One of my female steindachneri has been holding for a couple of weeks. She was working hard to defend herself in my 75G, so tonight, I removed the other fish from my 29G (which I had conveniently been planning to move into the 75G anyway). I caught her and put her in the 29G by herself. A few hours later, I turned on the tank light and all the fry were free swiming beneath mom! It looks to be a huge batch- more than 20. I put food in for mom, and she promped sucked them all back in her mouth. She didn't release them again until she was positive I was gone.
The tank is by no means ideal for the task- it has a Rena XP2 filter and I am fearful the babies can get sucked up, but I don't want to scare mom by messing with the intake tonight. It has eco-complete for substrate- not what I want my eartheaters on, the 29G was the only cycled tank I could make available tonight. It's also due for a water change, but again, I don't want to mess with mom any more tonight.
When will it be safe to do a water change? Right now the fry are staying close to the substrate and mom is never far away- how important is it to cover the filter intake? I understand that mom will feed the babies for awhile- when do I need to feed fry specific food? All my fry food (golden pearls, decap brine shrimp, etc.) floats at the surface- how do I feed these guys? Finally- should I leave the gravel alone for the time being?
Any other tip? Thanks!
The tank is by no means ideal for the task- it has a Rena XP2 filter and I am fearful the babies can get sucked up, but I don't want to scare mom by messing with the intake tonight. It has eco-complete for substrate- not what I want my eartheaters on, the 29G was the only cycled tank I could make available tonight. It's also due for a water change, but again, I don't want to mess with mom any more tonight.
When will it be safe to do a water change? Right now the fry are staying close to the substrate and mom is never far away- how important is it to cover the filter intake? I understand that mom will feed the babies for awhile- when do I need to feed fry specific food? All my fry food (golden pearls, decap brine shrimp, etc.) floats at the surface- how do I feed these guys? Finally- should I leave the gravel alone for the time being?
Any other tip? Thanks!
