Is my female multi ciclid guarding eggs?

[M...]

Though this particular female usually favors to hide behind the rock cave, she has been hanging out at the mouth of a shell. She will enter the shell, but not to frequently, but this is definitely unusual behavior for her. She will briefly leave her shell to feed, or hide if she feels threatened. She welcomes the male into her territory gladly. This is a new fish for me so I have very little experience. Thank you for all the help. 

Sorry for the bad quality photos my phone camera is far from ideal.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Usually if there are eggs in there they stay in and fan them. It could be that there are fry but I usually see the female dart in and push them back in the shell at least for the first week or so. It could be she's trying to entice the male putting out a sign saying she's ready to breed. 

[M...]

On 2/1/2022 at 1:20 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

Usually if there are eggs in there they stay in and fan them. It could be that there are fry but I usually see the female dart in and push them back in the shell at least for the first week or so. It could be she's trying to entice the male putting out a sign saying she's ready to breed. 

Oh very interesting! I have been noticing some tail waggs between the two hopefully there will be eggs in the near future. Thank you for the help

[tolstoy21]

The tricky things with these fish is that a lot of times, when you are eagerly waiting for them to spawn,  there are fry in the tank already! The are very secretive and masters at hiding.

Sometimes, I'll walk by my tank and think, many why don't these things breed more? Then a few months later I'll be like HOLY MOLEY where did these all come from!

To me, personally, the key to success is having way more shells than you think you need. I keep the bottom of the tank covered, literally edge to edge, in shells, some piled on top of others.

I've seen pictures of this fish in the wild and the lake floor where they live is just thick in endless shells. 

When there are this many shells there are lots of places, nooks and crannies, etc. for the fry to hide in and thrive. And my belief is that this amount of cover makes the multis more likely to breed (but that's just 100% pure speculation on my part).

Anyway, good luck. These are a great species to keep. Love them!

Edited February 3, 2022 by tolstoy21

[M...]

On 2/3/2022 at 3:54 AM, tolstoy21 said:

The tricky things with these fish is that a lot of times, when you are eagerly waiting for them to spawn,  there are fry in the tank already! The are very secretive and masters at hiding.

Sometimes, I'll walk by my tank and think, many why don't these things breed more? Then a few months later I'll be like HOLY MOLEY where did these all come from!

To me, personally, the key to success is having way more shells than you think you need. I keep the bottom of the tank covered, literally edge to edge, in shells, some piled on top of others.

I've seen pictures of this fish in the wild and the lake floor where they live is just thick in endless shells. 

When there are this many shells there are lots of places, nooks and crannies, etc. for the fry to hide in and thrive. And my belief is that this amount of cover makes the multis more likely to breed (but that's just 100% pure speculation on my part).

Anyway, good luck. These are a great species to keep. Love them!

Wow very interesting! Should I start feeding bbs to the tank? Also I still have a lot of unused escargot shells laying in the package. I think I might put some more into the tank. Thank you for all the help!

[M...]

So update... today I was feeding the adults grindal worm and I saw a baby dart out! I now need to hatch some bbs Stat. Lo and behold it wasn't even a female I expected to be with babies.

[tolstoy21]

On 2/9/2022 at 2:13 PM, M... said:

So update... today I was feeding the adults grindal worm and I saw a baby dart out! I now need to hatch some bbs Stat. Lo and behold it wasn't even a female I expected to be with babies.

Yup! Totally how it happens. I'm sure there are more quietly hiding, waiting for a morsel to float by. Glad to hear your colony is starting to take off.

BBS is a great food for them. In the meantime, if you crush flake food up very fine, they will take that as well. Anything small enough to drift their way so they don't have to stray too far from their hiding place.

Edited February 10, 2022 by tolstoy21

[Andy's Fish Den]

Ity is amazing with these fish how well they hide the eggs and babies. I started out with five that I purchased last May. I put them in a 20 long with a dozen shells, and waited and waited. then one day I was feeding and I saw a small fry swim out and grab a morsel, then another and another. Then within a week it was a swarm of babies. The colony outgrew the 20 long so I moved them to a 40 breeder. Now, there are three separate groups in the tank, separated by a mound of sand, and when I feed, its like a swarm of bees coming from all directions after the food! Here is a video I took a week or so ago when I fed the tank some BBS.