African Malawi Cichlid Breeding

Question
Ok, Thanks for taking the time to answer my question!

Well one of my fish started holding eggs. The fish is a Labidchromis Caeralous (Yellow Lab) And she is holding for about 2 weeks and 4 days. I was wondering since i put her in a breeder net( there are 2 other holding labs in the tank)should i strip her (take the babies out myself) or just wait it out. And if i do wait then how long will it take before i should strip. The tank is 20 gallons and water parameters are fine.

~thank you

Answer
Hi Ali,
 the first question is: do you have a male L. caeruleus? In other words, were the eggs fertilized by a male electric yellow or by a male of another species?  If they were fertilzed by a male of another species, then I strongly encourage you to not let the eggs hatch, because if you do, the kids will be some weird sort of hybrid, and that is a bad thing.  

If you do have a male electric yellow, and it is likely that he fertilized the eggs, then it is up to you.  I think seeing the parental care is the best part of keeping cichlids so my inclination is always to let the parents do their thing.  

Other people are more interested in maximizing the number of babies they can produce; for them, it is best to strip the female after she has been holding for a few days. Then she won't put a lot of energy into the kids (or more specifically, she won't NOT eat, because a female can't eat while she is mouthbrooding).  

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
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