Pregnant or sick? African cichlids!?

Question

Ok,so I have 5 african cichlids, in a 30 gallon tank! 2 yellow labs, 2 red zebras, and one that i'm not really sure what it is! 1 of the yellow labs, and one of the red zebras, have a bigger belly than the others! is it possible that they are pregnant or are the sick? they are only about 1-1.5 inches in length! Are they big enough to mate? and how do i tell if they are male or female?

Answer 1

1, they lay eggs, and 2 they need to be larger. it may be posible once they get to full size, you are gonna get them at least a 50 gallon, right?

Answer 2

Hi is your fish with enlarged belly showing and other signs of being ill? Just be safe I would remove the one with enlarged belly to a hospital tank. I would also add some aquarium salt to the tank. Then over the next two weeks I would watch that fish for any other signs of illness. Good luck with your african cichlids.

Answer 3

Dee,

Yeah you did get some REALLY dumb answers here.  One of those ladies out there seems to do this ALOT too.  I guess they are learning disabled.  In other words, this isn't the first time they spouted out some way off the track wrong advice, so just ignore it.

First thing though, you might want to increase the tank size, but that's totally up to you.  The problem with 30 gallons, is the footprint isn't large enough to support more then one male in a tank that size, however, you did nothing wrong as it's commonly advised in the African cichild trade to overstock a tank.  I know what you are doing because I breed Africans myself.

You should know though, unlike the misguided young lady posting about egg laying, that the Africans you have are maternal mouthbrooders, not live bearers and certainly not egg layers either.  The fish getting large is not at all any sign of mating.  What I do have a feeling though is possibly an internal blockage.  Malawi Mbuna like this are highly susceptible to Malawi bloat if they get too much live foods heavy in protein.  What diet are you feeding them, and what is your water conditions?

Mating isn't so much related to size.  It's just a general time frame.  Yellow labs are sexed generally by looking at the dorsal and pectoral fins.   Keep in mind the only sure way to s*x a fish is to vent them, but that is no easy task.  I've bred these fish before so, this is what I know how to s*x them.  The Red Zebra's I've had them before but I'm not that sure what the sexing tip on those are.  I believe there is a slight color difference between the males and females and the males will get much much larger then the females.  For more information about their care and sexing, check them out at cichlid-forum.com.  I stopped keeping the Red Zebra's because they are just too aggressive for my tastes.

If you suspect mating going on, I've shot my Africans spawning on photobucket, I can show you what to look for.  If spawning is successful with these species, look for the female to have a very large pouch in her mouth, and you'll notice as well, she won't eat.  Mouth brooders do not eat for 18-22 days during incubation of the fry.  That's a tell tale sign you've got a female holding a brood.