Lombardi mouthful

[bhammo]

Was looking at my female Lombardi tonight and realised she has her first ever mouthful.

However, what should I do from here? I have heard people mentioning making them "spit" the fry. I think she would just be holding eggs at present, so the questions are;

- How do I know when the eggs are actually fry?

- Do I get involved at all (I would like the fry to survive)?

- How do i get her to "spit" and when?

- When he does spit, should I leave her with the fry or remove her as well?

Any help would be appreciated.

It's crazy times in my tank at the moment, a few weeks ago my Brichardi started breeding and they know have their own 4 foot with over a hundred fry. Now the Lombardi, and I have a very suspicious feeling about my Maingano's, which are dancing with each other 24/7 and my two female Red Empress never leave each others side, but male red Empress has started hassling them.

[snoffncountry]

Hi,

If you would like all your fry to survive is to milk her at about the 3 week mark. They will all be free swimming fry at that stage and the only other option would be to let her spit the fry out herself. She will spit the fry out at about the 4 week mark and will still take them in her mouth till they will no longer fit. If you decide to milk her I would suggest you look into buying or making a good fry saver. Cheers

Regards

George and Kim

[bhammo]

Hi,

If you would like all your fry to survive is to milk her at about the 3 week mark. They will all be free swimming fry at that stage and the only other option would be to let her spit the fry out herself. She will spit the fry out at about the 4 week mark and will still take them in her mouth till they will no longer fit. If you decide to milk her I would suggest you look into buying or making a good fry saver. Cheers

Regards

George and Kim

Thanks for the reply;

how exactly do I "milk" her?

[Cichlid_KB]

Get an ice cream container of water from her tank.

Catch her.

Open her bottom lip and gently swirl in water. You will find if you move your finger down her mouth, her teeth will stick into your skin and you can gently pry her mouth open.

Some people use a cotton bud.

Eggs should have heads and tails at latest 6-7 days and can be easily bubbled in a sieve or egg tumbler from then onwards. Or you can wait longer but she may spit them before and theyll get eaten. As she gets older she should hold onto them longer and longer.

KB