Tropical Fish Forums

[jcamaro]

I have a Yellow Lab which is holding eggs, which is great but I have a very young male Lab who is not helping the female in anyway and is really young. I only other males in the tank are a same size JD, a Kribensis and a Auratus who is staying by the female and is sort of chasing anything away from where she is.
Is the Auratus maybe the dad? What are your thoughts?

[keithkyli]

Holding eggs...do you mean it is gravid, with eggs inside her body? Or has she already spawned?

Either way, there doesn't need to be a dad - the female can lay eggs when her hormones tell her to do so but they may not be fertilized by a suitable male. It's external fertilization. From what I've read, even in carefully selected pairs, sometimes the female lays eggs while the male does nothing.

The auratus and the yellow lab may have confused each other as a mate, but nothing is gonna result from that.
_________________
Diamond Hill, Hong Kong

[kaybee]

Mbuna's are capable of inter-species breeding (and producing viable hybrid offspring). If the yellow lab did produce fry the sire would be the auratus.

However, can the "very young" male yellow lab be ruled out? How large are the two labs? (and did the female produce fry or reject the eggs since 17 may?).