How soon can I seperate Red Jewel fry from the parents? And also Texas Cichlid fry from the parents?
Seperating fry from parents?
- Thread starter 53special
- Start date
If you want them to breed again, right away. They're very good parents, and won't go back into the rhythmn of things until they're gone... Unless they don't. Then they eat their young to clear the room for the next batch-in-the-making. Mine haven't. They've just happily all swam together for forever... ok - 6 months. And the fry are half the size of mom and dad, and still no sign that parenting has taken a back seat to mating (and I have enough that it wouldn't be a problem if they did!). So the bottom line is that it's a crap shoot. But the soon you pull the fry away the more you're guaranteed to have because there is the risk that ma and pa will get hungry. It also make a difference how experienced they are. It took me three batches for one set of jewels to produce a viable "clutch" (ok, not the right word. sue me), a different set twice, and both now actively produce lots. My convicts got it right from the get-go. Moving the fry too soon (aout two weeks) from my favorite set caused them to go into fear mode and shift from being king/queen of the tank to being never-to-be-seen-again critters -- which they never were before. So decide how important the fry are to you and make your decision. Fish are individuals and there's practically no absolute rule (skip the chlorine. That's a good one to keep in mind) so you're on your own with your best judgement. Grab the ball and run with it.
Usually…
Parents lay eggs… 3 days later eggs hatch into “wigglers”… 4 days later wigglers begin free swimming… Do not be alarmed if any of this is off by a day…
Personally, the first day they are free swimming I remove the fry from the parents. This is so I can begin a live hatched BBS diet from the absolute beginning…
Others have their reasoning to wait 3 days, some 10, some 2 weeks… we all have our individual methods to our individual madness…
To collect fry I suggest waiting until night time (after their lights out). At night the parents gather the free swimmers into a ‘pile’ or concentrated group since it is easier to protect at night. With the lights out (in the tank and in the room) the fish cannot see you as well which means they will not resent you for eating their babies (I admit this is speculation but it seems to work). Spot the fry with a flashlight and move in with your siphon hose and suck them up…
I try to set up the bucket and hose a while before moving in for the steal. I keep the bucket only slightly lower than the tank to slow the siphon to reduce risk to fry.
I usually try to leave a hundred of so fry for the parents to care for. Taking ALL the fry sometimes results in some harsh squabbling between the parents. I’ve had males kill their female for not guarding the fry better (at least that’s why I think he killed her).
Parents lay eggs… 3 days later eggs hatch into “wigglers”… 4 days later wigglers begin free swimming… Do not be alarmed if any of this is off by a day…
Personally, the first day they are free swimming I remove the fry from the parents. This is so I can begin a live hatched BBS diet from the absolute beginning…
Others have their reasoning to wait 3 days, some 10, some 2 weeks… we all have our individual methods to our individual madness…
To collect fry I suggest waiting until night time (after their lights out). At night the parents gather the free swimmers into a ‘pile’ or concentrated group since it is easier to protect at night. With the lights out (in the tank and in the room) the fish cannot see you as well which means they will not resent you for eating their babies (I admit this is speculation but it seems to work). Spot the fry with a flashlight and move in with your siphon hose and suck them up…
I try to set up the bucket and hose a while before moving in for the steal. I keep the bucket only slightly lower than the tank to slow the siphon to reduce risk to fry.
I usually try to leave a hundred of so fry for the parents to care for. Taking ALL the fry sometimes results in some harsh squabbling between the parents. I’ve had males kill their female for not guarding the fry better (at least that’s why I think he killed her).
I siphoned them out, using a 3/8" hose. The bucket was about 6" lower than the tank. It worked great. The fry are swimming freely, and don't appear to be stressed. I left them a few dozen, they only had 100-200 fry. Thanks.
I'm glad it worked out for you and for the fry...
I mostly keep CAs that have around a thousand fry at a time. So this is what I had in mind when I suggested leaving a hundred... a couple dozen out of 100~200 should be enough...
Congratts!
I mostly keep CAs that have around a thousand fry at a time. So this is what I had in mind when I suggested leaving a hundred... a couple dozen out of 100~200 should be enough...
Congratts!