# Astatotilapia Aenolocolor - Yellow belly albert



## kuhliLoachFan (May 30, 2010)

Hi. I have a breeding trio of A. Aeno. that are doing well. I received them from the LFS with the one female holding eggs already. The fry are now free-swimming. I put the holding-female in her own tank when I got them home, and after three weeks, I stripped her fry, just to check them, but put them back in again. Was that a mistake? They all seem to be doing well. I am feeding cyclops to the fry, plus they are eating between my feedings, off the large amount of plants and a sponge filter which is nice and loaded with stuff. There are about 20 fry.

The females are about 2.25" standard-length (excluding tail fin) and the male 2.75" (excluding tail fin). I have seen fish that look just like them that are MUCH larger. I assume this species reaches sexual maturity before it's full size?

I will post pics soon. I am looking for (a) diet tips - what do you feed yours? mine get the usual cichlid mix at our house, of tetracolor crisps, bloodworms and brine shrimp (frozen), and NLS cichlid 2mm pellets, (b) care tips.

The male is ready to breed with the other female but the female looked rough when I got her. Using some eggcrate, I was able to separate them while giving her the ability to go hang out on his side of the divider if she wants to. I felt I should leave them this way until her color and condition are as good as the other female's condition. So I have the not-yet-bred female with the male (but able to escape his aggression) in a 20g, and the other female is raising her fry in a 10g.

Our local tap water is about pH 7.8, tank pH is staying around there, and water quality changes are regular, and water quality parameters are carefully monitored. Anything special for this fish I should do?

W


----------



## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

Once your fish spit the fry you may as well feed the mother for a couple of days and return her to the breeding setup, just to help take the heat of some of the other females.


----------



## kuhliLoachFan (May 30, 2010)

They are doing very well. My fry grow-out tank now has over 20 fry at various stages (sizes) from three different "broods". Both females have successfully delivered, and I lost more fish from the first time because I didn't feed the fry frequently enough. I'm getting better at that. They are training me so that I don't loose them all.

I am happy to see that i am keeping a species listed as "vulnerable" in the Lake Victoria system. I hope that if enough hobbyists keep enough vulnerable and endangered species, we may be able to help save a few species from extinction. 

W


----------



## roffels (Jul 27, 2010)

hey im actually getting 5 yellow belly alberts very soon .... gunna be spreading the species among us


----------



## nick a (Apr 9, 2004)

Generally, most of these fish-types will begin breeding at a fairly early age/smaller size. Often, their cycles are much more frequent when young like this...the trade off for fewer broods as they age is that the size of each brood increases.

The 20 may be too small for long-term...consider moving them up to a well aquascaped 40BR.

Your water is just fine...don't need to mess around with it...constancy is better than perfection attempts! :thumb:

Diet...if what you're doing is working for the fish, that's fine. I've always fed my fish quality flakes & pellets only so have never bothered with bloodworms or frozen foods...as long as the fish are healthy & happy



> They are training me


 The best way to learn...from the experts :thumb:


----------



## samaki (Oct 25, 2002)

Hi Mister kuhli loach, yu've done the right thing concerning the fry and the mother, just let her recover a good health and return her into the community tank.
yur parameters seems good to me too so be ready to have quantity of fry.
xris


----------

