Mouth-brooding period for A. megastoma

[TCMontium]

Hi,

I have an Apistogramma megastoma female that has laid eggs sometime on 20th-21st of September and has been mouth-brooding for the last 3-4 days. Doesn't seem like she'll release them today either.
I didn't expect her to be holding them for so many days since people noted that they did not observe much mouth-brooding behavior from their females, as far as I read from the internet. Is it abnormal for mouth-brooding to last this long, possibly more than 4 days? Maybe she is too stressed and doesn't feel like letting the fry out of her mouth even to feed them? (I put her in this tank just 2 weeks ago and she never really seemed as relaxed as the male did. I removed the male after she laid eggs.)

Since normally it takes 6-8 days for apisto fry to be free swimming, I suppose it is normal for now. But I do not have experience with mouth-brooding species so I wanted to ask just incase she was starving the fry out of stress or smth like that.

 

[Mike Wise]

A. megastoma is a larvaphilic mouthbrooder. This means that the female lays eggs in the typical apisto manner on the roof of a cave, fans them, and 'mouths' them open when hatching. Only then does she (sometimes) pick them up and mouthbrood them until they become freeswimming fry. This typically lasts for about 4 days but can be longer depending on temperature.

 

[TCMontium]

finally saw the fry out of her mouth today for the first time, but they still have a bit of yolk sack in the belly. Not swimming yet. She might put them back in or maybe will just leave them out from now on, willl see what happens.