Author Topic: we have newborn babies in the house! pics (Read 4502 times)

schelmischekitty · « **on:** March 29, 2007, 05:02:42 am »

for non aquarium keepers it might seem stupid to be so excited about baby fish, BUT this is my first brood and i have a second on the way of a different species also. i'm so excited, the mom just showed them to us this morning. apparently she's been holding out for a while b/c their egg sacks are gone already! so, here we are introducing the baby kenyi cichlids!

the 3rd and 4th pics are of when she got upset i was taking pictures and sucked them all up in her mouth again, i thought it was funny. (she's a mouth brooder and will hold her babies in her mouth until they hatch and will continue to do so when she feels threatened until they just can't fit anymore!)

EllieAndBlu · « **Reply #1 on:** March 29, 2007, 05:06:06 am »

awwww.... congratulation s!

Blair · « **Reply #2 on:** March 29, 2007, 05:08:03 am »

That is so neat looking!! Thanks for sharing

We have those fancy tail guppies that keep having baby fishes but she keeps having them at night so by the time I realized she had her babies all the other fishes have eaten them already $:-\$ You will have to keep us updated, I would love to watch them grow

Anakalia · « **Reply #3 on:** March 29, 2007, 05:09:50 am »

OMG they're so tiny and CUTE! I'm kinda confused....th e mom doesn't look that big, there's LOTS of babies there, if she sucks them all up in her mouth how does she have enough room for all of them AND how does she not swallow her babies?

mama23+pyrs2 · « **Reply #4 on:** March 29, 2007, 05:10:22 am »

Wow, I never knew they put them in their mouth, that's cool! I always wanted cichlids when we had tanks but never got them, they are pretty. Where will you put all the babies when they get bigger, they can't stay in there can they?

schelmischekitty · « **Reply #5 on:** March 29, 2007, 05:12:57 am »

the momma is VERY small to be having babies. only about 4"! they can grow to about 6 1/2 to 7", so she's still a baby herself! nobody believed me that she was holding, but now i have pictures to PROVE it! the momma has been holding her babies for 3 1/2 weeks now, and hasn't eaten a BITE of food until today. she's a very good first time mom! her cheeks puff out when she's holding them, and it looks like she has marbles in them ha ha. she's very careful not to swallow them, and even turns around super slow when she's got them in her mouth.

schelmischekitty · « **Reply #6 on:** March 29, 2007, 05:14:25 am »

no, they will not stay in this tank. this is just our "baby" tank, which is 5 gallons, enough for one momma and babies to feel safe and secure. eventually we will separate the babies into different tanks and we will either give them to friends, trade them for supplies, or add them to our 72 gallon tank.

Gevaudan_Jo · « **Reply #7 on:** March 29, 2007, 05:17:38 am »

WOW. so exciting. Thanks for the pics. i love baby Cichlids. they are so cute!

schelmischekitty · « **Reply #8 on:** March 29, 2007, 05:40:44 am »

i just had to put in that i just got an e-mail from my aquarium keeping "mentor" who also breeds cichlids for a part time job (he keeps over 75 breeding tanks and sells to suppliers!). he says that he'd love for me to sell him some of the babies, because he likes the color that the mom and dad have! here's a picture of the dad, he's the yellow one (the blue one is a different species). as the males mature they get the yellow color, but the females stay blue. i think i finally found my niche in life! this makes me so happy, i could definately see starting a small home-based business ha ha. just about ohhhhhhhhhhhhh 70 more tanks in the house??

just fill up the finished 2 car garage with them and move the play room ha ha.

lorim2 · « **Reply #9 on:** March 29, 2007, 05:59:33 am »

That is the coolest thing I have ever seen! Fish are one thing I know nothing about. I had no idea they would carry them in their mouth. I agree that she doesnt look big enough to do that but obviously she is! Keep us informed on their growth!! Way cool

schelmischekitty · « **Reply #10 on:** March 29, 2007, 06:13:31 am »

not *all* fish are mouth brooders but a good few of the cichlids are i know for sure. it really is cool to watch the process, i wish i'd have gotten more pictures! i'll try to get one of her with her mouth full b/c it's so funny looking! the bottom of her mouth sags ha ha.

LibbyP · « **Reply #11 on:** March 29, 2007, 06:22:47 am »

OMG that's awesome !!! Now if I could just get my fish to start up I'd be set

SSSSSSSStill trying to talk hubby into another tank ~ so far it's a you don't NEED one ~ I NEVER said anything about needing one I WANT one

thanks for sharing the pics I can't wait to see more. The tank I WANT to house cichlids as my daughter loves their bright colours, are they hard to keep, do I need a special set-up, are some better than others?

schelmischekitty · « **Reply #12 on:** March 29, 2007, 06:28:13 am »

cichlids are very easy to keep! we put water conditioner in our water when we do water changes, they prefer a ph of 8.0, which you can get an additive to help with that. we also add aquarium salt and epsom salt to help their color stay bright. they like sinking food especially. there are TONS of species in every shape and color! they LOVE to dig and make homes under stuff, they do have to have a lot of hiding spots though as a lot of them are fairly aggressive. the ones i keep are *very* aggressive, so we over stock our tank (which keeps the aggression down AND i get to keep more fish!). even our oscar is at the bottom of the food chain in our tank! for substrate, we used crushed coral in our big tank to help with the ph, and also have coral pieces to help keep it up. they do need REALLY good filtration, and a tank no smaller than 55 gallons, although when they get older it'll have to be bigger. most mature around 7" in size, although some can get more than 12" long, and BOY do they grow fast! here's a picture i found of another cichlid female holding. this is NOT my picture, i just love it though!

if you'd like to see pictures of some of the different cichlid species, here's a link to my pictures of my other fish. also, surf around that site, they have tons more species than i do!

http://www.cichlids.com/pictures/user/steffaniemiller.html

PennyK · « **Reply #13 on:** March 29, 2007, 06:31:35 am »

All depends on your water chemisty - hard or soft, high or low pH. If you pic fish to match your water chemistry, most are pretty easy to keep. Cichlids range from each extreme to the other, depending on where the originate.

I love your babies!! I miss having cichlid babies....live bearers just arent' the same (kids have a tank full of platies right now). I'm thinking I might try to get my hands on some peacock cichids and get back into it.

Great pics! Keep us posted as they grow!

schelmischekitty · « **Reply #14 on:** March 29, 2007, 06:33:52 am »

i love peacocks! esp. the ob peacocks (hybrids i know, but how gorgeous are some of them?!) here's a picture of my favorite male in the tank along with my juvie kenyi (kenyi juvie in top ob make on bottom)

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