Labidochromis Gigas

[fishmagnet]

I just picked up five Gigas 1 male and 3 females and 1 uncertain....I got them from a reputable LFS and the owner was the breeder.I have no experience with these fish or with keeping females at all , and to compound matters I got up today and found that I have 2 females holding!! What the....arent they too young for this? Anyway I am in over my head....what do I need to know about raising fry?
Do I need a separate tank or will they survive with the others?
Since these fish are pretty rare and are on the vulnerable list I would like to try and raise some...I think!
Thanks Eric

[Ron]

I just picked up five Gigas 1 male and 3 females and 1 uncertain....I got them from a reputable LFS and the owner was the breeder.

Congrats! I've never kept them, but they look very nice.

I have no experience with these fish or with keeping females at all , and to compound matters I got up today and found that I have 2 females holding!! What the....arent they too young for this?

It's hard to answer that because you never posted how old/large they are.  Typically mbuna start spawning earlier than most other malawians IMO (earlier than the peacocks, haps, etc).

Anyway I am in over my head....what do I need to know about raising fry?
Do I need a separate tank or will they survive with the others?

The mother will mouthbrood the eggs/fry for 3-4 weeks. Sometimes they spit the eggs/fry early and don't hold to term when they first start breeding, so don't worry if this happens. There's always "next time". You don't necessarily need a separate tank, but you'll at least want to get a breeder net that you can hang on your existing tank to keep the fry separate from the others. You can either move the female to the breeder when she's been holding for 2-2.5 weeks and let her spit the fry naturally (probably add some plastic plants/etc for the fry to hide in once they are released) or around the 3 week mark catch her and "strip" the fry manually.

"Stripping" is carefully holding the female head first into a container and carefully opening her mouth so the fry come out. Since you're new to breeding mbuna, I's suggest letting her spit naturally the first few times. Stripping done properly is typically fine, but there's always potential for accidental injury to the mother or the fry.

When the mother releases the fry on her own, she may take them back when in danger (aka when you come up to the tank). Eventually she'll lose interest in them so when you're present and the fry are out, it's time to remove her back to the main tank. Typically the female won't eat the fry until at least 3-5 days after she's lost interest in them IME.

For feeding the fry, presuming they've used up their egg sac, they should be large enough to eat finely crushed flake food.

[Regalblue]

As expected Ron nailed it&  I have nothing to add.

[Super Turtleman]

Good ol' Ron...taking care of business.

[Ron]

Nothing to add? I did leave out some detail purposely to pave the way for future questions, comments, etc.

[Regalblue]

What?  That they top out at about 4" & it's tank should be set up like a typical Mbuna tank&  have plenty of rockwork creating caves.  ? ? ?

[fishmagnet]

Thanks guys,
These fish are all 1.5 - 2.0 inches ....I currently have them in a 20 gal long with lots of holy rock, while we wait for our 55 gal to cycle.They are the only fish in this tank so I think they will be ok for a few weeks.I am also considering adding 2 more harems of different species.I am thinking maybe Rusty's and Demasoni  Pombo rocks.
However if I cant get my 75 gallon all male tank under control my wife is gonna get rid of all of them....she cant stand watching the aggression.

[Ron]

What?  That they top out at about 4" & it's tank should be set up like a typical Mbuna tank&  have plenty of rockwork creating caves.  ? ? ?

Good info! 

These fish are all 1.5 - 2.0 inches ....I currently have them in a 20 gal long with lots of holy rock, while we wait for our 55 gal to cycle.

IMO, if you have them in a cycled 20 gallon but want to move them to the 55. I'd just move the filters from the 20 to the 55 with the fish and "ta-da!", it's cycled.

"Cycling" is simply waiting for proper bacteria colonies to form that reduce ammonia to nitrite and then additional bacteria to turn the nitrite into nitrate. These bacteria exist on physical surfaces and are not free-floating in the water. This is why "good" biological media has lots of surface area - lots of room for bacteria! So if you're existing filters on the 20 gallon contain enough bacteria to support the current bioload (amount of waste being produced by your fish), they'll do the same if you move them to the 55 gallon setup.

Of course, there's probably also some bacteria on the walls of the tank and on the substrate, but it's relatively insignificant unless you've setup an under-gravel filter (which is not a good choice for cichlids).

I've only ever waited weeks to cycle a tank when setting up the first one. Now I always have an extra filter or two running on existing tanks, so I can easily swap them over to newly setup tanks. Similarily, if I tear down a tank because I don't need the extra tank space, I'll keep the filter going on a current tank so it's easy to setup in the future.

If you're planning to keep the 20 gallon going after you move the current residents, depending on what filter/filter media you have you could divide some of the established media to jump-start a new filter.

[fishmagnet]

That is a good point....and I have sponge filters in both the 20 and the 75 that I can move into the 55. Im not sure why I didnt think of that 

[gmaschke]

I have gigas and feel they are almost as aggressive as demasoni.  Just because they are Labidochromis dont think they are as docile as yellow labs.  At the size yours are, you can get away with the 20g for a while but not much longer.  Since they have started breeding time is getting limited so as soon as your 55 is ready. dont waste any time.

Also I would not mix them with demasoni.  Your asking for headaches there and there is a good potential for inbreeding.  I haven't verified if they are on the threatened list but if so I would keep them in a species tank to preserve the line.

[fishmagnet]

Thanks for the info...I have 1 female holding and the other is not holding any longer.This is day 7 since she started holding so I am gonna move everyone over to the 55 and leave her in the 20 long and let her spit when she is ready.
Then I will make sure she is eating and move her to the 55 to join the others.
Good to know about their tendencies toward aggression , that will be helpful when deciding what to do about tank mates if and when I do add more.I can find very little about these guys on line other than they are listed as vulnerable.The cichlid-forum does not even list them on their profile page.
Any and all info is appreciated.
Thanks Eric