King Kong Parrot x Vieja Melanura

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo

DeadFriends

Candiru
MFK Member
Jun 19, 2011
21
25
46
Massachusetts.
So my KKP and melanura have paired and she’s laid eggs three times. Every time they’ve been fertilized. This is the first time I’ve had them successfully raise them to be wrigglers. I’m wondering what my next move should be. All of the people I trust have said to move them to a different tank and raise them on my own. I don’t know. First time with cichlid fry that isn’t convicts. I’m open for any advice or supportive comments here. I would love to see what they’ll look like when they get a little bigger. I suspect they’ll be ugly. Photos attached are terrible shot of the fry(taken from video), mom and dad. Thanks in advance.

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I assume the mom is the KKP. I would move the pair WITH the wigglers to another tank to see how their parenting is. If the eat them then next time raise the wigglers. Either way I'd move them to another tank. It's really up to you though.
 
I would try letting them parent the fry if it were me. A lot of fish take a couple tries to get it right. If they start free swimming I bet they will protect them. Once they are on solid foods and getting about 3/4" to 1" you could put them in a growout. Or if you're that worried, you could hedge your bets and pull half when they start free swimming and leave the other half with the parents.
 
agreed
I would try letting them parent the fry if it were me. A lot of fish take a couple tries to get it right. If they start free swimming I bet they will protect them. Once they are on solid foods and getting about 3/4" to 1" you could put them in a growout. Or if you're that worried, you could hedge your bets and pull half when they start free swimming and leave the other half with the parents.
 
Never move fry with parents in any circumstance. It's either one of the parents or both, or half the fry or all of them
 
As stated above, I'd test their parenting skills. If you see the fry numbers start to drop pull the remaining out. Just my experience, but a lot of times when I move pairs (tank upgrade or what not), even if they were great together in a previous tank, things can go south in a new setting. I'm sure others have had luck doing this, but I've had it happen more than once with different pairs.
 
Yeah either leave them be, or move the fry right after they start free swimming. The older they get the harder the are to catch. I just had to move some dovii growouts at 3-4 inches and they were insane lol.
 
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