Committing murder in the name of fry...

[xiaosong]

So I have two very protective kribensis cichlids that just had their first batch of fry. They have been taking very good care of them and haven't attacked each other either. They have about 50 fry swimming around with them and they are in a 12 gallon tall tank. I previously have 3 espei rasboras in there as dithers but I just pulled them out because one of them got its tail ripped off by the kribensis and died.

So... the question is, can I just leave the pair in their with the fry or do I need some faster dither fish so the pair doesn't attack each other? The fry have been freeswimming for 3 days.

I'll post a cool video of the parents with the fry soon.

[kcooley]

you can just take the male out. the female has much better parental instincts anyways

[xiaosong]

I think it's the female that killed the rasbora because she is the one that sneaks up on the fish from below and attacks them. The male just seems to chase them away without actually touching them. So you think I should take the male out now even though they are both taking care of the fry together?

[lucky777ca]

Same problem here. This is currently my second batch of frys and, as you described, the male is attacking, but only for a little bit. The female is the one that is attacking the tiger barbs (which are supposed to be fast) and making them do 3 laps around the tank, and attacking any fishes that she sees along the way. Anyways, she let the frys out of the cave on Sunday, October 15, 2006 around 13:00... (spawned maybe on the 4th of October, the frys don't have their yolk sac anymore) and I removed the tiger barbs the next day (early in the morning... 6:30)

Just from what I see, the female and the male think that the fishes in another tank, that is about 4" away from theirs, are in their tank and tries to scare them off... Although I'm not sure if this will actually stop them from attacking each, I've also heard that the pair sometimes doesn't attack each other. I guess it depends on the individual fishes in question... Probably...

Anyways, I hope the best of luck.

[kcooley]

try dimming your lights

[xiaosong]

Yeah, so far, the pair are ok and its been a few days. Maybe a little bit more aggressive with each other than before but they aren't keeping each other away from the fry and will still hang out together. I do see a little bit of nipping once in a while but there is plenty of cover so they don't see each other all the time. The male will occasionally flare at the betta I have in tank right next to ours but that's about it.

It's crazy how fast the fry grow too. I read that the parents will cull the babies naturally, but so far, there are still like 50 of them.

[lucky777ca]

I checked out how the pair is doing looking at the fishes in the tank beside their tank (20G Krib Fry Growout), they bump the glass trying to chase the fry away :P Hopefully they don't get hurt bumping the glass... When I put opaque barrier between the tanks, they stop bumping the glass, wonder where the other fishes are and start looking around the tank to find those other fishes.

Anyways, hope the pair doesn't attack each other (also for my pair).