IME, leaving the parents to incubate the eggs will lead to higher hatching rate, but don’t know if it helps the fry to survive and grow better a few weeks after free swimming. Has anyone experiment the comparison with and without parents after free swimming? I notice the parents continue to herd free swimming fry, shuffle the gravel, and what appear to regurgitate food dust to feed fry.
Is there benefit to leave CA/SA parents with fry
- Thread starter tiger15
- Start date
not sure about all SA/CA cichlids. but i have like 10 breeding pairs of convicts. over a dozen generations or so. one thing i have noticed is that when parents get to stay and raise the fry. they stay as a pair. they will continue to reproduce with eachother. but if i remove eggs or fry to soon. theres a good chance they will unpair and try to mate with another mature convict instead.
Leaving the fry in with the parents the first couple of times will help the parent become better. Also some fry depend on the parents for a source of food for example the Discus.
Yes that's why I've kept the parents in with the fry until fry started to browse and find food on their own. It makes everything easier for you imo.
I prefer to keep the parents with the fry if at all possible. The only times I haven't is when the parents are in a community tank and cannot rear the fry successfully. Of course discus and Uaru fry have to be with the parents for a while at least, and its possible that some other species also nibble on the slime coat though to a much lesser degree. What tiger15 says is very true, the parents will stir up the substrate, helping the fry to find food, and while this may not be necessary if the fry are raised apart, its interesting to watch. To me, in most cases, the most interesting thing about breeding cichlids is not so much the production of more young cichlids (except maybe in the theoretical example of a very rare species), but observing their parental behaviour.
I agree about leaving fry with parents.
I have had over 50 species of cichlids spawn in my tanks, and unless it happens in a raucous community, I let the parents raise the fry.
I may take a pair a couple times to get it right, but once they do, it seems to end up better all round.
Australoheros sp Red Ceibal.......................................Nandopsis haitiensus..................................................Herichthys carpintus
Below
Lepidiolamprologus elongates....................................Ptychochromis sp Tarantsy ......................................Nosferatu bartoni
Mayaheros beanii........................................................Vieja breidhori...............................................................Nandopsis tetracanthus
Cryptoheros cutteri.......................................................Panameus panamense..............................................Amatitlania myrnae
Gymnogeophagus sp Yerbalito..................................Geophagus iporanguesis..............................................Parachromis motaguensus
Hypsophrys nicaraguensis.........................................Amatitlania Honduran Red Point
Andinoacara coerleopunctatus
All the above (to show just a few), were great parents, and fry were left with them
I have had over 50 species of cichlids spawn in my tanks, and unless it happens in a raucous community, I let the parents raise the fry.
I may take a pair a couple times to get it right, but once they do, it seems to end up better all round.
Australoheros sp Red Ceibal.......................................Nandopsis haitiensus..................................................Herichthys carpintus
Below
Lepidiolamprologus elongates....................................Ptychochromis sp Tarantsy ......................................Nosferatu bartoni
Mayaheros beanii........................................................Vieja breidhori...............................................................Nandopsis tetracanthus
Cryptoheros cutteri.......................................................Panameus panamense..............................................Amatitlania myrnae
Gymnogeophagus sp Yerbalito..................................Geophagus iporanguesis..............................................Parachromis motaguensus
Hypsophrys nicaraguensis.........................................Amatitlania Honduran Red Point
Andinoacara coerleopunctatus
All the above (to show just a few), were great parents, and fry were left with them
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Pretty sure it's been proven fry grow faster with the parents. Parents also help you produce healthier fish as they do the culling for you. If you don't trust one pair with fry, pairs with similar sized fry will gladly foster ime.