first fry!

[domjd05]

Today I got home from work and decided it was time to tear down my 55g mnuba tank...(not enough time to keep up on all the tanks anymore(blush) ) I think I must've had 100llbs of slate in that thing... haha

anyway, I'm taking all my fish out, and I notice something funny, and as I looked closer sure enough it was a fry! I only found one out of the entire tank.. and it looks like its a rusty.. its about 1cm in length, I took it out and put it in my 10g I've had stored for a while (so much for downsizing the tanks)

I ground up some flake food.. he hasn't taken to it yet, but I sure hope he makes it, I've never had a fish reproduce before (to my knowledge, as this was a complete surprise!)

[Northernguy]

Congrats!
Thats awesome! I'm glad you had a ten around for it!
How long is it?
lol Your tearing down tanks only to find out you have more fish!

[domjd05]

the 10 or the fish? I don't know about the 10 but the fish is just barely a centimeter... thats my best guestimation.

[Northernguy]

lol The tank is 20"!
He was born not to long ago!You didn't see any eggs?

[domjd05]

no I didnt, here is a pic of the tank.. I had almost all the rocks out before I noticed the fry.

I'm sure if there were any (which I think I would've noticed) they were destroyed as I took the rocks out. I thought that rustys were mouthbrooders?

[domjd05]

I'm really going to miss my mnubas I'm pretty glad I got a little fry to raise up haha.

[thatcichlidguy]

I'm fairly certain that all Mbuna are mouthbrooders, at least I haven't heard of one that wasn't.

Didn't happen to notice any females that looked like they were chewing gum did you? That's always the first thing that would catch my eye when a female was holding.

[domjd05]

Well I had some red zebras, yellow labs, and rustys in there, my guess is its one of those 3... probably a rusty.. I did take notice that one of the rustys was hiding is a strange spot.. vertically.

[thatcichlidguy]

My females (except for my Brichardi) would go into hiding either in the rocks or corners when they were holding . I kept Peacocks, but mouthbrooders just the same. When I'd notice that one was hiding or hanging out in an odd place that was the first thing I looked for, the gum chewing. It's the female keeping the eggs moving around . 28 days or so later , snack time . The only fry I managed to get was when I stripped one of the females when she was close to releasing the fry. Downside of them breeding in a community tank.

[domjd05]

I noticed both the yellow labs and the rustys doing that kind of behavior