edburress;2763904; said:What size is the breeder?
I would just leave them in the main tank, it's very unlikely they would hurt the other fish beyond a torn caudal or dorsal fin and I think with first-time-spawning pairs it is best to intervene as little as possible and let them figure out how to do it themselves (may take a several tries). But, it's fine to move them, they shouldn't eat the eggs/fry. It works best if you can corral them into a bucket. It's very likely they will spit the fry during the transfer but if you sit the bucket on the floor for a moment, they should gather them back up rather quickly.
Secondly, I would only remove the holding fish, particularly if the breeder is a small tank. The female won't need the male harassing her (as in your first experience). IF you plan to transfer her, I would try it very late on the second day after she's picked up so that the fry have hatched. This will be before she has released the fry, so the male shouldn't have any. If in the small chance both fish pick up initially, I would still only move the female, or do as you did previously and plan on returning the male to the main tank to allow the female the raise the fry.
I will add that I've never had a single fry survive being transfered to another tank before they were 10 days old, but can have almost 100% survival rate if you can wait that long or longer. I would love to see some pics if you could add some. Good luck!
Ed
Well i've got some bad news Ed, my rays wouldn't stop trying to eat the eggs and two of them have bite marks all over and chewed up disks. The rays mean more to me than the fry so I siphoned out the eggs and threw them in the fry tank. I am not sure they will hatch or survive but its worth a shot!
On the other hand, all the other fry's are doing great and putting on alot of weight.
Its not likely that the eggs will hatch huh?
man.. its too bad, i knew they were going to breed so i picked up some 40g's for them and i was going to set them up this morning but it was pouring here so i couldnt clean the tanks before setting them up. After class it got real sunny so i decided to start but i looked at the tank and they had already laid eggs.
On top of all that the filter i bought for the breeder tank didn't work so i guess the tank will be on hold for a few days. After that i am going to put all 4 geo's into the breeder for a month or two until i have time to set up the 225g.
