Anyone who has had fry in with the parents...

[ccebr]

I have about 500 P.dovii fry (3/4 inch) in with the parents at the moment. I need to take the sand out the tank, and do a 100% water change, to go barebottom, as the sand smells extremely bad and the water is so cloudy as a result. In order to do this I will need to take all the fish out.

My question is; When I put the fish back in the tank, will the parents remember the fry as their own, or will they have forgotton and eat them all?

 

[ccebr]

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[Water]

I have about 500 P.dovii fry (3/4 inch) in with the parents at the moment. I need to take the sand out the tank, and do a 100% water change, to go barebottom, as the sand smells extremely bad and the water is so cloudy as a result. In order to do this I will need to take all the fish out.

My question is; When I put the fish back in the tank, will the parents remember the fry as their own, or will they have forgotton and eat them all?

They won't forget the fact that the fry are theirs. Most likely the pair will eat their own young due to the stress of you moving them.

However, at 3/4 of an inch, those fry should do fine without their parents. Ever think about separating them?

 

[ccebr]

Thanks for the info, I would separate them if I had another tank available. I have a 40 gallon i'm repairing, but that has been put on hold until all my uni work is done; only 2 weeks left now. But I won;t be able to keep 500 fry in a 40, maybe 20 fry for a month or two, but then it will have to be narrowed down to one or two to grown large enough to put in Tank 2 (see signiture).

So you rekon they will eat them due to the stress? damn! I was hoping to sell most of them on.

Maybe I can remove the sand with them still in the tank, although I will bleed from being attacked lol.