The mama will be fine with her fry for a few days after she releases. I left mine in for almost a week with their fry so that they could eat and get their strength back before going back in with the others.

You will notice a couple fry here and there as they escape her mouth, then as she releases them she will know exactly were they all are. Its fun to watch. Both my Yellows held for 21 days. Every fish is different, start to look for escapees around 21 days or so, but it could be up to 4-5 weeks.

I put mine in a 10 gallon as they hold. I cover my filter intake with a piece of pantyhose (held on with a rubber band) so that the fry don't get sucked up. When the fry are less than a week I turn the filter down to low because I found a couple stuck to the hose, but after I turned it down they were fine. My smallest fry are now 2 weeks and I no longer need the hose on the intake and the filter is back on high. They are actually pretty big when they are released, compared to other fry. They are about 4 times bigger at release than my Ram fry were when they became free swimming! It took my Ram fry 3 weeks to get as big as a newly released Yellow fry!

Good luck! Its the best thing ever!! I am "pregnant" again myself! LOL

#1 Is a pic of my very first batch. They are a month old now.
(The colors look washed out, I think I need to replace my bulb with a 8500 because the ones living in my big tank are a strong yellow, with black markings, which you cannot see on these uless you flash a flashlight on them)

#2 is of one that was just released. :-) Sooo cute!

#3 is the set up I have for them in a 10 gallon. Make sure you add a little pile of rock for them to hang out in :-) I changed the sand. I had black and changed to white because you can see their colors better. I have Java Moss clumps on the rock piles, they munch food out of it all day long.

#4 is when my second mama was hanging out in there with the first batch while she held. I put a pot in the tank for a holding mama to hang out in. She did not bother the first batch at all, even after she released.

I cannot do that with my new holding mama because the first batch will be too big for the new batch to be safe. They will be 2 months when she releases again. I will be adding a small pile of rock in the big tank today for her new fry. If the rocks are small, about a big marble size, the fry can get in it but the adults can't.

Hope you like the pics! I would have loved to see pics like this a couple months ago when my first mama started to hold.
There is also a couple guppy fry growing big enough to not get munched by my angel growing in there with them.

If they don't sell good when they get to be almost 2" I will just let them relsease in the main tank from now on. I will seperate a Red zebra mama and an Acei mama their first time tho, just so I can watch :-)

They go immediately into a rock pile instead of any plant. Guppy and platy fry stay at the top, African Mbuna fry stay in a rock pile. In my fry tank my guppy fry stay up top near the plants and all the yellow kids hang in the rock. If I had grass, the adults would rip the grass up to get the fry LOL

Here's some baby Bolivian Ram :-) Pic is not so great cuz I had a crappy camera then. They were so cute with their miniature black dorsal stripe! They were about 2 months here. .

i love that we can add pics, it makes explaining so much easier at times!! Where are your fry pics Doom??