I've had africian cichlids for about 15 yrs. Use to breed and sell to LFS. What do you have? Most of the time the females will carry the eggs/babies in their mouths for up to 3 weeks. They themselves won't eat. You usually can tell if they're holding by the bulging mouth/throat and they sorta tumble the eggs/babies in their mouths. I would take my female about 14 days and take the babies out of her mouth into a baby nursery. If you allow the female to spit....it's dinner. Ya got to separate 'em.

Fun!

Sherri