Are my Yellow Labs holding?

[Complexity]

I have two yellow labs (Labidochromis caeruleus) that look and behave differently than the rest. Their jaws appear dropped and their stomachs appear shrunken. When I feed the fish, I've noticed that these two aren't going to the top to feed like the rest. Instead, they swim around a lot in a somewhat head-down position (head more down than the rest of the body and more down than what's normal for the other fish). Their mouths are partially open and their lips are protruding out a little. I can't see inside well enough to check for eggs.

At first, I didn't think they were eating, but they do seem to take a piece of food here and there. I'm feeding primarily spiralina flakes which they seem to love.

The part that's really confusing me is that one of the two fish has some black color in the pelvic and anal fins. I thought only males had black color on the bottom. Can females have it, too?

Does this sound like two holding females or could something be wrong?

[cjvo2]

sound like you have two female holding egg, my yellow lab also eat when it's holding just not as much food

[Zulaab]

Yellow Labs, have a 75% better chance of being male with black in the anal fin than not. Usually females are faded to the point you dont see them, but I have seen plenty of yellow labs with the black stripe quite well showing.
Look at your labs for a while.. note if they seem to be "chewing on something" ... this together with an extended mouth is a VERY good sign its a female who is holding.
One last thing.. Yellow labs are like rabbits in nature... once started its hard to stop breeding.

[Complexity]

The one with the black at the bottom is a bit faded so then it's possible it's a female. Both fish have the exact same body shape, jaw shape, swim the same, and "eat" (or not eat) the same. I'll check for chewing behavior. It'll be fun if they're holding!

If they are holding, any way of figuring out how long? I was so busy with school, I wasn't really paying close attention to them. I just saw fish swimming all around and didn't watch them very closely. Now I see this! So I don't know how long they've been acting this way. Could this be new or could they be ready to spit? Any way of knowing? What about their shrunken stomachs? Is that an indication?

[Zulaab]

Without catching them and looking down their mouth there is no real way of telling.
As their mouth gets bigger you will start seeing bodies in their mouth.

Now one thing. Yellow labs if they EVER SPIT or release or anything they will NOT pick their babies up. IE once they let go the babies are on their own. Unlike many other mouthbrooders who allow their young back in, yellow labs dont. They will spit in a safe crack and from there they have to survive on their own. Yellow lab babies are some of the toughest babies out there. They seem to know what do to as soon as they are released in the tank, unlike some other babies that seems to need a few minutes to figure it out.

[Complexity]

Thanks for the added info about when they spit. I've been trying to watch for them chewing, but it's hard to tell. If I'm anywhere near the tank, they go nuts like a bunch of puppy dogs about to play ball. I tried sitting back using binoculars (don't laugh too hard), but it's hard to pick out the right fish since they keep moving so much. I tried to feed them a little, but I didn't see any of them exhibit the same behavior as before. So now I'm getting confused.

IF I managed to watch the correct ones, what I saw looked like they were opening and closing their mouths about 5 times in a row, but I can't tell for sure how much they're doing it and if they're the only ones doing it. The nice thing about the labs is that they're very active in the tank and have encouraged all the other fish to swim around (even my petricola cats come out now!), but that doesn't make it easy to watch these two for chewing behaviors.

I'll have to try to find pics or videos of the fry so I'll know what to look for. Would the petricola cats hurt the fry?

[cjvo2]

base on my observation of my adult syn. petricola that i keep w/ eklikwaho spit-size tropheus illangi fry, the cat would not harm them, this is in bare tank w/ only two sponge filter

[Complexity]

Tim (armthehomeless) was over yesterday and saw the two fish in question. He confirmed that they are two females holding fry. So I should have fry soon!

[Fire_chair]

Congrats.

[Complexity]

Thank you! I just hope some of the fry survive.

[toomanyfish]

lol if they don't i can give you some of mine. i have soooooo many. very beautiful parents new photos babies 007.jpg056.jpg055.jpg