Unexpected FM fry

[Chinnavar]

Hello,

So here is my situation; 5 days ago I saw a couple of eggs latched against a big stone in my 180G with 2 FMs defending it. I was pretty excited as it would be my first fish that has bred in one of my aquariums, but the next day they were all gone. As I only saw like 10 eggs I just thought that the parents ate them over night.

But boy, was I wrong. Woke up today with what seems like a couple hundred wigglers. This was also the first time that I saw my FMs couple up and show breeding behaviour, i'm thinking it's their first try.

What do I do now? As it is now the fry will probably become fish food and i'm too late in setting up another aquarium to house them. Also, all the fry are in the cave where all my fish hide in when I do my waterchanges, so we'll see how that'll turn out.

 

[twentyleagues]

I'm guessing the whole dynamic will change on water change day as the parents are not going to want the other fish by their young. So that may get stressful for everyone involved. Currently sounds like you weren't expecting to have breeding behavior so there is little you can do. Set up a tank with some media or substrate or something from your tank with bacteria on it get out the ones you can catch. Be ready for the next batch? Some may survive if left in the tank..... depends on what else is in there. Congrats anyway you are a fish grandparent now!

 

[Chinnavar]

I'm guessing the whole dynamic will change on water change day as the parents are not going to want the other fish by their young. So that may get stressful for everyone involved. Currently sounds like you weren't expecting to have breeding behavior so there is little you can do. Set up a tank with some media or substrate or something from your tank with bacteria on it get out the ones you can catch. Be ready for the next batch? Some may survive if left in the tank..... depends on what else is in there. Congrats anyway you are a fish grandparent now!

Doing a waterchange right now, and you're right. Every fish is in the tank are bundled up together in the corner on the otherside. Thankful they seem pretty relaxed and aren't chasing or nipping at fins. I can get my hands on a 30 breeder, so I guess i'll set that one up for the next batch.

There might be slim chance that a couple will survive, have a lot of small crevices between rocks and driftwood. But then again, the other inhabitants consist of 1 oscar, 3 severums, 1 delhezi bichir, 1 ornate bichir and a total of 5 FMs. Time will tell I guess.
Thanks! Was pretty excited when I saw them when I walked into my living room this morning. Screamed so hard my girlfriend thought something went horribly wrong haha

The fry seem to be grazing on leftovers on the ground and eating algae, do I need to feed them something else? Like crushing up some pellets or something?

 

[tlindsey]

Doing a waterchange right now, and you're right. Every fish is in the tank are bundled up together in the corner on the otherside. Thankful they seem pretty relaxed and aren't chasing or nipping at fins. I can get my hands on a 30 breeder, so I guess i'll set that one up for the next batch.

There might be slim chance that a couple will survive, have a lot of small crevices between rocks and driftwood. But then again, the other inhabitants consist of 1 oscar, 3 severums, 1 delhezi bichir, 1 ornate bichir and a total of 5 FMs. Time will tell I guess.
Thanks! Was pretty excited when I saw them when I walked into my living room this morning. Screamed so hard my girlfriend thought something went horribly wrong haha

The fry seem to be grazing on leftovers on the ground and eating algae, do I need to feed them something else? Like crushing up some pellets or something?

Yes crushed pellet will be fine.

 

[tlindsey]

Hello,

So here is my situation; 5 days ago I saw a couple of eggs latched against a big stone in my 180G with 2 FMs defending it. I was pretty excited as it would be my first fish that has bred in one of my aquariums, but the next day they were all gone. As I only saw like 10 eggs I just thought that the parents ate them over night.

But boy, was I wrong. Woke up today with what seems like a couple hundred wigglers. This was also the first time that I saw my FMs couple up and show breeding behaviour, i'm thinking it's their first try.

What do I do now? As it is now the fry will probably become fish food and i'm too late in setting up another aquarium to house them. Also, all the fry are in the cave where all my fish hide in when I do my waterchanges, so we'll see how that'll turn out.

Congrats!

 

[twentyleagues]

Yes that usually works. Especially if you are not growing anything like microworms or brine shrimp. First bites is a fine powdered food from hikari. I had my filamented barbs breed unexpected and I just crushed up food for about 2 weeks and then they were fine on their own. Out of 200+ babies over 100 survived.

 

[Chinnavar]

Alright, thanks a lot guys!

I turned off my filtration, crushed some hikari staple and mixed it with water and used a syringe to get it straight to the fry. They seem to enjoy it, parents seem confused at what im doing haha.

Since it's their first nest I don't have high hopes of the parents not eating them in the next couple of days, but we'll see! I'll give an update when something has happened

 

[twentyleagues]

Alright, thanks a lot guys!

I turned off my filtration, crushed some hikari staple and mixed it with water and used a syringe to get it straight to the fry. They seem to enjoy it, parents seem confused at what im doing haha.

Since it's their first nest I don't have high hopes of the parents not eating them in the next couple of days, but we'll see! I'll give an update when something has happened

By the pic it looks like they get it.

 

[Chinnavar]

By the pic it looks like they get it.

Yeah, I think my worries aren't necesarry. Just saw the male chase my 7" sev and 8" O away like it's nothing, he's about 4.5" right now. Pretty surprised how good they are at being parents as it's their first batch of fry ever.

 

[Chinnavar]

Quick update:

So my fry are all gone, thinking the parents ate them overnight. One of the five FMs is getting sweeped up in the middle between the couple that had fry and 2 smaller females(?) that are seeming to pair off. Thought I got one male and four females, but I might be wrong since its hard to sex them. Might get rid of the other male(?) and hope the FM that's getting caught up between the 2 pairs can chill out again.

Also, my severums are building a nest. they dug a big hole behind a rock and my female rotkeil is showing her eggtube and doing some sort of shaking motion around my male. The shaking around each other has been going on for a while now, but have never seen eggs. Seemd like my male rotkeil wasn't that interested before the FM fry. But since my FM had fry they paired up and are trying to defend their hole/rock together.

Might have to change my stock up a bit, don't think I can handle 2 pairs of FM and a pair of severum in a 180G together with my O, bigger gold sev and 2 bichirs.

Might the spawning behaviour have been stimulated because the weather is getting better which results in more sun directly on the tank? The temperature has been increasing only slightly. going from 27C to 27.5C