# How to breed yellow labs



## Squege56 (Apr 19, 2011)

I have one male and two females and i want to breed them what do i do also money is tight.


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## esparzar1 (Jun 14, 2009)

Squege56 said:


> I have one male and two females and i want to breed them what do i do also money is tight.


You really don't have to do anything. As long as your water parameters are good and you do weekly water changes they will eventually breed. How big are they? How big is your tank? When I was breeding yellow labs I'd say they started breeding around 3 inches long and about 4-6 months after I got them......just takes a little bit of time :thumb:


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## Squege56 (Apr 19, 2011)

i right now only have 2 inch ones and a 55 galon tank but i wanted to know so when the time comes i can be prepared and should i get a breeder net


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

They are plenty big enough to breed. Are you certain of their sex? labs can be difficult to sex without venting or seeing the female holding...


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## Squege56 (Apr 19, 2011)

The guy at my lfs told me the sex of each one as he got them because he had them separated by sex


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

Squege56 said:


> The guy at my lfs told me the sex of each one as he got them because he had them separated by sex


At 2"... I wouldn't place any money on such a bet.


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## Squege56 (Apr 19, 2011)

ok well is it true that females have white bellies and males are all yellow


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

Squege56 said:


> ok well is it true that females have white bellies and males are all yellow


No, not at all.


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## Riceburner (Sep 3, 2008)

I tell when they are holding. The only thing I notice is the dominant male has very black markings. The rest aren't as deep a black.


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## Jaffy (Jul 10, 2010)

unfortunately that isnt even always true. I have a female that has held many times that has markings that rival any male I've seen.


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

> I have a female that has held many times that has markings that rival any male I've seen


Interesting.. Would be nice to get one that has coloring like that to spawn...


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## Squege56 (Apr 19, 2011)

ok thanks well i might get some more tonight to help my chances


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## JimA (Nov 7, 2009)

Since switching tanks a few months ago my labs still have not done anything, maybe the one I think is a male really isn't? Sure looks like one maybe he's just a late bloomer and doesn't know what he's missing, he's got plenty of ladies to choose from :lol:

Here's a pic, thoughts?


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## BoilerFan (Jun 20, 2010)

Judging by the picture I'd say it's a... just kiddin gcan't tell from a picture unless it's a venting photo  Seriously though, that's a nice looking lab with good black markings.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Squege56 said:


> i right now only have 2 inch ones and a 55 galon tank but i wanted to know so when the time comes i can be prepared and should i get a breeder net


You are better off with a 10G tank. Hard to raise 20 fish to 1.5" in a breeder net. :thumb:


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## Squege56 (Apr 19, 2011)

ok i will look around for one


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## Jaffy (Jul 10, 2010)

Got my wife to send me the picture I have of my Yellow Lab female that I would have sworn was a male until she held. Just goes to show you got to vent to be sure.


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## Squege56 (Apr 19, 2011)

ok thanks guys i am going to try to get a 10 gallon here soon and ill watch to see if they start holding in te next 6 months


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## master chi (Jan 3, 2010)

I am surprised no one suggested you up the stocking on your Labs. When I was starting my mbuna tank I started with 10 labs and of those 10 , 3 were males 7 were females.

My point is starting with just a couple or so fish won't give you great odds of an ideal Male to Female ratio.

Worst case scenario, You have more males than females

maybe you get lucky and have 1 male 2 females which could work SHORT term,even with labs 2 girls will be light stock.

Obviously I know very little about your current stock aside from Labs,thinking maybe you have some other malawi cichlids housed with them. 
If that's the case and you intend on breeding be sure NOT to house Metriaclima Estherea (red zebra) with the Labs as most will tell you they cross breed rather easily.

As far as white bellies go sex is not a factor.

My and female Lion's Cove has a white belly but so does a large percent of her fry,male and female. I believe white belly is simply a morph variant of the yellow labs originating from lions cove.


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## car0linab0y (Aug 10, 2009)

I started w/10 Lab juvies, a few didn't make it (ugly story there), and sold a few b/c my 55g was getting over stocked. I kept one obvious male and what I thought were two females based on size. Still not sure about one of them, but the other female gave me about 20 fry recently. And in my tank it was the males that tended to have white bellies. I hear it's usually due to stress.


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

I had heard but not certain that it is accurate or not that there are actually two strains of Labs from Lion's Cove... One with white bellies & the other not..

Point being, I don't think a white belly is any indication of male or female necessarily. FWIW.


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## natedgg (Apr 9, 2011)

Squege56 said:


> ok well is it true that females have white bellies and males are all yellow


Here are "all yellow" labs.... Lion's Cove I
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... php?id=713

Here are "white belly labs"... Lion's Cove II
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1665

They are both labs, but divergences in the breed. They are monomorphic, meaning both males and females look the same. There might be some minor differences, and you'll know when you have a dominant male in most cases, but, like has already been mentioned, the only way to truly tell the difference is to vent labs.


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

Thanks natedog.. I knew I had read that somewhere...


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## master chi (Jan 3, 2010)

natedgg said:


> Squege56 said:
> 
> 
> > ok well is it true that females have white bellies and males are all yellow
> ...


 Or you could breed them obviously determining sex is difficult by looking at the fish but it can be difficult to vent as well. 
Having a holding female determines the sex of at least two fish. 1male and 1female.
most people would then remove the determined male and wait for the next one to breed.
at some point you end up with one tank full of females and another with all males,or you have re-homed them in some fashion


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## Squege56 (Apr 19, 2011)

thanks for all the help.


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## Squege56 (Apr 19, 2011)

today went to yard sale and pick up a complete 15 gallon setup i think i'll use this for my breeder tank


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## Nina_b (Jan 3, 2011)

I don't know if labs will be comfortable enough in a small tank (15 gallons) to breed.


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## Squege56 (Apr 19, 2011)

sorry i ment for they fry a fry tank my bad.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

15 gallon is big enough for a fry tank.


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