Well, they have laid eggs and now I have fry. Hundreds of them. I didn't notice the whole action till today. The bigger one didn't come to accept food for about a week, I was he was sick or something. But all of a sudden, today I see this.
I need help now. Do I need to separate the fry? If so when? What can I feed them. Brought a bottle of brine shrimp today, trying to hatch it now. Will that work?
I never bred channa so take this with "a grain of salt", but from what I´ve read:
- don´t separate the fry from the parents; they will look after the fry;
- you don´t need to feed the fry in the first days; afterwards star with small food like redworms or ciclops or something similar. You may also try to start them directly with baby pellets. It´s not likely they take them but...you never know until you try.
Hopefully, one of the channa breeders of the forum (DC, Brucki) will see this thread and they´ll help you with 1st hand info
Keep them with their parents long as you like the tank will likly get crowded long before they need to be removed for any other reason.
Gachua are egg feeders, the mother will feed the juvies with infertile eggs. It's not something they do when your watching so you may not see it. My Auranti typically did it early morning before dawn while lights were still out. I found egg feeding continued for several weeks, even long after the fry were eating bloodworms and pellets mom was still feeding them. There is also some evidence/argument that allowing egg feeding is important for the devolopment of fry and if removed too early success /survival rate is much lower.
They are excellent parents and will care for the young right up until the young males start flaring at each other.
Even then the parents won't hurt their fry but they will break up fights and chase them off to a corner almost like they are encouraging them to leave/jump out.
For feeding I started mine on foods as they approached the ~1/2" (1cm) mark. First bloodworms and within a week or so I started 1/2mm NLS pellets. They are all mouth at this age I watched one swallow the other at 1/2" and realized if he can do that they can easily eat bloodworms or pellets !
They are not picky espically in groups of hundreds just about anything that hits the water quickly escalates them into a feeding frenzy.
As for sexing I can't tell from those pics but behaviour should give it away. it's the male that carries the eggs/fry in his mouth, the male also defends the brood after they are released. Normally very close by at all times. My male Auranti would collect up stragglers to return then the group or bring fry up who swam to deep and would start to struggle on their return for air Etc.
Thanks DC. This advice really helps. Glad the parents are going to look after the fry for some time. I already see that some are moving out of the pack and swimming more freely. According to what you've mentioned, I can conclude that the bigger one is the male, since he is the one always hanging around the fry.
