Should I remove the male?

[Aquatic Aggression]

Hmm I'm guessing since the op's fish are bgjd he is trying to breed ebjd. I'm also guessing op would like a higher yield of ebjd so he would like a large amount of the spawn to survive since only a small % of the spawn will even be ebjd to begin with. Nothing wrong with removing the eggs just fill the hatch tank with water from the breeding tank obviously. That said I would let the parents practice with this spawn, there will be more to come
Have a divider ready for the male just in case.

 

[HokieFish]

Remember, just because something makes sense intuitively doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. Try to get it from people with actual experience.

I have kept breeding pairs of Oscars, Firemouths, convicts, and JD's (I also had a wild caught betta breeding project that i ran for 4 years). Granted I haven't had experience with EBJD's, but I'm not throwing out advice about anything that i haven't done and had success with. Speaking from my experience, I always had better luck removing the object that they breed on and transferring it to a bare bottom tank. When I would do this, i would siphon water directly from the breeding tank into the 10 gallon that i had set up under the breeder. All water changes I did to this 10 gallon tank were done using water from the breeding tank, not treated tap water. I never had a problem with losing fry or stressing out the parents. Sorry for not providing all of that information in my first post on this thread. Have I done it the other way and left the eggs in with the parents to hatch out in the same tank, yes. I'm just stating that from a control stand point that it is easier to see how successful the spawn is, and track the production, if they are removed and allowed to hatch out in a bare tank.
My experience might be outside of the norm, but it was successful for all of the fish that i had spawn and used this method. Just because I don't have over 1,000 posts doesn't mean that I don't have over 15 years of "actual experience" breeding various cichlids.

 

[peathenster]

I have kept breeding pairs of Oscars, Firemouths, convicts, and JD's (I also had a wild caught betta breeding project that i ran for 4 years). Granted I haven't had experience with EBJD's, but I'm not throwing out advice about anything that i haven't done and had success with. Speaking from my experience, I always had better luck removing the object that they breed on and transferring it to a bare bottom tank. When I would do this, i would siphon water directly from the breeding tank into the 10 gallon that i had set up under the breeder. All water changes I did to this 10 gallon tank were done using water from the breeding tank, not treated tap water. I never had a problem with losing fry or stressing out the parents. Sorry for not providing all of that information in my first post on this thread. Have I done it the other way and left the eggs in with the parents to hatch out in the same tank, yes. I'm just stating that from a control stand point that it is easier to see how successful the spawn is, and track the production, if they are removed and allowed to hatch out in a bare tank.
My experience might be outside of the norm, but it was successful for all of the fish that i had spawn and used this method. Just because I don't have over 1,000 posts doesn't mean that I don't have over 15 years of "actual experience" breeding various cichlids.

Thanks for sharing your experience That's exactly my point.

 

[Madness]

I have kept breeding pairs of Oscars, Firemouths, convicts, and JD's (I also had a wild caught betta breeding project that i ran for 4 years). Granted I haven't had experience with EBJD's, but I'm not throwing out advice about anything that i haven't done and had success with. Speaking from my experience, I always had better luck removing the object that they breed on and transferring it to a bare bottom tank. When I would do this, i would siphon water directly from the breeding tank into the 10 gallon that i had set up under the breeder. All water changes I did to this 10 gallon tank were done using water from the breeding tank, not treated tap water. I never had a problem with losing fry or stressing out the parents. Sorry for not providing all of that information in my first post on this thread. Have I done it the other way and left the eggs in with the parents to hatch out in the same tank, yes. I'm just stating that from a control stand point that it is easier to see how successful the spawn is, and track the production, if they are removed and allowed to hatch out in a bare tank.
My experience might be outside of the norm, but it was successful for all of the fish that i had spawn and used this method. Just because I don't have over 1,000 posts doesn't mean that I don't have over 15 years of "actual experience" breeding various cichlids.

Just because you have been doing something for 15+ years, doesn't mean that it is correct or the right thing to do. And the number of posts shouldn't mean a darn thing. If you have an idea, we should explain our methods, and why each of us feel this method will work for the OP. Then the OP will do what he feels more comfortable with. As his fish learns he will learn also.

IMO I would not remove the eggs. If you do then be prepared to separate the male from the female. I have spawned many a fish, and I have tried all ways. The one that has not worked well is removing the eggs. What has worked well is waiting for them to free swim, when this starts they swim in a school, use a small hose (1/2") and siphon most of them out leaving a hand full in there for mom and dad to raise and learn on. Put these little guys in a small tank with water from the main tank, with a sponge filter. Keep up the feedings and the water changes and you will be set.

The fish that remain with the parents will grow 2 to 3 times faster than the ones you remove.

Choose what you feel comfortable with, and learn from it. If you love this hobby and enjoy breeding, you will find your most effective way.

 

[Madness]

But you also have to ask yourself. If the parents are doing their job, then why even remove them and subject them to any type of stress. Let them grow up with the parents.

 

[Aquatic Aggression]

I'm liking all the advice in this thread. With most cichlid breedings I agree it is best to leave fry with their parents.

The op is breeding for a specific color morph he or she is not breeding to witness the awesome natural behavior of the parents raising the fry. Standard or het for blue jacks are notorious for eating the smaller and "weaker" ebjd fry anyhow.

 

[Dispatch273]

I want to thank all of you for your advice and information from your personal experience. I did remove the rock that the eggs had been laid on. I did not try to remove the eggs from the bottom of the tank and the female is still guarding them. She is still acting the same way towards the male and the male is still being tolerant of her. My first attempt at breeding cichlids involved pink convicts and I learned the hard way that you shouldn't completely remove all the fry from the parents. I now have a female pink con with no tail and a ton of pink con fry I'm really not too concerned with the percentage of ebjd and how many survive this first spawn. I'm sure this won't be their last spawn and I'm not going anywhere, nor are they. I'm learning as much as my fish are about how to raise fry. Thank you all again. Oh and btw...I'm a she not a he

 

[Aquatic Aggression]

That's great. I hope you do end up with some blues though. Looking forward to future updates.

 

[trace]

+1

Just because you have been doing something for 15+ years, doesn't mean that it is correct or the right thing to do. And the number of posts shouldn't mean a darn thing. If you have an idea, we should explain our methods, and why each of us feel this method will work for the OP. Then the OP will do what he feels more comfortable with. As his fish learns he will learn also.

IMO I would not remove the eggs. If you do then be prepared to separate the male from the female. I have spawned many a fish, and I have tried all ways. The one that has not worked well is removing the eggs. What has worked well is waiting for them to free swim, when this starts they swim in a school, use a small hose (1/2") and siphon most of them out leaving a hand full in there for mom and dad to raise and learn on. Put these little guys in a small tank with water from the main tank, with a sponge filter. Keep up the feedings and the water changes and you will be set.

The fish that remain with the parents will grow 2 to 3 times faster than the ones you remove.

Choose what you feel comfortable with, and learn from it. If you love this hobby and enjoy breeding, you will find your most effective way.

 

[Dispatch273]

Just wanted to update. Most of the eggs in the bg's tank have hatched and have been moved into a pit by the parents. The eggs I removed(attached to a rock) have yet to hatch. Only a handful of them turned white and those that did I picked off carefully with tweezers. Hopefully I'll be able to get some pics of free swimmers in a few days!