There are ovophilic and larvophilic mouthbrooders.
Almost all cichlids from Lake Malawi are mouthbrooders. In the case of Melanochromis johannis, incubation takes e.g. B. 2 to 3 weeks. The female takes care of the brood.
The female will take the little ones in her mouth even if she has already let the young go.
It can happen that the female swallows or spits out the eggs or young.
American cichlids have both ovophilic and larvophilic mouthbrooders in the genera Apistogramma, Bujurquina, Geophagus, Gymnogeophagus, Heros, and Satanoperca.
Mouthbrooder Photo: Philippe Coulon
Cichlids with such specialized breeding behavior may go ten days or more without feeding during incubation so that they can protect their offspring in their mouths.
Such cichlids do not eat their young, they protect them caringly and self-sacrificingly. So it is not necessary to separate the young from the parents.
It is even a mistake to take the young from these fish early and leave the young to grow up without parents.