Breeding Electric yellows or Yellow Labs

[braden]

Hey i am trying to breed yellows i have one male and two females but the male dosn't even look interested in them. how do i know when they are getting ready to breed and how do they behave also i have some plants and pots are those ok to keep in there tank? :)

[Jenn]

You'll know it when they're breeding. Male chases female, female runs (swims) from male, mine dug out infront of one of the pots, Male will do a headstand kinda dance (it looks ridiculas), female when holding eggs looks like she has a mouth full of something shes 'swishing' around in her mouth.
What kind of pots?

PS something to keep in mind. I don't know if maybe mine are overly agressive, but I only have 1 male and 1 female, everytime I put more females in, they kill them--quickly and efficiently--they aren't supposed to do this (harem type breeders--the more chicks the merrier), but you'll maybe want to watch for that problem.

[braden]

ok i will watch out. i have caly post one male two females in a 10 gallon tank and i was wondering they are really shy what can i do bout that?

[Jenn]

Well, 10 gallon is too small, for the 3 you have.

They are skittish. Believe it or not my jewels were shy at one time too. (and they're nasty lil boogers!)
I use 'dither/target/confidence' fish.

With those yellow labs, it would be more like confidence building fish though.
Try and get yourself a 32 gallon tank, then you'll have room for that and more posibilities--thats my 5 cents :D

[braden]

ok. i do have a 55 gallon tank with 3 yellows in it and they seem to be chasing eachother around si i am thinking i may have a chance there :) :D

[Jenn]

3 yellows and what else?

[braden]

a pleco and some pots and plants that's all oh and a hospital tanak with a baby blood parrot in it he won't go into the tank with them just in islation

[Jenn]

Should be sure to give those girls somewhere to hide. They can get stressed out and exhausted from being chased by the male all day.

Try to find some cheap tetras, I used white skirts because they were real cheap.
Black Skirts, or head & tail Lite ---4-6 of them.

That will give them some confidence.

Or you can go a different route, and put some more couragous cichlids in there.

PS Blood Parrot---The little jellybean variety, or a full blown big sucker?
They are agressive and need to be kept in a minimum of 2's. Parrot fish can grow big. I have a king kong parrot, and he/she (I say this because they are a hybrid and probably sterile) is about 8" now.I'm Trying to find it a buddy. Check out the link below

http://www.geocities.com/parrotcichlid/general.html

[oscarbartoni]

You can also try to put several more females in the 55 gloon tank so that th emale does not harrass them too much.Safety in numbers.