Electric Yellow African Chilid Female

[kool99]

I am running a 30g tank.. with all the gear it needs.. my female african chilid electric yellow has stoped eating and disapeared into thie large coral sheel i have in the tank. I divided the tank... and i am just wondering should i force her to come out? or just wait and see.. and is she even prego at all? and i know she is in the shell cause i have checked every other possible place.. i also have 2 other fish in the tank.. as well a small catfish

[WTAC]

IIRC, L. caerullius aren't shell dwellers. My thought is that it's stuck. Folks at Cichlid Forum can better answer that. Personally never got into African cichlids. A Central/South American cichlid head myself as well as a "reefer" ;).

Hope it all works out for you.

[scubasteve]

If you have a male with her she could have a mouth full of eggs and wont eat again untill she spits them out.Don't chase her out it is very unlikly that she is stuck.

Rob

[in_flight]

have you positively identified the lab as a female? if so it might be a subdominant male that has been harrased by the dom. male. if it is a female, they will sometimes hide from the male if she's holding to avoid further aggression. i'm sure you would know if she's stuck depending on the size of your decoration. if it's her first mouthfull she might be uncertain of what to do and will most likely spit out the first batch, as she continues to mature and have more fry, she'll learn to hold it in better

hope that helps

[sageinwhite]

Yeah I wouldnt pressure her out, chances are that if she is pregnant or has spit the fry, shes just guarding them, cichlids are incredibly good at that, I had a pair of brichardi, both of which I barely ever saw, I also kept them in a 30 gallon, after a while I began to wonder and even though with the dominance of breeding brichardi it wasnt a wise idea to move the rocks, some of the fry skattered and were sadly eaten, it would be better to wait and try to angle a flashlight outside of the tank to see if there are fry. Approx how long has the lab been hiding, given the fact that they are incredibly easy to breed, if this pair is a pair and doesnt work out, its always easy to just buy a few more and wait, also dominance or gender can generally be told by the presence or lack of presence of the black stripe along the fins, I had quite a few females most of which didnt have a black stripe or a very dull thin one.

[in_flight]

Yeah I wouldnt pressure her out, chances are that if she is pregnant or has spit the fry, shes just guarding them, cichlids are incredibly good at that, I had a pair of brichardi, both of which I barely ever saw, I also kept them in a 30 gallon, after a while I began to wonder and even though with the dominance of breeding brichardi it wasnt a wise idea to move the rocks, some of the fry skattered and were sadly eaten, it would be better to wait and try to angle a flashlight outside of the tank to see if there are fry. Approx how long has the lab been hiding, given the fact that they are incredibly easy to breed, if this pair is a pair and doesnt work out, its always easy to just buy a few more and wait, also dominance or gender can generally be told by the presence or lack of presence of the black stripe along the fins, I had quite a few females most of which didnt have a black stripe or a very dull thin one.

the dorsal stripe does not determine gender or is an indicator of gender, you can buy electra yellow labs with no black stripe at all, it is simply a matter of breeding or line breeding

[sageinwhite]

Sorry I should have been more clear, I wasnt referring to the dorsal, I was referring to the pelvic and anal fin.

[in_flight]

Sorry I should have been more clear, I wasnt referring to the dorsal, I was referring to the pelvic and anal fin.

those aren't indicators of gender either, the only way to sex them are through venting

[sageinwhite]

Sorry but your wrong, after breeding them countless times and watching them hours on end, I know what im talking about. It all depends on dominance and mood. Have you ever actually bred them or are you just going by what other sources of information tell you, at times I would have one that would have totally clear pelvic fins, move them into a diff tank with no competition and they would get some of the darkest black stripes Ive seen.

[in_flight]

Sorry but your wrong, after breeding them countless times and watching them hours on end, I know what im talking about. It all depends on dominance and mood. Have you ever actually bred them or are you just going by what other sources of information tell you, at times I would have one that would have totally clear pelvic fins, move them into a diff tank with no competition and they would get some of the darkest black stripes Ive seen.
i have bred them and with 9 african tanks i'm pretty sure i know what i'm talking about, i currently have a emale know that has the darkest pelvic and anal stripe than any other lab i have, they're F1's from the CRLCA and so they're quality is impeccable

there have been countless arguments in regards to sexing labs and some people swear by darker colourations and even eggspots,

i shouldn't have been to insistent that venting was the only way but it's a more full proof method

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?topic=143&forum=9

[sageinwhite]

K sorry, yeah im aware of them also and I apologize, after reading books, and forums, Ive learned to always come to my own conclusion. I guess that if your new to the hobby, sexing cichlids would be difficult and didnt think of that when posting on this thread with someone whos new to them, I guess for me its easy to tell, after my experience, Again im really sorry, Ive been having a difficult week especially for it only being wednesday.