Hi everyone,
This is my first post. Looking for advice on what to do with fry? Not sure how in-demand dwarf cichlids are tbh. I haven’t seen many being sold.
I built a 20 gal long blackwater breeding tank for my first cichlids (a pair of Nanochromis Transvestitus from my LFS, not sure if wild or tank-bred).
The LFS pair didn’t bond, so after 2 months I had 4 more shipped from wet tropicals (wild-caught) to see if one of the males would bond with the female from my LFS.
Long-story short, after a month of mating displays between my LFS female and the wild-caught male, I went out of town for 3 days and came back to the new pair swarmed with fry.
They look about a week old right now and are free swimming but still following mama. Very cute to watch!
Zero idea what to do with them once they outgrow the 20 gal long. I was hopeful but honestly wasn’t expecting they’d breed, so I turned my breeding tank into a regular backwater tank with black neon tetras and Pygmy corys… kind of regretting that decision now that the tetras might prey on the unexpected babies.
Any thoughts? Should I just invest in some smaller tanks to separate the fry once old enough?
I also have two additional bonded pair adults. One pair in their own 7 gal tank, another pair in my 55gal discus tank. They’ve yet to spawn though.
Considering trying to make multiple tank-bred lines and maybe they’ll live and breed more readily over time? Keep in mind, I had to use very acidic, near 0 kh/gh water before they spawned. I would swing the ph down to 5 and fed frozen live for 2 weeks. ph is currently 6 because I’m too scared to lower the ph with the new fry in the tank.
Nanochromis Transvestitus seem uncommon, so not sure if they’re worth investing in tank-breeding (though they’re currently my favorite fish due to the challenge). The soft-acid water seems to deter folks, so maybe a tank-bred line would be beneficial?
Thanks for reading,
-Richard
This is my first post. Looking for advice on what to do with fry? Not sure how in-demand dwarf cichlids are tbh. I haven’t seen many being sold.
I built a 20 gal long blackwater breeding tank for my first cichlids (a pair of Nanochromis Transvestitus from my LFS, not sure if wild or tank-bred).
The LFS pair didn’t bond, so after 2 months I had 4 more shipped from wet tropicals (wild-caught) to see if one of the males would bond with the female from my LFS.
Long-story short, after a month of mating displays between my LFS female and the wild-caught male, I went out of town for 3 days and came back to the new pair swarmed with fry.
They look about a week old right now and are free swimming but still following mama. Very cute to watch!
Zero idea what to do with them once they outgrow the 20 gal long. I was hopeful but honestly wasn’t expecting they’d breed, so I turned my breeding tank into a regular backwater tank with black neon tetras and Pygmy corys… kind of regretting that decision now that the tetras might prey on the unexpected babies.
Any thoughts? Should I just invest in some smaller tanks to separate the fry once old enough?
I also have two additional bonded pair adults. One pair in their own 7 gal tank, another pair in my 55gal discus tank. They’ve yet to spawn though.
Considering trying to make multiple tank-bred lines and maybe they’ll live and breed more readily over time? Keep in mind, I had to use very acidic, near 0 kh/gh water before they spawned. I would swing the ph down to 5 and fed frozen live for 2 weeks. ph is currently 6 because I’m too scared to lower the ph with the new fry in the tank.
Nanochromis Transvestitus seem uncommon, so not sure if they’re worth investing in tank-breeding (though they’re currently my favorite fish due to the challenge). The soft-acid water seems to deter folks, so maybe a tank-bred line would be beneficial?
Thanks for reading,
-Richard
