Raising Fry Issues

[HardCandy]

I've been looking at a lot of threads for breeding but i haven't found anything helpful in my situation.

i have a medium-large pair of breeding texas cichlids that i bought maybe 5 or 6 months ago.. I've noticed that the fry get eaten by the female after a week or 2. (I already know that she eats them up because she wants to breed again.)

I've been trying to raise the fry and hopefully grow some out. Would taking her out help this situation? i've heard that the male can be the better parent in some situations. I thought i'd ask you guys first because i don't want to try any trial/error methods on my fish and cause any unnecessary stress.

 

[Calaustria]

I'd remove the fry and put them in a growout tank instead of removing the mother.

 

[HardCandy]

I actually tried that twice with a 10 gallon tank. i siphoned them out right after they hatched using the same water from the original tank but the fry ended up dying a few days later. i might've done something wrong though.

 

[woofy]

how long do they last? freshly hatched they are a bit delicate to siphon out, its quite shocking for them. I would as much as u can and net them out or use a turkey baster. grow them out then in a seprate tank.

 

[HardCandy]

thanks. i'll try that. When do you start feeding your fry?

 

[HardCandy]

Here are some pics. Sorry for the quality. I'm terrible at taking pictures.
Female Texas and Male Green Texas. Notice the female guarding the eggs she layed last night.

 

[woofy]

nice fish , when u remove the fry if they are free swimming they should eat grinded flake food just fine. feed a small amount 2-3 times a day

 

[HardCandy]

thank you woofy! they're one of my favorite fish. i'll try using flake foods too. i just came back from the lfs and I bought hikari first bites. hopefully they eat it. if not i have flakes. im excited to grow out some fry.

 

[woofy]

lol talk about starting monster

is this the first fish youve bred? nice for a first one most people start with convicts u skipped a few notches lol. good luck with the babies. first bites is great stuff. also try brine shrimp if u can. and egg is also god. someone here posted a recipe for homemade egg fish food but i dont know where. do a search

 

[danny2875]

I feed my RT Motag fry and umbie fry crushed flakes and freeze dried brine shrimp. they love that stuff.