Accidentally bred!

[registered]

Hello all Im new to this forum. I registered because I just found out that my jack dempsey cichlids bred in the tank and now theres hundreds of little tadpole-like things laying in the sand.

I had no idea they bred so easily but I started noticing they were becoming more and more aggresive (2 of them) and suddenly they became completely black and started bitting off even my fingers lol

They keep moving the babies all around the tank and they don't let any other fish come close, I think they're fine but I wonder what should I do to keep them safe.

can i clean the tank or they will get too stressed? and also can I use algae killers with the babies in it?

 

[knifegill]

The fry will probably benefit from the algae. At the least, avoid any odd chemicals for now.

You'll want to feed microfoods, preferably live, but it is said that jack dempseys can be raised on crushed prepared foods. Live would be best. You are in florida, so it should be nothing to dip a shrimp net into a puddle and catch a thousand daphnia.
Keep up on water quality, but don't do any water changes for their first few days. Little swings in pH and such can kill fry right out. You'll want to vacuum around them when you feel they are strong enough for a water change, or just take water off the top and leave the substrate alone for now.

Alternatively, move the fry to a separate tank and take some biological media with them to avoid an ammonia spike. It will be easier to raise them for the first few weeks in something clean and small.
Best of luck and keep asking questions!

 

[TrikkyMakk]

Most cichlids are excellent parents and will be very aggressive in protecting their kids.

The best thing to keep the babies safe would be to remove the other fish from the tank but that is probably not an option. Also, you might consider getting some sort of sponge or other 'little holed' material and wrap it around the filter so they don't get sucked in.

If you have an algae problem you should stop over feeding and buy some mystery snails. Algae results from a lot of light \ heat and too much food. If you have a big algae problem you might consider a temp tank while you clean your main one.

 

[registered]

What I have is brown algae (it looks horrible, all over the glass and rocks), which supposedly occurs in low light conditions when old light bulbs lose intensity (mines are like 3 years old lol) + high levels of silicates (I guess from the sand), so I'm going to change the bulbs and add a few plecos to the tank today.

I don't think the other fish in the tank (3 small jack dempsey cichlid) are much of a problem since the two parents grew to almost three times their size (they were all the same size when i bought them), but i will remove them if needed, I just wanna get rid of the brown filthy algae first.

 

[knifegill]

Most plecos love fry.

 

[balton777]

Accidentally bred!

It was no accident.

 

[DWass]

It would be easier to get the babies out now as they all should be bunched up together. As they get older they will spread out more and be harder to siphon out.

 

[Intobigfish1818]

Gratz on the babies, What size tank do you have these guys in ??

 

[registered]

Most plecos love fry.

lol then i will just get mystery snails i guess

Intobigfish181 = 90 gal, 2 big cichlids and 3 small ones. all same species. nothing else.

balton777 = I had no idea there was even a female in the pack,i bought 5 baby cichlids and these 2 became huge and had babies.

DWass = yes they are still packed up together but is it safe to remove them from their mom? won't they die? or maybe the mom will die of stress. lol. i don't know anything about it.