i have this electric yellow fish. it keeps hiding in the boat in the fish tank. and the fish keeps taking out the rocks in the boat. so my dad didnt know what the fish was doing so he leveled the rocks because the fish made a hill. after my dad leveled the rocks the next day the fish did the same thing and took out the rocks out of the boat and made a hill with the rocks. and this time my dad didnt mess with the rock and the fish stays in the boat and doesnt let any other fish in. what is my electric yellow fish doing??? is my electric yellow fish pregnant??
PLEASE HELP ME........THANK YOU SO MUCH.........
2007-12-12 10:44:01 · 3 answers · asked by lilm a 2 in Pets ➔ Fish
Cichlids don't get pregnant - they lay eggs. So if you only have one, you won't get any young. They also love to rearrange rocks and hide in caves which they stake out as their "territory".
These fish are maternal mouthbrooders - after the female lays they eggs and they're fertilized by the male, she'll pick them up and keep them in her mought until after the eggs have hatched. She won't eat during this time, so it's very stressful on her.
2007-12-12 11:05:26 · answer #1 · answered by copperhead 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Copperhead is correct here. They are not livebearers so they technically don't get impregnated. They are a maternal mouth brooder just as he said. I have a small community of these myself, and they have bred for me several times now. As the other answerer indicated, what you want to look for, in the female, is the throat/jaw area. You will see the mouth area look like a pouch, underneath the jaw. The female will also not eat for three weeks during this time. She is carrying the eggs in her mouth. I have a few shots of my female when she was carrying eggs I can show you what it would look like.
As far as the gravel goes, yes, that is what they do. If you have just that one fish, and you're sure it's a male, that pretty much rules out any odds of it carrying eggs. You can pretty accurately sex this fish by looking at the dorsal and pectoral fins. These fins will be very strikingly black if a male, and a female will have much lighter white lines with black mixed in, in those fins. I wouldn't worry about the gravel being moved around, it's very natural for them to do so. What size tank do you have it in? Again, if that's a single fish you have in there, there are 0 odds of you having fry on the way.
2007-12-12 22:30:52 · answer #2 · answered by I am Legend 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
i have those fish...started out with two...now i have about 50...they make houses and claim them, i never arrange my tank because they just rearange it. They like caves/holes anything underground. They will chase out the other fish, because they have claimed that area. Now about babies...if her mouth is getting big, as if she has something in it,,then yes,,if she laid eggs and the male frtilized them, she will hold them in her mouth for about 28 days, then let them out in the place she calls home...But becareful..they will have many babies, then those will mate, and so on and so on..before you know it...yellow all over theplace.If you don't want this to happen, turn your tank heater down to about 72 drgrees,it has helped me a lot, although i still see one or two new ones avary few months...
2007-12-12 19:24:56 · answer #3 · answered by Chocolate_Bunny 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋