Shara Posted June 21, 2011 Report Share Posted June 21, 2011 (edited) So, a few weeks back, I removed one of my M. greshakei from my 3ft Malawi Rift Lake Community because it's tail was almost entirely gone, and placed it in a 2 foot tank to recover and re-grow. Last week, I placed the fish back, after re-arranging the entire tank so there would be no established territories when I put the fish back in. The fish disappeared, and I had not seen it since! Thinking I'd lost it for good, I shrugged it off as one of the inevitable casualties of the Malawi community tank. But lo and behold, about 5 minutes ago, I glanced up to my tank and saw the very fish I'd thought I'd lost watching me from a cave, I got up to ensure it was in fact that fish, and not just one of my Afra Cobue, and saw that, upon closer inspection the fish I thought I'd lost in fact has a mouthful of beautiful eggs. Obviously they had bred very shortly after I placed her back in the tank, and she'd been hiding since. I do doubt that any young will survive the community tank, but I must say, I am pleasantly surprised that she is just brooding and no longer MIA. She's been hiding incredibly well though, for me not to have seen her for nearly a week. No wonder all my fish have been more active outside of the caves, she's been chasing them out. I'd put it down to the re-arrangement of the tank, given they'd been frequenting the caves less since the re-arrangement. But no, it's just the grump mummy. So proud. It's always nice when they breed, even though the tank was never established for breeding purposes, it's always a lovely reward. Edited August 21, 2011 by Shara Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shara Posted June 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2011 Just dismantled my display tank, caught her and transferred her to the 2 ft I'd just aqua-scaped for Apisto's, thankfully the water chemistry is unchanged from when she was in that tank recovering, so I was able to put her straight in. Hopefully she doesn't swallow the eggs, and hopefully she doesn't destroy the plants I've just planted 3 days ago. See how it all goes I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbites Posted June 21, 2011 Report Share Posted June 21, 2011 Sharma can you please prune your signature down to a smaller size as per this post please.... Hope all goes well for a safe arrival of some babies for you make sure you have plenty of hiding places for the fry when they are released or mum will treat them as snacks after such a long time with no food.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shara Posted June 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2011 Thanks for the heads up, I've changed it now. Yeah, I've bred African's before, I've always found them to raise their babies incredibly well, in saying that however, I always offer food when she's at the stage where she would be releasing fry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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