They will accept anything, but to keep their colors strong, feed New Life Spectrum, Cyclops, Spirulina, or any other high quality herbivorous cichlid flake or small pellet. In the aquarium they need mainly herbivorous foods because even though they eat a little protein in the wild, the majority of their diet is vegetable matter. They will grow quite fast if fed properly with diversity in their diet. Youngs are quite resistant and can be feed with baby brine shrimps or powdered flakes. During this process, the female eats very little and it is a good idea to remove her in a seperate tank with her fry. Once the spawn is complete, the female will hold the eggs in her mouth until the fry are able to swim and forage for themselves. The eggs hatch in approximately 7 days but the female keep them in her mouth until the frys are big enough to take care of themselves (approx.
Red zebra cichlid female holding eggs full#
This process goes on until the female's mouth is full of eggs (approx. She then starts nipping at them and the male releases his sperm to fertilize the real eggs. At this point, the male shows off his "egg dummies" (yellow spot on his anal fin) to mislead the female to think they are actual eggs. Belonging to the ‘zebra complex’ of the mbuna (all the species which were at various times assigned to any of the three genera Pseudotropheus, Maylandia and Metriaclima). The female releases a couple eggs that she instantly puts in her mouth. Answer (1 of 3): Maylandia estherae, the red zebra cichlid, is what my former colleagues and I would consider a ‘punchy’ fish. Cichlids are Mouth brooders which means they hold their young in their. The breeding parade begins when they start nipping at each other. You most defiantly had a female and she was already holding fry or eggs when you got her. Females quickly accept the males courtships. Usually a Red Zebra spawn will contain 30-35 eggs, but my pair was pretty large, the female was nearing 6 inches, and I got. A water change can sometimes trigger breeding behavior. After a male sets up and dig his territorry in the sand at the base of a rock pile, he attracts the female by displaying his best colors and by showing his fins. In isomorphic species, the male will be slightly larger than the female, but the female's belly will appear round in. The dorsal, anal and caudal fins of the male fish may be longer in certain species, according to the Fish Channel.
Because they are mouthbreeders, these fish take really good care of their eggs/fry. In most types of cichlid fish, the male will be larger than the female, measuring up to a full inch inch longer.
This fish, like most cichlids from Lake Malawi, is a mouthbrooder-females hold their fertilized eggs, then fry, in their mouth until they are released after about 21 days.įemales can grow up to 10 cm (4 inch) while males will grow up to 12.7 cm (5 inch.).īreeding Maylandia Estherae is an easy process. Mouthbrooding Cichlids can lay anywhere from 10. These common names are Red Zebra,ester gants zebra. The male will fertilize them and she will swallow them in her mouth to brood.