Breeding Electric Yellow Cichlids aka Labidochromis Caeruleus
on September 22nd, 2010 at 1:36 am
Habitat: Rocky shore of African lakes
Diet: Omnivore (Mbuna need lots of veggies in their diet to avoid Malawi Bloat)
Sexing: Males have very dark black pectoral and anal fins. Females have much lighter colored lower fins.
Maximum Size: Males 5 inches, Females 4 inches
Temperature: 78-82 Degrees
PH: 7.8-8.6
Water Hardness: Hard
This is the first fish I ever bred. It started all the magic for me. The best thing an aquarist can experience is looking in to their fish tank and to see babies.
The Yellow Labs are mouth-brooders. Which means, eggs are laid and fertilized and then carried in their mouths until they hatch and are free swimming. You can actually manually remove the fry from the fish’s mouth. This is known as “milking”. Common wisdom says sometime between two to three weeks the fry will be old enough to be free swimming when removed from the mouth. The other alternative is to let the holding mother release them into the tank. Known in the breeder trade as “spit”. A person might say, “I just let her spit in the tank.”
The routine in my experience with these wonderful fish is that they will breed every five or six weeks. After two and a half weeks of holding, I will catch the holding females and milk the fry from their mouths. Immediately they’re returned to the tank as if nothing happened which I find to be important. If the mother is removed to a remote aquarium, when she is returned a week or so later, she is treated as a new inhabitant and she can be harassed quite heavily.
The fry however, are moved to a remote aquarium so that they may grow up and frolic in my java moss paradise with no predators in sight. Feedings happen when it’s convenient. Optimally 3 times a day, if someone is home during the day. Otherwise, they get fed morning and after work. I feed them a variety of foods, flake, algae wafers, shrimp pellets etc. I find that the strict low protein diet required by most Mbuna does not come into play when the fish are less than 1.5 inches as they’re growing so quick. After about 12 weeks, these fry are ready to find new homes.
My breeding setup for these Yellow labs consists of: One 40 gallon breeder aquarium. One 20 gallon aquarium for babies, and one 15 gallon aquarium for babies.
When selecting our group of breeders. You’re looking for quality stock. With this fish in particular, you can find some very washed out specimens. As well as some that do not have jet black finnage on top which is being down bred by fish farms. If you start with an exquisite pair, your fry will be all the better.
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I have read several articles on yellow lab breeding. I am confused some say she picks up the eggs in her mouth then follows the male to fertilize them. Then some say the are fertilized before she holds them. i am wondering which of these is true, as i currently have a female holding. i am wondering because iwant seperate her to eliminate any bulling. but I also want to make sure the eggs are fertilized please help me. Thank you
Hi Dan,
Once the eggs are in the female’s mouth they’ve been fertilized. Before she gets them in her mouth they’re deposited on a flat rock or dug pit in substrate for only a couple of seconds. The male then fertilizes them and she then turns around to pick them up. This happens a few eggs at a time.
Yo, nice article. I have 5 of my own in a 50 gallon aquarium. 4 of these are from a local pet store and I have a wild light blue male that is beautiful, small, stocky, and quite aggressive, he measures roughly 3.6″ I’m hoping to breed this male with a female to hopefully keep his natural blue color alive.
hey how many do you think i could fit in a 50 gallon tank and would a 5 gallon be ok to hold the babies till i get a bigger one for the babies? i am planning on breeding and hopefully selling to a local fish store.
I think you’d want at least a 10 gallon to raise the babies. 20 gallons if you can manage it. But in a 50 gallon tank. I’d have a group of 12 or so with a heavy female population.
just wondering when she lets the fry swim on there own with they get eaten by the other fish or will she try to protect cause i have 3 electric blue 1 male 2 female and 3 electric yellow 1 male 2 female? And also how do u milk them for the eggs ? do you put her in another tank and she spits them out or what? thanks
Yes other fish tend to eat the babies. To milk her usually you use your fingernail or a Q-tip to open the mouth and release the babies into a separate container.
thanks for the help
9 days to early to milk the female for its eggs?
Hey just wondering if one annubius plant will be enough to filter my 40litre breeding tank full of newly milked yellow lab fry? I hav a sponge filter wrapped in stocking but still scared to put it on… Should I get more plants… Anybhelpnwould be great
I have a 29 gallon with 4 of these with no known sex but I believe only 1 is a male. I want to know how to take care of the fry, and how much water to change every week. I managed have to give them about 8 gallons of the tank by separating the fish with the fry with a tank divider. Thanks!