Excellent! Shall we expect cigars in the mail? 
Congratulations!
Congratulations!Keyholes are Breeding!
- Thread starter MetalRavioli
- Start date
Update: And there they are!!! Last night, 30+ small keyhole cichlids hatched from their eggs! Since then the parents have been very protective and have made several small ditches for the babies to sit in. They are not yet free-swimming, and at the moment are just wriggly bodies attached to their yolks. My question is: is there something I must do here to step in? Should I provide special food for the hatchlings, or will the mother cichlids feed them on her own?
Here are the little babies, and a proud mama! They are so tiny at the moment!
Here are the little babies, and a proud mama! They are so tiny at the moment!
The fry won't need food until they are free-swimming. Their egg sacs will provide food for a couple of days. You can crush up what you fed the parent fish. Tbh newly hatched brine shrimp is very nutritional for fry.
Thats good to know. I will definitely purchase some brine shrimp for the little ones!
Thank you!! I'll be posting updates as they come!
You can soak pellets you give the adults and smoosh them up with your fingers. Just drop the paste in the water and they'll eat from the cloud! Parents will probably kick in too.
If you have a sponge filter they'll probably pick at the stuck particles and anything on the deco. That's what my baby hrp have done and they stay fat.
If you have a sponge filter they'll probably pick at the stuck particles and anything on the deco. That's what my baby hrp have done and they stay fat.
And here they are! As of today, the babies have begun to learn to swim! They've eaten up all of their egg sacs, and around 16 babies made it without being eaten! (By their parents I assume) They're still learning how to do it, they haven't quite got the hang of swimming just yet but they're getting there! They seem to follow their mother around, although their father is still protecting them. Should I separate the babies and put them in a fry chamber, or just leave them with their parents?
(Video of babies)
(Video of babies)
I would leave them with the parents. Their first spawn may not work out successfully but spawn again they will. Allowing them to learn to be parents is something I always do.
