The male should possibly be removed. When the young are out of the mouth, the female should also be removed. The female is strongly shooed by the male during and after the brood care. Depending on the stock, this is the only real danger for the young.
If as many young as possible are to be reared, the female is caught after about 2 weeks and placed in a 60 liter aquarium. After spitting out the young, the mother has to be caught out of the breeding tank again. She does not eat during the entire brood care. That is why the young are sometimes eaten after swimming freely.
Mating Labidochromis yellow Source: Image on Wikimedia Commons License: CC Attr. SA 3.0 Author: MD123
When catching, the female sometimes spits out the young. Females and young are then placed together in the rearing tank. Most often, the female picks up the larvae again. If the female does not retrieve the young, sufficiently developed young may survive while still feeding on the yolk sac, as is the case with bottom spawners.
The often recommended shaking out of the young should be done very carefully at most. Labidochrmis species have a very small mouth. In addition, this species is reluctant to let the young out under such treatment.
The head is carefully held just above the water surface. The mouth is slightly compressed laterally. If necessary, the throat pouch is also stroked from back to front with the fingertip of the other hand. The boys then come out one by one.
The female may be subjected to this torture for a maximum of 30 seconds. Then it is put back into a small spawning tank from which you can quickly pick it up by hand to make the next attempt.
Done correctly, it does not harm the female. The number of young is greater than when waiting for the female to release the young herself. Depending on the size of the female, up to 40 young can be raised. Otherwise usually only 10 – 15 young are raised.
In comparison z. B. to Pseudotropheus zebra, the young grow relatively slowly. In order for Yellows to color themselves brightly, they need good food. Finely ground flake food works as a makeshift. OSI is recommended
Adhesive tablets have also proven their worth. Due to the current in the aquarium, they spread throughout the water after a few minutes. In the beginning 1/4 tablet is enough.
Artemia nauplii can be fed. No shells may be fed. This can lead to complete failures.
Excess males in Labidochromis caeruleus “yellow”
There are significantly more males than females in the offspring. There is only about one female for every three males. Correspondingly few females are sold.
In South American Apistogramma species it has been shown that the sex ratio in the offspring can be influenced by temperature and pH.
Symposium volume: Reproductive biology of aquarium fish, Greven/Riehl, Schmettkamp, p. 261 – Modificatory sex determination by temperature and pH in cichlids of the genus Apistogramma.
The gender distribution could be influenced by almost 100%.
Because this also applies to other fish and reptiles, e.g. B. tortoises, it may be worthwhile to try it with Labidochromis “yellow”.
gender differences
© Modman / Pixabay
The sex of young animals can only be determined with difficulty. The dorsal and caudal fins are longer and more pointed in males and more rounded in females.
Males usually have a forehead hump. This should be clearly visible when compared to females. Source: Aquarium Atlas Volume II, page 920 and Aa III, p. 792.
Adult males are larger and more powerful than adult females. Adult males have a conspicuous egg patch. Females only sometimes have an egg patch, which is also only discreetly formed.
Some males have black ventral and anal fins, females do not. However, due to the great variability, the color does not provide a reliable indication of gender.
What the name means
- Labido (Labeo) probably means thick-lipped.
- Chromis is Greek and means color.
- Caeruleus is Latin and means sky-blue.