# Two of my Pundamillia females are holding now what???



## philthy209 (Feb 25, 2013)

So i have a 55 Gallon tank with two male and five female Pundamillia Neyereri. Two of the females gills are red and there pouch under there mouth is swollen so i'm pretty sure they are holding. So my questions are if you all would be so kind are:

What do i do now? I have a 20 gallon that have Metriaclima Greshakei fry that are about 2 months old. I have a tank divider i can use and put the two females in that tank. Or should i leave them in the main tank? They have held before but the babies always became a snack.

I noticed this about a week ago so thats the time line i'm working with.

Thnaks

Phil


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## Manafel (Sep 4, 2011)

If you're comfortable with the thought, you can strip the females and put the eggs in an egg tumbler. But you don't want to strip them too early... If you put two females in a divided 20L, I think it would stress them out too much, especially since you will be moving them.


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## philthy209 (Feb 25, 2013)

Probably a dumb question but how can I be sure the eggs are fertilized?

I have stripped cichlids before but don't want to go the tumbler route. How long should I wait to strip them approximately so they are hatched? Is this possible to tell?


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## Manafel (Sep 4, 2011)

It depends on how long the incubation time is for the particular species. You can do some research online on breeding that particular species that you have and figure out the general time that you should strip them.


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## philthy209 (Feb 25, 2013)

I just looked up the incubation period and it says 3 weeks. So i think i'll give it another week and strip the ladies. Anything that would let me know when the fry are free swimming?


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## Manafel (Sep 4, 2011)

Normally the only way to tell is when they spit out free swimming fry.


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