How do i get the babies from a pregnant yellow cichlids mouth?

Question

how do i get the babies from her mouth?

Answer 1

Moving her will not make her eat the babies, but she might spit them out prematurely.  Some of the maternal mouthbrooders hold the eggs and then the fry (babies) in their mouths for up to 3 weeks and even longer.  She will not spit them on her own until they are ready to swim by themselves.

You are correct, the other fish in the tank will eat them when she does spit them.  That is why she keeps them for so long.  In the wild, she would spit them in an area that has a lot of rocks and crevices for them to hide in.

Now, to how should you get them out.  If you are sure they are fully developed and ready to swim on their own, you can do what is called "stripping" the fry from the mother's mouth.  If you are not sure how long she has beeen "holding" them, you should isolate her in a small (10 gallon) tank that is filtered and heated that has water from the main tank.  She will hold them until they are ready and then spit them in this tank where they will not be harmed by the other fish.  You can set up a 10g tank for under $30 that you can then use as a quarantine tank and "grow out" tank.

If you know for a fact that the fry are fully developed, here is how to "strip" the mother.  Get a new clean bucket and put about 4" of tank water in it.  Net her from the community tank.  Wet your hands with the tank water (dry hands will damage her slime coating) and hold her gently but firmly in one hand while you, very carefully open her mouth with your finger from the other hand.  Once you have her mouth open, hold it open and dip her repeatedly into the water in the bucket, headfirst, until the fry start coming out of her mouth and into the bucket.

This should take no more than a couple of minutes all together.  Any longer and you risk harming the mother and the fry by depriving them of the oxygen in the water.

If you have any questions or are not sure of anything I have said, feel free to email me and I will be glad to help further, if I can.

8

Answer 2

Well, I would leave them in. The mom is going to protect them, so you don't need to do anything but feed them!

Answer 3

don't remove them from her mouth. if you have a small measuring cup, or something to gently move her, you should put them separate from the others. if you do move them, however, make sure to put in a significant amount of water from the tank they are now in (it has to do with getting the right temperature and stuff).

i meant you should move the mom and the babies to a different tank than the other fish. don't separate the babies from the mom.

no. she will not eat the babies.

Answer 4

like from stoping her eat them well if thats the case you can move the mother or the babys to a spare tank. other than that i don't get what you mean by her mouth.

Answer 5

If she's pregnant how are there baby's in her mouth?

Answer 6

Your are going to have a buy a tank separtator from petsmart and just give her about 5 gallons and when you see the babys swimming take her out.

Answer 7

u don't have to get them out, that is the way the parents take care of their fry.some cichlids are mouth brooders