*New* Any Aquarists in the house? (pics of babies added!!)

Anyone here keep fish as a hobby? Just curious. I do, and one of my darling peacock cichlids (my favourite female) is holding -- meaning she's carrying fertilized eggs in her mouth. They do that to incubate them. They hold the eggs for about two weeks, the eggs hatch, and they carry the fry (babies) for another week or so before releasing them. So my female is at day 13, very close to hatching. I moved her to her own tank this evening, to ensure that the fry aren't eaten or the mother and father don't kill everyone else defending their brood. I'm so excited, I just had to share. I've never had cichlid babies before!

Wow..Teeka....very interesting...you will have to post pics of your new arrivals when they finally make their appearance!!!!

It's a crazy process. If she holds on for another week I should have baby pictures. At the moment I'm uploading some of her right now with her jaw all hanging down and bulging out, lol.

I can understand her holding them while the eggs gestate and she must regurgatate to feed them once they hatch...???? The must be very small.

I just checked out some pics of peacock cichlids and they come in so many vivid colors....what colors are yours???

Oh wow I'm just waiting for some of my tetras that are like 1000 years old to die so I can get a tank of cichlids.. I love them I have one now, but I want a bunch of them. I have two tanks a small 10 gallon one with guppies and it had thousands in it but I'm down to 1 they inbred so bad! ha..

Then I have a 29 gallon one with tetras, a cichlid, massive cleaner.. Not many left as the lightening fried my heater one night and cooked over half my fish...

So I'm on a cichlid hunt once these tetras kick the bucket! haha

Freva wrote:

I can understand her holding them while the eggs gestate and she must regurgatate to feed them once they hatch...???? The must be very small.

She doesn't feed the babies at all actually, they live off a yolk sac for about a week after they hatch. Mum doesn't eat for the whole duration of the gestation, which is why I moved her to her own tank, she's pretty weak. They're pretty tiny when they're finally "born". I've never had them myself but I've seen a friend's. They were a week old and only about 1cm long.

My peacocks are what they call OB Peacocks, (orange blotched). My female is quite a boring colour, but for some reason I just adore her, hahaha, she looks so feminine.

Jorgia -- I hear you, hahahaha, my 10 gal is stuffed with guppies. And tetras, actually, but of course they never breed. If you want to, most pet stores will take your tetras in on trade and give you some credit toward something else!

This is all so fasinating Teeka,i love all things aquatic,though i don't have any fish,i find them very relaxing,almost hypnotic.Will be very interested to see the pic's. Something different to look at.
I'll have to google the name of your fish and take a sneaky,peaky look. :frog10.gif: It's the nearest thing to Aquatic here.

She's officially on day 14 today. The eggs could hatch any time now, and I have a funny suspicion that they have, seeing the way she's gulping, like she's trying to keep them in.

I have a few... er... pregnancy pictures I guess, hahaha.

First, an old picture of her from when I first got her, for comparison sake.


Now a few of her holding:

See how her jaw is all bulged down? That's her eggs in her buccal cavity.

Here's daddy peacock:



This is her again, on the right, and on the left is my cherry red hap female, who is also holding (but only at day 5)


Here's the cherry red again:

You can see her tail fin chewed up a bit. The male can be aggressive.

She's not much to look at, but the daddy is awesome:

There gorgeous looking fish, I see what you mean bout the way she's carrying the eggs around.Is there a big sort of explosion of fry whaen they start hatching out?,The male is very colourful,also your tank is very vibriant and colourful too.Looks natural,but i guess you have too have it tat way so they feel more at home.

I did goggle and spent about an hr just checking out the different breeds,colours and habitants they live in. It's amazing to see how much they protect the fry.I think we can learn a lot from fish,mammals and animals in general.
Thanks for giving us sneaky peaky into there world.

Love your tank makes me want to set up mine again. Hmm where to put it and what to put in it.

Well, the eggs are definitely hatched! Last night I was checking on her and she was gulping, like I said, and I caught a glimpse of teeny tiny eyes peering out. How exciting!

Thanks, Bernadette, I've seen some videos and some fish spit them all out in an explosion of fry, some let one at a time and keep Safflower them back in. I'm going to set up my webcam this time next week to see if I can catch a video of her releasing them.

I try to keep all my tanks natural, personal preference I guess, I just like them better that way :) I have real live plants in all 3 aquariums, as well as moss, rocks, and sand. Some fish don't care about their environment too much as long as the water is clean, but cichlids like their rocks and sand.

Pink Lady -- cichlids!! hahaha

I too have a cichlid tank (but you already knew that Teeka :) )

And I think one of my new Yellow Labs are holding. I had one have a batch of fry before, but I didn't know enough about it (was right after I got the tank) and I guess didn't pick up on the fact taht it was holding. Still to this day don't know which one it was.

Currently now I have 1 HUGE male OB Peacock. He's very cool looking with lots of purpleish and orange
3 Yellow Labs (1 large adult and 2 new juviniles, one of which is holding)
2 Hap Ahli (1 lg and 1 juvi.)
1 small dwarf Kribensis who is very cool
2 bumblebee catfish and 1 upside down catfish
and lastly 3 huge gross plecos. I think one of those suckers (ha...) needs to go. They are so large, and I think the tank is starting to look a little too crowded for my liking.
(Anyone in the Valley want one PM me for more info and price)

Excited to see how this plays out this time! I'm a little more prepared haha

Purple Chaps wrote:

Currently now I have 1 HUGE male OB Peacock. He's very cool looking with lots of purpleish and orange
3 Yellow Labs (1 large adult and 2 new juviniles, one of which is holding)
2 Hap Ahli (1 lg and 1 juvi.)
1 small dwarf Kribensis who is very cool
2 bumblebee catfish and 1 upside down catfish
and lastly 3 huge gross plecos.

That sounds like quite the tank!! Post some pictures!! :D And best of luck with your labs, if I ever find a secret, I'll let you in on it.

I adore Kribs. Some day I'm going to have a smaller tank set up and get some kribs.

My current set up:
(in the 55 gal)
3 OB peacocks
2 Venestus
2 rusty
2 yellow labs
2 red zebras
2 cobalt blues
2 jewel cichlids who don't quite fit in, lol
2 cherry red haps
a lonely clown loach
one tiny pleco, pretty new to the tank. His name is Albus. All the fish in the big tank are named after witches or wizzards. That holding female peacock is Minerva and the mommy cherry red is Sabrina. :D

She had her babies tonight!!

Well, at least she spit them out.

At least 40, probably closer to 45. I'm trying to get pictures of the tiny little buggers now. Adorable.

Here they are!!

I'm pretty excited. Just got a few pictures, it's pretty dark so they aren't good. However. For now...









I can't tell you how much I WISH this one were in focus, I love the pose, mommy watching over them.