# advice please



## schrader (Nov 6, 2007)

i have a female holding this is the second time the first time didnt go well she ended up eating the eggs.. i know some of you strip the eggs from your female and use a tumbler but i dont have one is there another method i could use to try i want to strip her eggs i dont want to lose another batch any advice would be great ty..


----------



## Razzo (Oct 17, 2007)

schrader said:


> i have a female holding this is the second time the first time didnt go well she ended up eating the eggs.. i know some of you strip the eggs from your female and use a tumbler but i dont have one is there another method i could use to try i want to strip her eggs i dont want to lose another batch any advice would be great ty..


I'd strip after two days and tumble. I'm sure some others might be able to tell you how to hook up a make shift tumbler from a strainer. I'll try to find the contact info from the guy who I got my tumblers from. Even if things don't work out with this batch, it'll be nice to have a tumbler before the next batch.

Good Luck,
Russ


----------



## schrader (Nov 6, 2007)

ty razzo.. ya maybe i should just buy a tumbler since this will happen again.. lol i need to be prepared.. hopefully she will hold.. do you know if this is a common thing where they eat there own eggs? ..


----------



## Razzo (Oct 17, 2007)

This is just my opinion; but, I think the longer they are out of the wild, they just seem to lose that instict to hold to term.


----------



## Razzo (Oct 17, 2007)

schrader said:


> ty razzo.. ya maybe i should just buy a tumbler since this will happen again.. lol i need to be prepared.. hopefully she will hold.. do you know if this is a common thing where they eat there own eggs? ..


Also, I don't know how many girls you have but I'd buy at least two tumblers.

Russ


----------



## schrader (Nov 6, 2007)

ya that was my thinking about holding.. i have 2 females there the group of wild caught chikita i have.. but i aslo have another group of kipili 3 females 1 male good idea i will get a couple of tumblers.. ty razz


----------



## Razzo (Oct 17, 2007)

Is that a peacock in your avitar? It looks awesome. What kind is it?

Thanks,
Russ


----------



## schrader (Nov 6, 2007)

it's called a AulonChiwindil


----------



## bitterman (Mar 27, 2006)

I just use this method for tumbling (stainless food strainer in heated filtered tank with air stone to get water movement for eggs/fry):

http://ovas.ca/gallery/531_10_07_07_11_31_09.JPG

I normally wait to strip at day 5 as I get a better success rate for the eggs, but if a female won't hold 5 days, then you can strip earlier and tumble from the begining.

Female Holding
http://ovas.ca/gallery/531_22_06_07_6_11_13.jpg

I striped Day 5 but did not take pics till the next day.

Day 6
http://ovas.ca/gallery/531_27_06_07_1_50_02.JPG

Day 7
http://ovas.ca/gallery/531_28_06_07_8_26_44.JPG

Day 11
http://ovas.ca/gallery/531_02_07_07_3_04_59.JPG

Day 14
http://ovas.ca/gallery/531_05_07_07_3_16_24.JPG

Day 17
http://ovas.ca/gallery/531_08_07_07_5_12_41.JPG

Day 20
http://ovas.ca/gallery/531_11_07_07_8_09_25.JPG

Day 24
http://ovas.ca/gallery/531_15_07_07_10_26_38.JPG

Day 27
http://ovas.ca/gallery/531_17_07_07_8_45_21.JPG

Free Swimming
http://ovas.ca/gallery/531_24_07_07_5_24_41.JPG
http://ovas.ca/gallery/531_29_08_07_6_32_48.jpg

7-8 Months old (I kept this one as it had slight mooning and wont sell fish with mooning)
http://ovas.ca/gallery/531_17_03_08_6_20_38.JPG

Bruce


----------



## schrader (Nov 6, 2007)

wow that was pretty cool.. ty bitterman i will have to wait till next batch now cause she ate the eggs i am pretty bummed..


----------



## cichlidgirl1 (Sep 17, 2007)

Its also possiable that the eggs are not fertile and she is eating or disposing of bad eggs. How old are the fronts in question and if young how often has the male produced fertile fry ? It could simply be that you have to wait another six months or so for the male to mature enough to produce viable fry, females tend to mature faster than males if i remember right.


----------



## bitterman (Mar 27, 2006)

cichlidgirl1 said:


> Its also possiable that the eggs are not fertile and she is eating or disposing of bad eggs. How old are the fronts in question and if young how often has the male produced fertile fry ? It could simply be that you have to wait another six months or so for the male to mature enough to produce viable fry, females tend to mature faster than males if i remember right.


The above is very possible also frontoa arn't the best holders it takes the females time to get the knack of things. My 2 smallest females hve taken almost 2 years since they were able to actually hold to 5 days.. I actually have a batch if 9 from my smallest female tumbling right now that I stripped about day 14 and I think she would have held to term,so next time I'm going for 21 days.. trying to train them to hold longer so tumbling in not required.

f you 2 or more males in the group you might have fighting over who is the dominate male and they fight instead of fertilizing eggs only during the spawn... I had this issue.

Bruce


----------



## schrader (Nov 6, 2007)

is it possible to keep 2 diffrent front spicies colonies in the same tank without cross breeding? i know this has nothing to do with my original question lol but was curious


----------



## bitterman (Mar 27, 2006)

schrader said:


> is it possible to keep 2 diffrent front spicies colonies in the same tank without cross breeding? i know this has nothing to do with my original question lol but was curious


NO, you will always get cross breeding if you keep 2 different species/variants in the same tank (If both are sexually mature). Very bad idea in my eyes and frowned upon in the community. The only exception might be is an all male tank that people keep extra males housed in in case there alpha dies for some reason they have a replacement to get the colony breeding again.

Bruce


----------



## schrader (Nov 6, 2007)

ty bitterman i figured so and ya my goal is not to cross breed i dont like that idea


----------

