Holding??

[Lairdc76]

I was looking at my sons tank and one of his cichlids is holding, I think. It will come up to the top of the tank like its going to eat but never does and you can see his lower jaw pushing out. I looked at pictures on google and this one looks the same as those. Questions? If this is holding do I need to remove the fish for the tank? There's 17 fish in his tank ranging from 2" - 3". I have another tank that has some small red blood parrots? Will it be better to move it to that tank? Thanks for you help....

Edit: I looked online and his fish is a OB Zebra and its the only one in the tank. He use to have two of them but the other one died 6+ months ago....

[crazy42bmx]

No you dont have to remove her. Just keep an eye on her, buy yourself a net breeder and in a week or so strip her and release the fry to the net to raise up a bit. Better to keep just hatched fry in the same water they're used to already as sometimes when u move them they will die. Feeding is easy. Crushed ground up flake food or baby brine shrimp. Tho you dont need to feed them yet till the egg sack is just about all gone. Once they are about a half inch u can move them to a grow out tank and raise them further and eventually sell if u choose.

[Lairdc76]

Is she holding fry or eggs? If there isnt another OB Zebra is the eggs fertilized or can they cross breed? I also noticed that one or some of the other cichlids have been nipping at her tail fin.

[rage]

She holds the eggs in her mouth, then they hatch and she holds the frys until they are old enough.

If you don't move her, she will release the frys into the tank and they maybe eaten by other fish. I had left holding females in big tank before and found 1 or 2 frys hidden in crevices and survived.

When I removed holding females, I could keep more frys alive.

[SunnyHouTX]

You can also strip the female before she spits the fry out. Usually takes about 15 - 20 days for the fry to develop fully, depending on species

[Lairdc76]

Here's the fish I was talking about.

[SunnyHouTX]

Holding

[Lairdc76]

That's cool, I'll give her another week and try to move the fry to a breeding net like y'all said. Thanks for all the help.

[AHP]

Congrats!

[morpheus]

Congrats! and yes holding. you can tell with the throat extended below the jawline. just keep an eye on her. i had cichlids hold and release before i got to the fry and would randomly find a few when gravel cleaning. the new breeder troy mentioned is a good idea

[Lairdc76]

I bought the net breeder last night and I'm fixing to move the OB zebra to that until she releases the fry. I noticed last night I have another one that is holding as well. It really surprised me, because isn't very old or I don't don't think it is. I bought this one sometime in tr middle of last year and she wasn't very big.

[johnnymisty]

When my petros started breeding one of the smaller females was the first to hold and even had a big mouthful think I stripped 13 fry from her