i just stripped my yellow lab!

[Collin1104]

the moms only an inch and a half so i wasnt surprised when i only got three fry out of her!!! i have them in a plastic breeder now in the moms tank with all the lights off!! its amazing they are only a centemeter long and they already have the shape of a mbuna!! i can even see the black stripe on their dorsal fin!! i read that they should eat in about two days and i already bought First bites for food for them!! is there anything else i should be doing????? thanks

[Collin1104]

oh yea ill have pics up soon!

[Dixie]

You can use a turkey baister to suck the dirt out of the breeder box. Feed them 5 times a day and keep the water really clean. This is the advice I've read about fry. Do you have a grow out tank for them when they get a little bigger?

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Just out of curiosity, why did you strip them? It is generally not recommended that you strip them unless there is a danger to the female. It has been my experience and the experience of others, that fry that have not been stripped prematurely from their mother are hardier fish.

[Collin1104]

thanks dixie, yea i have the breeder in a cycled ten gallon so ill let them out soon, any ideas on how long i should keep them in the breeder or should i just let them out now?? and yes i have a 30 gallon for extra growing out, thats where the mom was the whole time, it used to be the main tank before i got the 55 gallon.. the ten gallon should be fine for grow out though. i think. i really wanna put a pair of something in the 30 once the moms back to full strength.. and goldbarb, i read a lot about young moms swallowing their first time so i got anxious and took them out after 27 days.. do you really think it will make a big difference on how hardy they are? lol btw they are doing great in the breeder and eating a lot.. im growing some infusoria for them and it should be ready tomorrow

[Dixie]

Yes, I'd go ahead and let them out. I'm not real experienced but I think a 10g. is fine for a grow out tank and having a 30g. for even further growing out is great. I have a tiny 1.5g. for the first fry tank then they will go into a 10g. but from there (unless I get a bigger tank) they will have to go into the 55g. or to the LSF.

I heard it's safe to strip after only 18 days of holding so I'd say yours got a REAL good start. I've never heard that spit fry are hardier than striped but I'll ask around and see what I can find out for you.

What is infusoria? I've never heard of it but think it's cool that you're going the extra mile for the fry by growing something for them. Wish you the best of luck with your new batch. Can't wait to see pics. I bet they are sooo cute.

[Collin1104]

ok, sorry for replying this late. all three fry are still alive and doing great! they are little fat babies still, always eating, they bumped up to hikari flakes in no time. its been 17 days since i striped them and 43 since i noticed the mother was holding!

As for water changes, i just siphon water from the 30 gallon which is about a foot away, to their ten gallon. I got the mom back to full strength in about a week and put her in the 55 with the rest of the adults and i bought a very young pair of convicts for the 30, hopefully they will grow up and breed!

Infusoria, if you havent looked it up already, you probably should lol because id butcher it trying to explain it to you. its basically little single cell organisms that you cant see, that grow off of decaying organic matter. so basically you put a banana peel in water and soak it in the sun for a few days. i didnt feed the fry that, just first bites by hikari.

Pics are coming soon! the fish have grown a little bit but they look pretty much the same. its hard to get a hold of a camera that has good enough zoom to really get a good picture of them. i made a video, and im gonna try to upload that to youtube tomorrow and put a link on here.

[Dixie]

Thanks for the reply. I'll look infusoria up lol I probably have some growing in my frig. (kidding).

Why are you putting water from the 30g. into the 10g. as a water change? I'd use fresh dechlorinated water so it would be cleaner and free of nitrates etc.

[Dixie]

Glad to hear your babies are doing well.

[Collin1104]

ok these pictures arent awesome cus the only camera i have is the camera on my laptop and theres no zoom so i just put it up to the glass and tell the babies to come over lol their all still alive and doing really well! no color yet but becoming less transparent!
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sorry if theres a rule against putting too many pictures lol i wont do it again! and im also sorry for how poor these pictures are!

[troy]

They aren't too bad. My camera is so bad I can't even take a good picture of my tank.

[Collin1104]

heres a video of the one month olds!!!! all three still alive!! sorry their tank is kind of messy =)
i hope this link works lol youtube confuses me
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[Dixie]

I'm on dial up and can't really watch youtube. You never answered my question when I ask why you were using water from another tank for water changes. Fry do better and grow faster with really clean fresh water (dechlorinated of course). I use a turkey baister to suck up dirt out of my 10g. tank too. Takes some time but works pretty good. I got one in a grocery store for about 2 bucks.

Bet they're getting really cute now. Post a pic if you can.

[Collin1104]

the tank water i put in there is very clean, i only have a convict pair in that 30 gallon which used to house 7 mbuna so the bioload is very small compared to what the filter used to handle. plus the temp was the same.

ill try to put up a picture but they are soo much easier to video tape then take pics but ill try!