Texas Cichlid Qestion on Fry Size?

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Lost2301

Gambusia
MFK Member
Jul 30, 2015
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My pair of Texas cichlids had a large sqawn for the last time and I just did a water change and algae cleaning on the glass and I discovered quit a few very tiny fry. They are about the 1/3 the size of most of them. The other fish do not bother them, but they are so small it started me wondering about them. I counted 10 right off, but I sure there are a lot more. Any thoughts out there on this? Are they just runts or maybe something better? None of these tiny fry have any spots on them like the bigger ones, except for tail spot. I am thinking about removing them and putting them in their own tank and see what happens with them. I will try to post a pic of them next a normal fry.

Thanks,

Mike
 
With any cichlid spawn you will find a number of different size fry, this allows for part of the spawn to survive in case of some natural catastrophe.
Some fry could have been the last to hatch, and some older more robust fry will out compete the smaller for food, delaying their development. Some may simply have mutations. In nature some predator could come along and gobble up the largest, most visible fry, not seeing, and leaving the smallest. A weather event may wash away free swimming fry, but leave more stationary (or attached) wrigglers.
In some cases you may find a fry or 2 of a different color, and under normal conditions, in most cases that individual will stand out, and end up prey. But in the case some weather or tectonic event that drastically changes the landscape, that odd colored individual could be the only one to survive. Evolution/nature provides many fail safe methods for the continuation of a species.
 
Azedenkae said:
Or maybe it could be a second batch?
Click to expand...
I was thinking the same thing that maybe it was a second spawn. I have had that happen several times. I have even had the fish eat the first spawn because the want to spawn again.
 
I agree with Azedenkae, this is a definite possibility. I have had a number of cichlids put down a 2nd spawn within 10 days of the first, and raise some of each spawn.
The ones in the pic below however, are from the same spawn, and there is quite the size difference, one to the other.
 
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Looks like some are aggressively eating more than the others. But they really look good, healthy, and strong for their size.
 
Could be they're female. For example I have 30 fry right now and 12 are a lot bigger like massive compared to the rest. They're most likely male the bigger ones and I'm sure they are some males in the smaller ones as well. I have a female that's 3 inches and a males that's 7 inches from the same batch as well. I know this because I raised them in separate tanks.
 
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Thanks for the reply's. I had not considered a second spawning. I had to remove their fist spawning as they all began hiding all over the tank which was a change in their normal behavior. I could not catch 6 of them and remained in hiding while the pair spawned again. The pair eventually caught and ate them all. Here a couple of pics of the small ones and larger ones. Another strange thing happened on this spawning. The fry began eating the parents and I had to take the parents out. The male parent developed a white round spot just below his dorsal fin. I finally noticed why, a fry was picking at it. I noticed more fry doing this to. The female parent developed a white spot on the other side of her body and the fry were picking at it to. I removed the parents after a struggle to catch them. They soon healed up. Anyone heard of them doing this?

IMG_0503.JPG
 
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