I have babies - Pictures

[f1oored]

My red zebra that was holding has spit the babies. She is very protective of them and puts them back in her mouth whenever we look at her. This photo was hard to get so I hope you enjoy. I count at least a dozen fry.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c45/f1oored/Momandbabies.jpg
Cute little buggers aren't they?

Here is a picture of my yellow lab Bob who is also holding right now.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c45/f1oored/Bobholding.jpg

[Severus]

Congratulations! That is pretty exciting. Are you gonna try and raise all of the fry?

[f1oored]

I'm going to start a 10 gallon fry tank and keep them until they are about an inch or so. Then I'm going to try to sell them. I don't have any tank room for another 2 dozen cichlids.

[Abbeys_Mom]

Aww cute little babies!

[kufan]

congrats...good luck with them.

KU

[f1oored]

Thank you.

[Lady Hobbs]

awwwwwww.........they are so cute. How many did you get?

[cocoa_pleco]

nice lookin lil guys:thumb:

[Drumachine09]

Too bad we dont live closer, id be happy to take some of those off your hands!

[cocoa_pleco]

same:1:
I wouldnt mind a few

[blue fin]

Great fun......cool looking little guys.....

[jeffs99dime]

very nice!!!

[sergo]

so how do they ship fish anyway? i tank is a day or so away from being cycled and i'm getting ready to look for some fishies to put in there.

[Cichlid_Man]

Congrats F1oored!

They look really great!

[f1oored]

I don't think these guys would make it out of ohio if I tried to ship them. It's like 16 degrees here. If there are any AC members in the area that want some zebras, just let me know.

BTW - She has them back in her mouth now.

[Severus]

Seems like she cant make her mind up! That would be cool to make a small profit off the fry.

[f1oored]

If I get half cost (which I hear is about what you can get around here) that would be 5 a fry. If they all live that will be about 60 bucks. Considering I've spent hundreds (probably pushing a thousand) on the fish stuff, it should only take me about a hundred years to recoup my cost. Then I will see the profit! lol But it would be nice to see a little return.

[kimmers318]

Hubby Tom says he will trade you some demasoni and acei fry for some of those red zebra and yellow lab fry! We are about 2 hours from Columbus.....not too far of a stretch, plus we could visit some of the finer stores in a bigger city. Sounds like a road trip to me!!!!!!

[AquaQueen]

CONGRATS f1oored!!! The picture of the babies was/is soooo cute!!! Good Luck I hope they all survive and bring some money back to you...I know it can get costly taking care of fishies but so worth it in the long run. Best Wishes to your new members of your "fish family"

[Severus]

Hubby Tom says he will trade you some demasoni and acei fry for some of those red zebra and yellow lab fry! We are about 2 hours from Columbus.....not too far of a stretch, plus we could visit some of the finer stores in a bigger city. Sounds like a road trip to me!!!!!!

That would be a cool trade. Demasoni are awesome

[kimmers318]

Yes, they are awesome for such small fish in the tank, very active with beautiful colors! She has dropped I think 3 batches now, he is starting to wonder what he is going to do with the darn things!

[f1oored]

I'm sure we would be up for a trade. It will probably be a little while still. We are having some trouble seperating the fry from the mom at this point. She seems to want to keep them in her mouth all the time. You want to share any secrets?

I've just setup a 10 gallon fry tank that should be ready for fish in a day or so. I'll post some pictures once it's ready.

[kimmers318]

With the demasoni and acei we haven't seen any of the behavior where mom puts them back into her mouth.....once they drop them the babies are on their own. But there are enough hiding places that they may be doing that while hidden and we just don't see it.

[f1oored]

Alright! Mom is back in the big tank and babies are in the new fry tank. I counted 22 but smashed one during the transfer so I'm at 21 right now. They are all hiding out in the holey rock. Only one is brave enough to leave the cave and I call him Maximus. I'll try to get a picture of him later.

Here is the fry tank.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c45/f1oored/holding031.jpg

[Fishguy2727]

Very nice. I have thought about removing holding females from the 150 and raising the fry myself. After seeing that a couple are making it though I will just see what happens. I regularly see 2 move about right after feedings.

[f1oored]

I think I'm going to leave my little yellow lab who is holding in the big tank for her first batch. I don't think she will produce very many fry and I don't want to start another tank just for her (and I don't really feel like puting her in with the zebras). After the zebras are big enough to sell I might pull out the next holding female and put her in the fry tank. This has been a lot of work so far and I think I would like to wait until these guys are done before I start again.

[kimmers318]

You may not get the option to wait....they may just keep giving you more and more babiesthumbs2: . That first shot of mom and babies by the way is awesome....hope to see it in the POTM contest! Keep me posted on how the babies are doing and we can see about taking a trip to Columbus. It sounds like a great weekend.....drive down with your babies, deliver to you, check out local stores that you of course can recommend....get a room, order pizza, swim with the kids, stop back by in the late morning to pick up our babies and come on home:19: . If you know of any local stores that are big on freshwater puffs make sure you get me an address!

[f1oored]

Sounds like a plan. I only wish this city had more to offer in the way of aquarium stores. Aquarium Adventure is a pretty cool store, though I'm not sure any place has a large selection of freshwater puffers lol. I'll keep my eyes open though, I'm sure there is a puffers store somewhere in this city.

[kimmers318]

We have an aquarium adventure here near us.....awesome store! I love the custom setups that travel all around the walls and stuff. We have had good luck with their fish also even though others have complained their fish died from there. Makes me wonder what their tank maintenance is like!

[f1oored]

Here is a picture of Maximus as promised!
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c45/f1oored/mbuna-1.jpg

The little guys are growing up fast. They are already acting like cichlids, nippin and chasing just like the adults do. Good stuff!

[Abbeys_Mom]

Awww so cute and tiny!

[vdub]

very nice pic! the lil guy is really cool lookin.

[Chaindriven]

Congratulations,

I like the picture. Good going and enjoy watching them grow.
I will attempt to take a photo of my nursery tank and post it tonight.

All the best.