Yellow lab spawning behavior

[livingwatersaquarium]

Yesterday I observed my yellow labs breeding behavior as different and peculiar. I noticed in my group the one female spawning with multiple males. Is there anything I should be concerned about far as any abnormalities with the fry? Out of many years of breeding cichlids this is the first time I witnessed this spawning behavior. It seems like the dominant male wasn't moving fast enough so she would lay a few eggs/scoop them in her mouth and the other male would fertilize them and then back to the dominant male and vice versa with the 3rd male. Out of the group I have 4 males and 11 females. Has anyone ever noticed this spawning behavior in any mouthbrooder species? Any suggestions or feedback would help. Just curious.

Thanks,
Gerard

 

[SubMariner]

Yea, you need to move the other males out of there because they are interfering with the mating process. Of course it's normal, but only when you're packing a lot of males who are smart enough and fast enough to move in right at the exact time the female is picking up her eggs.

I guess you have a slow Alpha male who is not aggressive enough to recognize that his other roommates are making moves on his girl.

There is a remote possibility of not producing a perfect breed of fish because you're not sure who the father is. So Move them or move your Alpha Male either way.


Richard

 

[livingwatersaquarium]

Thanks Richard, I'll pull 2 of the males and see what happens with the spawning process with the other females. Maybe I'll split up the colony since I'm heavy on females. BTW I have 4 females already holding.

Gerard

 

[SubMariner]

Well G, let's see how the babies turn out and keep a sharp eye on their development.
Congratz on the 4 females holding! Keep us up date G


RM

 

[longstocking]

Totally normal gerard.... at least in lake tang LOLOL

Seriously... tropheus do this....

Normal... and the fry turn out just fine.

 

[Charlutz]

It doesn't matter which male fertilizes the fry ... unless you don't want from from a particular fish (male or female) in your group. And if that's the case, you should pull the undesirable fish out of there anyway. If you don't care which of your breeder group produces fry, than it doesn't matter if you have multiple parents spread out over a particular brood.

 

[livingwatersaquarium]

The female threw the eggs, so no need for me to worry about that clutch. 2 of the 4 females that were holding released babies for me. There are 3 other females holding at this time. This is their first couple of times holdong so I don't expect a large number from the brood. I have pulled a couple of the subdominant males which makes it easier for the alpha male to spawn with the group of females. Thanks for the input.

Gerard

 

[crazyclowntang]

pics please if possible

 

[YSS]

I have seen this before as well. Don't remember which fish, though. However, I would think this is actually good for fry since you have mixed gene pool in the batch. I have heard that quality of yellow labs are getting poorer due to excessive breeding and it must be true because its getting more and more difficult to find nice looking yellow labs around. This wasn't the case 5 years ago. So if you have different mix of fry, it can't hurt.

 

[fischfan13]

The female threw the eggs, so no need for me to worry about that clutch. 2 of the 4 females that were holding released babies for me. There are 3 other females holding at this time. This is their first couple of times holdong so I don't expect a large number from the brood. I have pulled a couple of the subdominant males which makes it easier for the alpha male to spawn with the group of females. Thanks for the input.

Gerard

Keep the two nicest males with the females. Worst case scenario is that the dominant male will take his aggressions out on the other male.

I have seen this before as well. Don't remember which fish, though. However, I would think this is actually good for fry since you have mixed gene pool in the batch. I have heard that quality of yellow labs are getting poorer due to excessive breeding and it must be true because its getting more and more difficult to find nice looking yellow labs around. This wasn't the case 5 years ago. So if you have different mix of fry, it can't hurt.

How true.

 

[livingwatersaquarium]

I have seen this before as well. Don't remember which fish, though. However, I would think this is actually good for fry since you have mixed gene pool in the batch. I have heard that quality of yellow labs are getting poorer due to excessive breeding and it must be true because its getting more and more difficult to find nice looking yellow labs around. This wasn't the case 5 years ago. So if you have different mix of fry, it can't hurt.

I saw the decline in the quality of yellow labs as well, and this is the reason I've invested in some high quality yellows to try to get the strain back to the higher standards that we who appreciate this fish can enjoy the true beauty of it. I have multiple males and females from different sources which in the end will allow me to selective breed for the quality and introduce them back into the hobby. I will post pictures soon from the various groups.

Gerard

 

[YSS]

I currently have one yellow lab in my tank, but when you do have nice ones, I would love to get a few more. I used to have a nice breeding group of yellow labs that produced pretty nice quality fry, may be not AA grade, but pretty close to A, but I sold them off when I was redoing my tanks.