Texas breeding.....what to do now?

[revival]

So my roommates texas cichlids were breeding today and we have no experience and have no idea what to do now. He just redid his set up and he built a nice cave with slate rocks on the left side of his tank.

Its a 110 gallon tank with a variety of fish. What should we do now? The mom and dad have been protecting the eggs for now. Should we put a divider? Should mom and dad be seperated? Can anyone lead me into the right direction once the eggs hatch? Should we get another tank ready? What kind of set up should new tank have?

Sorry for all the questions, but this is unexpected and we are scrambling on what to do.

Thx in advance.

 

[Chicklette]

Put a divider in to seperate them from the others. The parents will do the rest. They will raise them.

 

[revival]

Put a divider in to seperate them from the others. The parents will do the rest. They will raise them.

We have an eel, arowana, green terror JD, raphel catfish etc in the tank as well. At what point can we take the fry out? We are maybe thinking about getting a seperate tank for the texas in the future but should we try seperate the fry so they dont get eaten?

Because this was unexpected, we are no way prepared for what happened. I just dont want the other fish to eat the fry. I want to some how set up another tank for the fry but have no idea when to do it and how to set up a fry tank.

 

[Chicklette]

Yes, seperate the fry from the other fish so they don't get eaten but the parents will not eat them, they will raise them. That is why you should get a divider plus the parents get super aggressive to keep the fish away from the fry.

 

[revival]

So i get home today and the male and femal texas are swimming around and not in their cave where the eggs were. I knew this wasnt a good sign and looked in the cave and all the eggs were gone! Was planning on getting a divider too but i guess its too late. Im so bummed out. They were doing a good job on protecting the eggs and one of the parents would be in the cave at all times. So i dont know if one of the parents ate them or one of the other fish did. Hopefully they will breed again. Any idea on how long before the eggs hatch? I feel like such a failure and want to make sure i am better prepared next time.

 

[Dark Jester]

I wouldn't stress it too much. I've read that a lot of cichlids may eat their first spawn or two. I had a pair of JD's lay eggs a few days ago and they didn't even make it to the guarding stage. They were eating them almost as fast as she laid them.

It's possible that another fish got in there, but more likely that the parents did it themselves. They'll probably go again in a few weeks.