Baby convict questions

[tel0004]

I have about 50 baby convict cichlids. I got some powdered baby food from a friend, but the stuff dosent sink that fast, and I think the parents get more of the food than the babies do. Im guessing that they are getting some food since they are still alive, probably from the bottom. Also, how long before the parents become a threat to the fry. Also, because there are so many babies, I am unable to clean most of the sand, b/c I dont want to suck up any fry. Will this cause any problems. Thanks.

[Seaman]

Convicts are usually very caring parents, so you shouldnt hav eto worry about them, what i would reccomend would be taking the crushed up flake and put it near the bottom of the tank with your hand and also feeding the parents with bigger pieces so they stay away from the crushed pieces on the bottom, the reason i say this is my convicts kinda walk their fry around the tank and the fry are constantly picking at the gravel looking for loose bits of food. Hope that helps. Also about the sand, I would just stir the sand lightly with a stick so that the debris will float up into the water column and get sucked up by your filter.

[sman91wing]

In my experience I fed both crushed flakes and uncrushed, and what I found was that my convict parents would get a mouthfull, chew it up, and spit it out to the fry in small pieces.

[N8DOGG]

I have about 100 fry right now also. Your convicts will take good care of their babies. I just throw in some crushed flake food, I really don't worry who will eat it Because everyone will get some. I still do 50% water changes every other day(small tanks lots of babies).I just watch where the babies are and try not to suck any up. You can leave the area where the babies are alone and clean the rest of the tank.

[LongTime]

Don't worry about the parents. They won't become a threat until they are ready to breed again and view the last batch of fry as a threat to the new ones. By they way, they will be a threat to the new fry.

As far as feeding them goes, I wouldn't even purchase the powdered stuff. The parents do spit food into the school of fry and shepherd them around the tank so they can forage from the bottom. I would not feed pellets because they don't break up as well, but I've dropped in large cichlid flakes and watched the babies all swarm a flak three times larger than they are and just rip into it once it got a little soggy.