STELLA - WEEK 1

This is Poppa

This morning I was lucky to watch the entire breeding process between two of my Mbuna Lake Malawi African Cichlids. It's amazing and very interesting to watch. The entire process took quite a while. She would lay her eggs and spin around to pick them up while the Male would fertilize them. Spinning again and again they repeated this over and over again until all her eggs had been shed. From there she swam off and hid in the plants.

Holding Female

Stella is a healthy fish and I have no worries of her missing a few meals while she's holding but I do feel bad for he self-sacrifice. I have been reading forums and watching videos to glean information as to whats the best avenue for her. She will naturally hold her eggs for 3-4 weeks. I have read that allowing her to spit them out in my large community tank, although it's the most natural course, it can be stressful on her as she has more concerns for their welfare in a many-fish tank not to mention the survival rate is less then 50%. I will be preparing a tank for the fry so I'll move her there when she's close to releasing her babies. This is not her first spawn but I want her as stress-free as possible. The sooner she is free of her young the sooner she's be back in action to breed again. I'll leave her with her fry for a good couple weeks allowing her to regenerate her weakened condition through not eating before I release her back into the community tank.