Are they about to breed

[marissa]

I have a red zebra male (beautiful), and also a female red zebra/yellow lab female (pet store didn't have pure).
My male has been shakeing his body around the female for weeks, and everytime she wouldn't pay attention to him he would just chase he off. Resently the female has been with the male all day for 3 days. He dosn't even have to go get her, she just swims right back, also when she is thretened by other fish he protects her.
Is this a behavior they have before they breed. This would be the first time i breed cichlids. I have a spare 30 gallon tank to keep her in. I may be selling it and just getting a 10 or 15 gallon. Would she be ok in a 10 or 15 gallon.
I would just be easier to clean the 10 or 15 gallon tehn the 30 gallon.

I also want to know whats best for setting up a tank for the female. Would it be better to have gavell sand or nothing at all. Does she need hiding placees. Does she allow the fry to swim back in her mouth for a week or how long will she allow then\m to swim back.

Sorry if it's to much , and also for any spelling mistakes. Thanks
( i don't even know if this is the right place for this tread)

[marissa]

just know my fish had spawned. I'm trieing to stay away because the female is still around the female and there may be some more eggs. Also the still spawn every 3 mins or so. It's amazing to actually watch this happen.
I still would like to know how to set up a tank to keep the female in. I heard you could keep her in a 3 gallon tank. Is this true

[SabrinaD]

Personally I wouldn't use anything less than a 10 gallon (I use a 20 for raising fry right now).

HOWEVER, in this case I, unless the female is in danger, I wouldn't even take her out. She is a hybrid, her fry will be hybrids. You shouldn't sell or give the fry away. Do you have room in your tank for 10- 30 more hybrid fish?

Keep looking around to see if you can find some pure red zebra females and get rid of the hybrid female you have. Then you can possibly sell some to the fish store for store credit or sell or trade with other hobbyists.

[marissa]

well i do have room for the babies in my tank. When i put her in the 30 gallon by herself, before she got in the tank she jumped out of the bowl on to the floor. Will this have any change on the babies

[6stang9]

PLEASE just let her spit in the tank. You might end up with 30+ fry. You might have room for fry but what happens when they grow. Its easier to just let nature take its coarse. Please be responsible, there is enough hybrids in this hobby. Also, did the pet store sell you that hybrid???

[mike-s]

hey guys just wanna say these fry ''hybrids'' are still fish they stil deserve to live and you can sell them as long as you explain to the customer that they are hybrids it is there choice

[Regalblue]

Yes but the problem there is- even if you tell the LFS that they are hybrids, the LFS will not always tell the customer. So, then they get out & contaminant the hobby.
I agree with leaving them in the tank, letting the others dispose of them & replacing the hybrid mother with a pure one.

hey guys just wanna say these fry ''hybrids'' are still fish they stil deserve to live and you can sell them as long as you explain to the customer that they are hybrids it is there choice

[mike-s]

i dont agree with hybrid although there are a few nice ones. that is not marissa's fault if the lfs decides to be untruthfull but if people want to buy hybrids i say go for it

[SabrinaD]

I say no, because it's marissa's responsibility that the fish were created in the first place. I would personally hate to ruin someone else's experience with cichlids because I knowingly put fish out in the world that are hybrids. I am an advocate lately for stripping a fish I KNOW is holding hybrid fry of the eggs early on (I had a single peacock female left over and she bred with a acei). No fish created, no fish to kill. Feed the eggs to other fish or just dispose of them.

Beyond that, properly structuring your population can reduce the possibility of hybrid production. If you don't allow them to be created, you don't have to worry about them surviving or what to do with 30 fish you have no room for.

[RustyNut]

I Totally agree with Sabrina here.... YOU stocked your tank in such a way to allow the fish to be created therefore YOU are the one responsible for it, no pushing off the responsibility on the LFS.... if you can't guarantee the fish never reproduce, then it's your RESPONSIBILITY to cull the spawn. (Cull= destroy) Shirking responsibility is very popular among today's progressive youth but it stems from a lack of respect to others and not caring enough about morality. -aka the "I don't care, it don't effect me." attitude.

If hybrids produced reliable knowable fish, and could be handled responsibly, then I would back sales of hybrids. - the problem is, it would require a registry of spawns and such... much like the AKC does for dog breeds. And just like puppy mills, people will misuse and abuse the system anyways.... I know.... but it makes it harder for buyer's to get burned.

There is always the Fry Pond.... but all one type of fish might get old fast.