quite amazing how much they can store in there (8+ fry!)


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## clintgv (May 6, 2010)

Congrats! Make sure you don't overfeed them in the first week 
Their stomachs will be weaker then the grown ups


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## user_error (Aug 15, 2010)

i dont think they are eating yet maybe another day or two still have little bit of egg sack

they are in a breeder box with bigger fry i think i will take the bigger fry out tomorrow

some eggs turned white today already so the tumbler i made didn't work that well. i have since improved it quite a bit, the water flows nicely now. i have 1/2 in the breeder box 1/2 in the tumbler i will test to see which one produces more fry


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## user_error (Aug 15, 2010)

Alright a bit of an update after 5 days

It looks like I took the eggs from the mom much too soon, should have let her have them all back. They all got fungus except one I returned to mom, both the ones i put in the breeder box and the ones in my DIY egg tumbler (which I still think works very well).

So anyways I returned about 1/3 of the eggs to mom and checked her tonight she has 12 or more eggs with eyes on them in her mouth...










Sorry I know picture sucks. Anyway I stripped the 12 she might have one or two more still in her mouth, I'll check tomorrow. Don't want to bruise the fish too much the first female didn't look too good for two days after I stripped her

So anyways I have doubled the filtration on the tank and put 1/2 the wigglers into the hob breeder box and the other 1/2 into a floating one with an air stone on one side to circulate the water. I will monitor closely and see how they do now that they are wiggling and jumping around a bit...

Wish me luck


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## thefishwife (Apr 21, 2010)

good luck! I stripped my female about 2 weeks ago and she spit out 14 of them, I few I lost when transfering them to a breeders net, but I believe I have 8 left and another female holding.

I will wait the 3-4 weeks before stripping the new one as I find thats what works for me, that being said its the second time I have done it.


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## user_error (Aug 15, 2010)

not many following this thread but here's the latest probably las tupdate 

8 wigglers left, the hob breeder box is definitely the best way to house the wigglers. i will know for next time to strip mom only once she has fry that have decent sized eyes and are wiggling actively. i will stay away from the eggs i think mom can look after them better until the eyes form than any device i could put in place...


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## user_error (Aug 15, 2010)

So update after two weeks

Another holding female, caught her and waited til she had wigglers then stripped her. She fought me a lot and escaped a few times, I think once while babies were coming out she damaged some of them with her mouth because when all was said and done there were three that had no egg sacks attached... Were still alive but I had to put them down, felt bad but they didn't look to last very long anyway

Anyone know if this is common or signs that I should be concerned for the other fry at all? The other ones all seem healthy enough...


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## Smiladon (Apr 23, 2010)

My advice is to let nature take its course.

After about 2.5-3 weeks, you should transfer her to her own tank (I used a 10Gallon before) with some holey rocks. When the mom feels more "secure" she lets them out, if not the babies will eventually come out of her mouth one at a time. With the holey rocks, they can hide in them and avoid being captured by mom again.

It takes patience, but the end result is much better. Good luck on the future ones. I'm sorry for not seeing this thread earlier. I could have let you know about this before...


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