# Three simplish Questions



## Eb0la11 (Feb 29, 2008)

1) How long does a baby fish have it's "yolk sac" for after being born?

2) Is it true I should not feed until this is no longer present on the fish?

3) Does it hurt to feed them while they have the sac?


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

1.) What kind of fry?

2.) No, but keep the tank clean?

3.) No, but they may not eat as much!


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## Eb0la11 (Feb 29, 2008)

The fry are Nimbochromis Livingstonii cichlids.

So the sac is basically food for them though? I had put in a bit of food but not a lot at all. Just a tiny bit of flake food and I was trying to feed the mom with some sinking spirulina pellet but she didnt eat and the little ones started nibling on it before I removed it after it was in there for too long.

Other than that I bought some baby brine shrimp but havent put any in yet. I'll likely do it tomorrow morning.

What else would you suggest? They only were "spat out" (not sure of a better term) yesterday. When should I remove the mom and how would you do it? I know you're one of the more experienced posters around here so I appreciate it.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Start feeding them immediately. They lose their egg sack in the mouth of the mother. Feed them and feed them often. The bbs will be too small for them, if they're nibbling on sinking pellets then roll with it :thumb:


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## Eb0la11 (Feb 29, 2008)

Ok, good to know. They are definitely a bit bigger than the only other batch of fry I have encountered. I put in some of the BBS this morning and they seemed to like it. I might use some of it for a couple days and slowly put in bigger things.

Two new questions, one that you must have missed.

1.) When should I remove the mother? She seems to be protecting them still and being a good mother as she sucks them into her mouth if I jostle the tank by changing the water or something like that. She'll then later spit them out.

2.) Do you think I should move these guys into my 50 gallon that is empty? I can use the 10 gallons of water along with 20 gallons from my 120 gallon tank and then put in 20 fresh gallons, use the same filter thats established and keep the substrate thats in the 10 gallon. Theres about 50 fry right now but they are in a 10 gallon with their mother.

Thanks again.


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## Eb0la11 (Feb 29, 2008)

Oh yeah, and the yolk sac is only in the egg before they hatch? They have this orange ball that is hanging off the back of them as seen in this picture. Isnt that the yolk sac they feed off of? Maybe Im getting confused.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

To me it looks their stomach. Rarely mouth brooders will release the fry before the yolk sack has depleted. If she's still caring for them then leave her with them, but add a bunch of floating plants for the fry to hide in. Also, I'd keep them in the 10 until they get to know you as their source of food. If you move them to the 50 they might never find the food, and by the time they do it'll be rotten.

They do seem quite small to be released. Is this her first time? I'm think she spit them too soon out of inexperience... Either way they're tough little suckers so they should do just fine, but definately give them the floating plant option to hide in. I use plastic plants 

I'd move the parents after they show little interest in suckin' back up, then they'll rely on you for food, and food is all cichlids seem to care about! :lol:


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

One more thing... After the eggs hatch in the mothers mouth the fry still have pronounced egg sacks, once they're obsorbed is when they start to get antsy wanted to leave the safety of her mouth to look for food... For her to spit them with the egg sack not fully obsorbed is odd...


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## lloyd (Aug 24, 2005)

IME, the little buggers have a desire for eating much sooner than we anticipate, and it may very well be the biggest cause for reduced mouth spawned yields when compared to early stripping. there are many young that will share both mother's milk and her meal concurrently. IMHO, just because fry have a yolk sac, it should not imply an unwillingness for them to desire other foods.


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## Eb0la11 (Feb 29, 2008)

thanks a lot guys. Much appreciated. I dont think she spat them out too early, I think they were actually pretty developed. Though my experience with fry is 2 batches. One was at a fish store and the fry was about 1/3 the size of the ones I had though I have no idea which fish it was since it was a community tank.

I think I am just confusing things a bit, there was no remains of any of the egg left on any of the fry. They look like little fish, and the orange ball that looks similar to an ant egg (oval shaped) was what I at first thought was their stomachs until i read about a yolk sac.

I dont see it getting much smaller on them and theyve been out for about 2.5 days now so I think it might just be their stomach and what not. *** been feeding them as much as I can without overfeeding. So far its been 3 times a day. They seem to be doing really well and she keeps caring for them well. This is her first time, Im surprised how well she's doing. Though she still hasnt eaten through all this. I keep putting food in front of her with no luck. I'll try some brine shrimp tonight since thats her favorite. If no luck, any suggestions to get her to eat?


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## Eb0la11 (Feb 29, 2008)

I do have a couple real good plants for them to hide in, both with plenty of small branches they can easily duck and cover in them. Almost like an underwater pine tree but the pines are poking upward so it makes nice spots for them to rest. So far they choose not to use them much and just hang out by mom.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Don't worry about mom. She'll eat when she's ready to. And more than likely at that point she'll be ready to be in a different tank


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## Eb0la11 (Feb 29, 2008)

TheFishGuy said:


> Don't worry about mom. She'll eat when she's ready to. And more than likely at that point she'll be ready to be in a different tank


So when this comes about, whats the best way to seperate her from the fry? I dont want to startle her when I try to catch her to move her and then start sucking up some of the fry because I dont want to extract the fry from her. I was thinking about using one of these methods:

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/fish_trap.php

What do you think? That pop bottle one could work perfectly here as shes the only fish that would be "trappable". The only problem is she wouldnt go in there unless her sense of hunger was leading her there, and right now it isnt...


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Netting her shouldn't be an issue ,just calmly remove all the decor first, then neting her will be easy. She should go into a quaranteen tank for a bit before going back in with a male. This way she can gain her strength back... I assume you removed her from a community setting?


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## Eb0la11 (Feb 29, 2008)

Yes I removed her from the community tank. Im not sure I've got a place to stick her. I dont have enough filters/heaters to run 3 tanks. One for the babies, one for the mom and one for the community. Hmmmm. I miiiight have enough filters but not heaters. I'd prefer not to buy another heater but we'll see i guess.


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## Eb0la11 (Feb 29, 2008)

I've moved the babies into the 50 gallon because I'm going to be away next week and my parents are going to take care of them and I wanted a lot of fresh water around them since they wont do any water changes.

They are doing well in there. Mom is still in the 10 gallon and hasnt eaten yet. Will this come soon?

Also, when these fish are a couple months old, do fish stores buy them off me or what? I wouldnt mind making a bit of money!

How much should I sell each fish for? I bought mine for 25 bucks (kind of a rip off) when I did buy them and I plan on selling them at about the same size.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Expect them to give you 1/3 what you paid. So possibly $8 a piece, but that's a long shot...

Do you belong to a local club? Memebers would buy from you sooner than a store would


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## Eb0la11 (Feb 29, 2008)

No I dont belong to a local club. How can I advertise that I've got this group of baby livingstons?


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/tradingpost/


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