My big male and smaller female finally paired up. They are aggressively defending these orange eggs. Any recommendations as to how I should attempt to save the fry? The tank also includes 4 hungry peacock bass.
Hoplarchus Psittacus - EGGS!
- Thread starter chuckrum
- Start date
BUT put in a few peaceful dithers.
Sorry for the low quality pic. The eggs are those little orange circles on the rock just below her. I havent got a spare tank for the bass, I may remove the rock and try to hatch them myself
I don't think the parents will allow the PBs near them. Mine are really good at defending their eggs against most any fish. I would wait until they hatch, and then siphon out some to raise. Leaving some in there will help maintain the pair bond and allow you to see how effectively they defend their young. Here's a pair of mine with young. There were several very predatorial fish in this 180G that they managed to defend against for several days.
I agree with Jim. Unless you have a really pushy/aggressive pleco or some other nocturnal fish, cichlid parents are usually perfectly capable of defending eggs to hatching. You can either suck out the wrigglers or wait and see if they go free-swimming, then suck out the free swimming fry. Some of my cichlids are better than others with wrigglers. My Krobia pair lets their wrigglers get eaten every time, while most of my severums can defend them for the 5 - 7 days it takes for them to go free-swimming. So at that point it kind of depends on your pair.
But yes, they should definitely be able to hatch the eggs for you and then your job is a little easier.
Congrats on the spawn -- psittacus are one of my favorite cichlids out there!
But yes, they should definitely be able to hatch the eggs for you and then your job is a little easier.
Congrats on the spawn -- psittacus are one of my favorite cichlids out there!