Zebra Cichlid (?) over breeding??

I have two blue zebra cichlids. The ignorant little man at the petco here told me I had two males... Which turned out to be wrong.. and now my tank is over run with the babies. From what I have read, she is showing signs that she is holding yet again and I was wondering if its possible for her to over breed? If so I will make it a priority to pull her out and put her on her own for a little while. I quit seperating the fry from the general population when we got to about 20 babies because at this point Im happy for the population control. But how long do I have before they start breeding? As it is now, I'll be posting some of them for sale here shortly when I can get some good pictures. They really are pretty little guys and these fish have shown little to no aggression compared to the others in the tank.

she will not over breed. most people will not sell any fry until they are at least 1". they can start to breed again around 2-3". normally the females can breed ever other month at most.

I have some that are just itty bitty, but I have quite a few that are an inch or more, from her first fry. Id love to keep them, but we only have a 55 gallon and I dont want them to be over crowded. As it is, Im trying to get my hands on a decent 30 gallon with a stand so that I can put the male in there with a few of the babies for a while to give everyone more room. It just seems that every time I go to re-arrange the tank that shes holding again. :)

fun. just make sure she is breeding with the correct male. also if you let the female spit in the tank the other fish will be your population control. a few will make it but not in the numbers as when you strip her.

how many fish do you currently have in your 55?

I started off with 6 and a pleco. Two are blue zebra, I am unsure of the other 4. But I can get pictures. As of right now I think I have about 20 total with the babies, but its hard to get an accurate count with everyone moving around like they are. I only have one aggressive one in my whole tank. He started out white with black stripes, but now hes yellowish white(?). He's the "boss" of everyone and can frequently be found making a nest in the center of the tank and chasing everyone around. I have never tried to strip the babies (didnt know it was possible until a few days ago) and she still seems to be able to keep the tank pretty populated. I only see 2-3 itty bitty babies in there hiding themselves in the plants, but shes not eating again and her "pouch'' looks full so I am assuming we'll be seeing more soon.

i just hope she is mating with the correct male. white the stripped guy being so dominate it could be an issue. if you post pics im sure we could id your fish.

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Not sure how to upload a pic? But I can PM a link to my FB where I have pictures of them that I took today... The tank is a mess, they've been busy building their nests. :)

to post a pic use the button just above where you type here that looks like a tree and floppy disk. 6th from the left.

Where do I get the link that its asking for from?

Figured it out! :D

i am glad you figured it out. it can be difficult but easy once you figure it how it works lol. do you have pics of the parents?

I posted some in the ID me section, with some of the babies, and the other fish that I have. Im hoping someone can tell me what I have. Before now I was slightly curious, but if my female bred with one of the others... well it should make for some interesting babies...

they yellow fish looks like a male kenyi (Metriaclima lombardoi) as do the babies.

So if the two bred how big are my fry going to be??

they will be like any other mbuna around 4-5"

the female can over breed, she will slowly starve . she should be separated after holding for a week or two or the male will breed her to death. Please do not sell or give hybrid fry to anyone, the best use is to feed them to something.usually hybrid fry are very uninteresting being drab in color.

Mine arnt drab. I think they're pretty. They vary in color from blue/white, black/white, and gray/blue. I can not in good conscience feed them to anything, and I can not justifiably murder them just because of what they are. Fish or not thats a horrible thing to do. I have a few people who have kids tanks that are interested in them and they understand they're hybrid. Killing something because its a cross breed is mean. Its because of the pet stores ignorance coupled with my own that this happened in the first place, I cant justify killing them because of an accident of nature.

it is not an accident of nature it is the result of keeping a mixed tank. there is nothing immoral about using them as live food, guess what happens to 95% of the ones born into the wild. and it prevents the destroying of pure strains. mixed Mbuna tanks are pretty but will always have this issue. even if you give them to well meaning people, who will then get more fry and sooner or later someone is selling them to pet smart or similar and they get sold as a pure strain. Look at the problems we have finding good pure strains of Victorian ciclhids do to hybridization. besides my fronts love the fry.you can always just leave them in with the parents and they will slowly disappear.

Theyre not being eaten by anyone. They're well over an inch long. Petsmart/Petco/and the like will not purchase the fish, they will take them for free and give them away to people who are looking for free fish, but they will not give you money for them and they wont sell them for a profit. I dont understand why the disdain for something that could be a new breed of fish??

not a new breed an intermix of two strains.

-_-. Ok. So because they're not 'pure' they're not any good? That makes no sense unless you're a breeder and want to stick with a specific line. Which Im not, and I dont think that its a big deal. Sorry to disappoint.

the problem is when they get down stream from you and someone else presents them as something else. some of these fish are endangered and when pure strains are gone they cannot be found again. besides i think the lord did a fine job with the varieties created. just be responsible with the hybrids. do a little research and you will see the dangers more clearly.

You throw hybrid around and you don't understand what your talking about. A hybrid is a cross between two different speices. Not a cross between two color morphs. Across between two different colored zebras is NOT a hybrid.

The demasoni is Pseudotropheus demasoni , the Kenyi is Metriaclima lombardoi not just color morphs. get the facts before you go calling people ignorant. it is irresponsible to distribute the fry. if you love em great...buy a swimming pool because soon she'll have a million valueless fry to support. do not breed fish if you are unprepared to deal with the results.