Second stripping of Tropheus duboisi

[Willy Wombat]

So i just stripped my gal and recovered 2 healthy babies at day 14. Its her second mouthful, first mouthful was 5. Just wondering if this is abnormal. I would have expected her to start having more rather than less in subsequent spawns?

Perhaps she lost some? Seems very small brood.

[MikeWs Fish]

Sometimes when they are new to it all they confuse eggs as food especially if you feed them (any mouthbrooder) pellets. I have a few fish that have problems holding and its quite cmmon for them to have broods of just one or two.

I'm just very curious, do you feed them pellets or flake, or both?

[Willy Wombat]

Mike i feed Both - I have noticed her going very hard on the pellets in the last two or three days. The babies had very full bellies though when i stripped them out tonight.

[MikeWs Fish]

This may or may not be a dud theory but I have two problem species, as far as getting them to hold is concerned.

auroras and the kingsizei lupingu.

both are med-large mbuna and both i feed pellets to.

The fish that i feed flake to dont seem to have any troubles holding at all.

I might try putting both the species mentioned above onto flakes and see how i go.

[MoliroMan]

WW...i think a number of things could have happened:

1. Still new to the motherhood thing, not got the hang of it yet!

2. Stripping too early...wait until 21 days.

3. Some fry lost or eaten by other fish? But in my experience the mother's won't release until egg sacs are all gone which is usually at 21 days so having only 2 at 14 days is unusual.

4. U only have 3 tropheus so we can't explain it by the fact that another mother is holding some fry. I found one day 15 fry in one mother and 4 in another. This is quite unusual since they have on average 10-11 fry per mouthful.

5. Some variants have smaller mouthfuls. Moorii tend to have larger mouthfuls than Black species - 10 vs 5 respectively.

6. U might find more swimming fry hiding amongst the rocks. But again unusual if it has only been 14 days.

I think the most likely explanation is that the mother is still learning and is most likely eating the eggs or fry. Did she also have some larger sand or pebbles in her mouth? Maybe it looked like she had more eggs in her mouth?

Why don't u get some more duboisi and make it a decent colony. Then u will see more mouthfuls to compare. What other fish do u have in the tank?

hth

Dave

[TropheusQueen]

Hey hey,

Ditto to most of what Dave has already said . Without knowing the ages of the fish, you are describing juvenile, inexperienced female behaviour.

A few things to note -

Most variants have the capability to produce 15-20 fry, my Chipimbi colony have been at that level for only a year - they are now 6 years old.

You may have annoyed or scared her enough for her to swallow some as you caught her

She is probably being chased quite a bit by the male as your numbers, both colony and fry, are very low - this will contribute.

The pellet theory may have some credence however I am not informed on this as mine only receive flake and wafers

I have also only stripped Tropheus twice - when females were in danger of dying from repeated attacks - preferring to leave them be - I have only lost a handful of fry - to my knowledge- this way.

I am with Dave add to the colony, if you are able, I believe it will make all the difference

Aline

[Willy Wombat]

OK thanks for all those tips and suggestions guys and gals. Would love to get a colony going but dont have the tank space sadly.