I've got fry!!!!!

[eklikewhoa]

after ranting to myself about my male multifasciatus switching females and telling him how worthless he is cause there wasnt any babies i saw about 6 fry darting in and around the shells of their mother!

i have four females and i have noticed that the male was "spending time" with a certain female and then after awhile he will jump to the next but at the same time still visiting the others. well the female with the babies around her is the one he first kicked it with and she happens to be the alpha female too, the guy is on his third sleepover so im guessing female #2 will soon have babies and female #4's turn is coming up.

tried taking pictures but i couldnt get a good picture of the micro fry heck the females are tiny themselves. im so excited since this is my first African cichlid to spawn and have babies! i had leleupi's that i thought had babies but they are in armthehomeless' care now and they are breeding for him  :? .


anyone here with multis  

[Ramius]

Re: I've got fry!!!!!

sweet!

[eklikewhoa]

Re: I've got fry!!!!!

scratch that, i have three females with fry!!!!

[SCOTT]

Re: I've got fry!!!!!

oh EK!!! sounds to me like you need someone to take them off your hands, hehe. Talk about hard to raise, these little bitty leleupi are tough when they are no bigger than a pinhead. I went a whole week of feeding BBS 4 times a day with nothing in the tank, or so it appeared, when I finally glimpsed these little bitty guys, a month later they are now the size of 2 pinheads?, hehe. This has been an experience at the very least, thanks Tim for the chance to raise your fry, I counted 10 the last time I looked.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: I've got fry!!!!!

im sure eventually they will get big and will have to be parted  :wink:  right now there is actually one batch that is a bit bigger than the others and i was pretty amazed with the size on it when compared to the tiny mothers.

hopefully they will all make it and female #4 comes out of her shell with a batch too.

[armthehomeless]

Re: I've got fry!!!!!

Congrats on the multi babies. I haven't had anything happen that I have noticed with my occelatus as of yet.

If I had kept the leleupi fry, they would all be dead by now. They are in much more capable hands with you Scott. Whenever they get large enough, I'll donate them (well half of them) to the LHA Breeders Program.

[guppymax]

Re: I've got fry!!!!!

Cool, congratulations.

max

[eklikewhoa]

Re: I've got fry!!!!!

thanks everyone and stick with them scott!

[eklikewhoa]

Re: I've got fry!!!!!

i snapped some pictures of the colony but couldnt get a good picture of the little fry. the fry are super fast and dart in and around the shells in the tank so its hard to get a glimpse of them moreless a picture.

i think i counted about 8 total and female #4 is not leaving her shell so i think she might have a clutch going herself.

here is female#4


male on the right, dominant female in the back(also the one with the older fry) and female #3(male was with her third) up front


female #2 (second to get knocked up)




hmmm.... i just noticed that all my shells missing 8O there was like over 40 neothauma shells in the tank but now only like 20 is visable. hopefully they are under the giant sand dunes that they have formed and if not i think i need to make a few phone calls to some supposed friends of mine :evil:

[Mzungu]

Re: I've got fry!!!!!

Awesome, congrats! And three, maybe all four, of the females!  8O  Great! That's funny about the shells, you're probably right that they built some kind of underground housing. If you ever get pictures of the fry, be sure to post them!

[RonR.]

Re: I've got fry!!!!!

congrats bro!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[eklikewhoa]

Re: I've got fry!!!!!

the fry are curious of their surrounding now and starting to explore a bit. the dominant female's fry are at least a week old compared to the fry timelines i have found for multis.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: I've got fry!!!!!

update....... i counted at least 7 fry total darting around with the dominant female's batch being the oldest but i notice within her batch there is one that is almost twice the size of its siblings. all fry were nice and fat from my special small fish mix i made for my convict babies.

there was an alarming sight though within the dominant female's clutch though, the biggest had grabbed one of the smaller ones by the tail and then started chasing the other two around the shells.  8O  hopefully it was just some good 'ole sibling rivalry or im gonna be a few fries short of a batch.

the last female still sticks close to her batch of shells and i have noticed the male helping the other females unbury some shells that were buried close to each territory. two of the females have since moved into a different shell within their territory so maybe they are getting ready to breed again?

[naps]

Re: I've got fry!!!!!

NICE!! 8)  8)  8)

[eklikewhoa]

Re: I've got fry!!!!!

thanks naps