# Cyprichromis mouthbrooding?!



## cdarminio (Mar 29, 2015)

A few hours after doing a water change I noticed my 8 cyprichromis leptosoma mpimbwe blue engaging in what looked like mating/spawning behavior. When I looked closer it appeared that a female was holding eggs! While I didn't witness the female laying/catching the eggs, I (think I) saw her inhaling the males sperm to fertilize the eggs. The fish is approx 2 inches, is this big enuf to have eggs? I included the link to pics for confirmation: http://s1016.photobucket.com/user/cdarm ... t=3&page=1
If I am correct (which I believe I am) I have a few questions about raising the fry, etc:
1. How long is the incubation period? Will the female eat during this time?
2. Should I attempt to strip the female? If so, when?

This is my FIRST time breeding cyps so any personal advice on the topic would be welcomed


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Average 28 days. Most do not eat. You can strip if you want, but to save fry strip or remove the holding mom to a maternity tank when she is ready to spit.


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## nodima (Oct 3, 2002)

Many fish take several tries before a successful mating. With moving cups to a separate tank, keep her in water, don't use a net to lift her out of water. A small Tupperware or similar really helps.


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## cdarminio (Mar 29, 2015)

nodima said:


> Many fish take several tries before a successful mating.


Are u saying the eggs may not be fertilized?



DJRansome said:


> Average 28 days. Most do not eat


Will she be ok not eating for 28 days? that seems like a really long time, especially for a fish with a high metabolism.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Yes and yes. With a fish that is nervous when not in a crowd, I would leave her in the tank for 18 days. If she is still holding after 7 the eggs are probably fertilized.


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## cdarminio (Mar 29, 2015)

I just checked my female, her mouth is empty  
How long until she breeds again? How many tries will it take for her to hold to term?


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## nodima (Oct 3, 2002)

Hard to say. Could be a couple of weeks. How many til they are successful depends. It takes them a while to figure out all the process.


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## cdarminio (Mar 29, 2015)

Ok so just thought I should give an update. A few days ago I noticed the same female had eggs in her mouth. It been about 3-4 days that shes been holding, which was longer than last time, so there's improvement. Unfortunately, I can now comfortably tell that 7 out of my 8 cyps are males, leaving only one female...Oh well. :roll:


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## cdarminio (Mar 29, 2015)

Great news! Today I looked into the female's mouth and could see tiny eyes looking back!! I think they still have their egg sacks, so hopefully theyll befully developed soon. I was able to take some photos:


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## cdarminio (Mar 29, 2015)

Its been about 8 days since the previous pictures were taken, so I can now clearly see the ****!


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## cdarminio (Mar 29, 2015)

Ok so I wake up this morning (my fish tank is right in front of my bed), and I see these tiny little things swimming in the top right corner. I takes me a few seconds to realize that theyr the baby cyps!!! I feel blessed that the mother was able to hold for a month and spit 7 tiny healthy babies into the tank. So far none of the other fish are making a move for them so I'm not sure whether I should remove them into a separate breedernet/tank or if they will be ok where they are. They're almost half an inch so I can't imagine how the mother did it. This was a great experience that I hope will happen again.


Parents with fry

Fry by themselves


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Congratulations on the successful spawn!!

Is this a species only tank?

You could add some cover for the fry, maybe live or plastic floating plants that would allow them to hide and feel secure. Maybe some more of the same in the lower part of the tank for sleeping security. I've had successful spawns grow to maturity in a mixed tank though did lose some to predation by the compressiceps when they were still small.


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## cdarminio (Mar 29, 2015)

Thank Deeda!
The only other fish are multies, and I saw the fry swimming near the shells of the adult multies and the multies didn't even chase them. I do have a question about feeding. I have feed all my other cichlid fry Hikari first bites and since I'm running low, I was wondering whether I should continue to use this to feed the cyp fry or if I should get something else. I have NLS pellets that I can grind up into smaller particles if that would work.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Mine always got eaten.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

You could always grind up some NLS pellets to the right size since you have them. I just buy NLS in various pellet sizes from 0.5mm to 3mm since that covers the various fish I keep.


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