Could use some mbuna help

[Evan374]

I’ve got a 40 breeder with seven small Cynotiliapia Zebroides. 
Color is just starting to come in on these guys which is exciting. 
After lots of watching last night I’m fairly confident that I’m looking at 4 males and 3 females.

 Thinking I should remove two of those little males but it’s now dawning on me how much of a chore that’s going to be with these guys. 
Guess I don’t want to do that too soon if I don’t have to and I’m looking for input. 
Should I knock it out and just get it done? Or give it time and let them get a little bigger so when the rocks come out and the net goes in, I have an easier time telling which one is which. 

Edited January 30, 2022 by Evan374

[Fish Folk]

Come sooner or later . . . you'll be having to move everything out to catch them.

You might consider taking a few of your best photos, and posting them on fishbase.us site under user photo uploads. They do not have a photo of these there yet.

As for the pairing off, Are they crevice spawners? Mouthbrooders? Not shellies . . . are they? If they're mouth brooders, my guess is that your one dominant male is going to do the rounds of all the females, and it won't matter too much whether you've got 2 or 4 males to three females. Of course offspring are much more susceptible to predation if you cannot isolate the fry / holding female / etc.

Very cool little fish! 

[Evan374]

On 1/30/2022 at 1:38 PM, Fish Folk said:

Come sooner or later . . . you'll be having to move everything out to catch them.

You might consider taking a few of your best photos, and posting them on fishbase.us site under user photo uploads. They do not have a photo of these there yet.

As for the pairing off, Are they crevice spawners? Mouthbrooders? Not shellies . . . are they? If they're mouth brooders, my guess is that your one dominant male is going to do the rounds of all the females, and it won't matter too much whether you've got 2 or 4 males to three females. Of course offspring are much more susceptible to predation if you cannot isolate the fry / holding female / etc.

Very cool little fish! 

Mouthbrooders. 
No plan to keep fry for now but that could change down the road of course 

[Fish Folk]

On 1/30/2022 at 1:55 PM, Evan374 said:

Mouthbrooders. 
No plan to keep fry for now but that could change down the road of course 

With mouth brooders, we've had success in the past just gently moving holding females to a separate isolated birthing tank for her to spit the fry whoever she's ready. It typically takes 18-24 days, if I recall. She won't eat much at all while holding. Young females often swallow their first batches of eggs. We've also stripped our females before and used an egg tumbler.

Do I correctly assume you've already raised a bunch of Mbunas before? 

[Evan374]

On 1/30/2022 at 1:59 PM, Fish Folk said:

With mouth brooders, we've had success in the past just gently moving holding females to a separate isolated birthing tank for her to spit the fry whoever she's ready. It typically takes 18-24 days, if I recall. She won't eat much at all while holding. Young females often swallow their first batches of eggs. We've also stripped our females before and used an egg tumbler.

Do I correctly assume you've already raised a bunch of Mbunas before? 

Incorrectly, lol. 
this is my first serious go at mbuna. 
It mystifies me how you guys can single out a holding female and net her out without gutting out all the hard scape and rock work. 
🎉

Edited January 30, 2022 by Evan374

[Fish Folk]

They are certainly difficult to net out! I prefer a larger-mouthed net myself. The large-sized Co-Op net has been getting some very good reviews.

My son got me into aquatics a few years ago. He did a bunch of breeding for BAP with our fish club in VA (PVAS - near D.C.) He bred some Golden Mbunas (Auratus). They're very aggressive . . . but beautiful in their own right. Here's a Full spawning report video on that if you're interested:

We bred them in a 40 breeder, removing adults when needed to allow fry to grow out.

Now, here is another process called "stripping" eggs held by mouth brooders. We did not have the bubble / tumble flow set right in this video, plus the male was not properly fertilizing the eggs anyway. But this shows how it can be done. Many expert cichlid breeders harvest fertilized eggs this way:

Others will have much, much better insights. We "dabbled" with Africans for awhile. I've found that if you have something like a large shell (conch, etc), you can then catch them underneath the shell hole  and slip a large net underneath to catch the cichlid as you lift it out.

Edited January 30, 2022 by Fish Folk

[BETTA999]

@Fish Folk how old are you ??

[Evan374]

On 1/30/2022 at 4:04 PM, Fish Folk said:

They are certainly difficult to net out! I prefer a larger-mouthed net myself. The large-sized Co-Op net has been getting some very good reviews.

My son got me into aquatics a few years ago. He did a bunch of breeding for BAP with our fish club in VA (PVAS - near D.C.) He bred some Golden Mbunas (Auratus). They're very aggressive . . . but beautiful in their own right. Here's a Full spawning report video on that if you're interested:

We bred them in a 40 breeder, removing adults when needed to allow fry to grow out.

Now, here is another process called "stripping" eggs held by mouth brooders. We did not have the bubble / tumble flow set right in this video, plus the male was not properly fertilizing the eggs anyway. But this shows how it can be done. Many expert cichlid breeders harvest fertilized eggs this way:

Others will have much, much better insights. We "dabbled" with Africans for awhile. I've found that if you have something like a large shell (conch, etc), you can then catch them underneath the shell hole  and slip a large net underneath to catch the cichlid as you lift it out.

I’ll check those out. 
thank you! 
just got the big co-op net myself. Haven’t used it yet but it’s construction is extremely impressive! 
I’ll be buying all the sizes for sure now

Edited January 30, 2022 by Evan374

[Fish Folk]

On 1/30/2022 at 4:15 PM, bettta999 said:

@Fish Folk how old are you ??

My son is in most videos -- now a high schooler. I'm the old Dad in my 40s. 😂 

Here's a Thank You video I filmed from last year's CARE Forum / NERM Week celebration...