How Long For E.yellow Eggs?

[Jools]

Hi all

Last night i noticed that one of my females in my new E.Yellow colony was carrying a mouthful of eggs.
These must have spawned yesterday as they wernt their in the morning.

Im just curious as to how long before the female spits out the fry, ie how long till the eggs hatch?

I want to make sure i have my artemia hatchery up and going before the fry need feeding as well as set up a new fry tank for them.
Any pointers from you E.Yellow specialists would be super....
Cheers
Jules

[Marc]

Jules, I'm by no means an expert, but from my readings I believe this to be the best method:

At around 21 days, take the female from the tank, and have her release the fry from her mouth into a seperate tank.

There are a number of methods for this to be done, but I believe the easiest is gently hold her mouth open and dip her into the new tank a few times and she should release them. From there, I would start feeding crushed flake before going with live brine shrimp.

I took a Venestus that was holding last week and placed her into her own tank. The intention was to let her spit the fry naturally, but two days later they were all gone. So I was told to wait longer, and take the fry from them rather than letting them release naturally.

I'd be certainly up to more advice on this, as I have two Afra Cobwe at the moment holding that are pushing ~14 days now.

[Jools]

Cheers Marc

But 21 days before i get fry? surely they dont live off their egg reserves for 3 weeks, i find this very hard to believe...

will make a few phone calls and see what i can find out...

Jules

[Jools]

Ok Marc

Youre on the right track apparently :wink:

14-21 days before the female spits the fry, apparently it is best to remove the female from the community tank and put her in her own tank, once female spits the fry move her to another tank alone for feeding for a week then back to community tank.
If you dont give the female some time to feed after releasing the fry there is the possibility she will breed again without eating before hand and end up starving to death!!
Coz as you know they wont eat whilst brooding.

Anyway this leads me to my next question. lol

Do i need to be feeding the fry before she releases them or does the female somehow feed them whilst being held?

Cheers
Jules

[Marc]

Hi Jools, they feed off the sack (can't remember technical terms here), until they hatch and actually become fry - which is when she spits them out.

[Jools]

Marc

It must be a big sack to last 14-21 days, im only going from my experience with natives tho, and they are feeding in a few days, only takes about 2-3 days for them to use up their egg reserves.
Thus why i am curious as to how they are fed for so long?

I gots to get me a really really good book on Africans, they dont teach you anything about em at school :(

cheers fella
Jules

[DFishkeeper]

Hi Guys,

Electric Yellows, like most Lake Malawi mouthbrooders, carry their eggs for around 21 days. The females do not usually eat during this period. The eggs hatch after 6-7 days and then live on their yolk sack until released by the female as fully formed freeswimming fry. The female does lose a lot of condition while holding, particularly in the last week. I usually strip the fry from mine at day 14 - 16 to allow the female to start eating sooner and consequently be ready to breed again much sooner. The fry can be stripped from the female by holding her over a bowl of water and using a cottonbud to catch the small teeth on her bottom jaw to pull it down and allow the fry to fall out. At day 14 on the fry are fairly robust although still feeding on their yolk sack and can be grown out for a few days in a floating plastic strainer with a gentle airstone flow under it. They will start eating newly hatched brine shrimp at around day 19 or so.

Cheers, Doug