# my new 37 gallon mbuna setup *spawning yellow labs*



## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

featuring yellow labs (4), demasoni (7), and yellow tailed aceii (5)

the aceii (purple with yellow fins) swim together in a school towards the top of the tank and all seem very fond of each other which is quite a contrast from the others which stay near the rocks and are quite aggressive, typical of mbuna.


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

That is completely unlike any of my tanks, so I'm fascinated by your photos. Your fish are stunning! Those are freshwater fish, aren't they? And yet, they are so brightly coloured and iridescent, they look like saltwater fish (to me). Maybe they are saltwater (<confused grin>)

Are they hard to look after?

Congratulations on your new tank.


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

they are freshwater (although they do like some mineral salts added to it) and quite easy to look after, they should be overstocked to help control aggression so the hardest part of looking after them is the frequent water changes, i do 2 a week.


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Thank you for all the info you sent me, Mferko. 
Overstocking would be the tricky part for me -- how to know exactly which fish to put into your tank and exactly how much to overstock to prevent aggression but not to make the fish sick. Probably, this takes a bit of research before attempting. Your fish look very happy, so clearly you're doing something right! 

Your fish are very colourful and the rocks are set up to look very natural. Great job!


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

thanks again 
the site i linked you Cichlid-Forum Library -- cichlid articles, profiles, maps, projects, and videos is where i learned the most about how to keep these, i just kept reading the articles on there and the species profiles.


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

my yellow labs are spawning right this moment!!!    but my camera battery is dead   

i think my project for this weekend will be making an egg tumbler


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

scratch that, i netted her up to put her in a breeder box and she decided to spit out 7 of her eggs (while she was in the box, luckily) so i had to make an egg tumbler within about 2 minutes
i used 2 water bottles, an empty melafix bottle, and a cut up filter media bag
its working great but im gonna go to home depot now on cambie and fifth and buy some things to build a more permanant one


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## Nanokid (May 18, 2010)

ditch the egg tumblers, there mouth brooders. let them hold the eggs themselves, and pull them at 2 1/2 3 weeks. egg tumblers can fail.


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

she wont pick them back up, its either let them die or tumble them


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## Nanokid (May 18, 2010)

sometimes they pick them back up... to late now i think now though.in my opinion i wouldn't try to save the eggs - 7 is a very low number - even if they all make it. chances are that about 3 will. knowing its your first time, your just exited to have Eggs  in the future, don't aggravate the females by putting them a breeding box - it just stresses them out. leave them in the tank till week three, then pull fry.


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

its not my first time, dunno why u made that assumption. stripping on the third week is what i did with the aceii but this one is so young i didnt even expect her to be breeding yet and tbh id rather have her get back to eating/growing asap

most of the breeders ive talked to recommended tumbling in order to get the maximum number of fry (apparently the females will snack on some during pregnancy) so im gonna try it and see how it goes. i stripped the rest of the eggs from her so she can go back to eating, there is about 20-25 tumbling.

hopefully in 5-6 days theyl pop out of the eggs


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

its day 4 and i can see little tails sticking out of 3 eggs, all but 4 of them got that white fungus, looks like i'll have at least 3 fry  better than nothing


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## Nanokid (May 18, 2010)

Mferko said:


> its not my first time, dunno why u made that assumption. stripping on the third week is what i did with the aceii but this one is so young i didnt even expect her to be breeding yet and tbh id rather have her get back to eating/growing asap
> 
> most of the breeders ive talked to recommended tumbling in order to get the maximum number of fry (apparently the females will snack on some during pregnancy) so im gonna try it and see how it goes. i stripped the rest of the eggs from her so she can go back to eating, there is about 20-25 tumbling.
> 
> hopefully in 5-6 days theyl pop out of the eggs


sorry for making that assumption, it just really seems like it. if it wasnt your first time - you would have fry up to your ankles by now!


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## Brisch (May 13, 2010)

wow be nice


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

Nanokid said:


> sorry for making that assumption, it just really seems like it. if it wasnt your first time - you would have fry up to your ankles by now!


i sold all my fry, and then got rid of the parents too because i wanted to start over with juvies of diff species

i kept some of the brightest aceii fry for the next batch of breeding
if you looked closely its pretty obvious they're all juvies tbh.


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