When your fish spawn it's always fun to watch the little buggers grow, but eventhough cichlids are excellent parents for the most part there are some thing that can be done to improve success and cut down on problems.
Here are a few things I have found and perhaps people can add to it to make a good informational thread (maybe even sticky):
- Help the parents along by making the environment safe. Either remove tankmates that would prey on the fry or remove the parents. This is best done between spawns when there isn't any fry in the tank and the parents are less aggressive. If you don't have an additional tank , try a breeding trap or divider.
- Either shut off any power filter/cannister and run only sponge/box filters or cover the intake with a stocking or some foam. You will save a lot of fry this way.
- Usually the parents will chew and spit food for the fry or the fry will pick on the slimecoat of the parents. Make sure you feed the parents good food as they will help feed the fry.
- Waterchanges!! Keeping NH3 (ammonia), NO2(nitrite) and NO3(Nitrate) down will speed up growth and keep them healthy. Warmer water also encourages growth.
- Leaving a small light on at night is a good idea as the parents can keep watch over the fry and the fry can find the parents.
- I think it is wise to remove some fry to make sure some make it (if you plan on keeping them). But leave some in with the parents even if you know they will not make it. This will keep the bond between the pair so they don't fight and/or kill eachother.
- When you remove fry there are a couple of important things: Put them in a small tank 1-5 gal to start. It will make waterchanges easier and it will make it easy for the fry to locate food. Make sure this tank is cycled and preferably established. Nothing wipes the little swimmers out like spiking ammonia and nitrate.
- One of the most important foods for the smallest freeswimming fry is the microfilm and algaecoating on the tank glass or on decorations.Try to make sure to cultivate that in the breeding tank and in the frytank as it will be vital to the growth and survival of the fry. Clay flowerpots seem to promote this growth/coating and if needed you can pull one from another tank and add it in.
- Newly hatched brineshrimp are good food; this is how I have found works to feed them. Run an airstone in a small container 1 Qt to 1 gal with the brinshrimp eggs and salt in it. They will start to hatch in 24 hours. To catch and feed them I remove the airstone or shut it off for a few minutes to let the water calm down. Next draw off water in with a turkeybaster from an area that seems to have a lot of activity. Spray it back into the brinshrimptank through a brineshrimp net and then dip the net in the fry tank to release the shrimp. As the shrimp are really tiny it will be important to have the fry in a small tank so they can find the food.
- The turkeybaster comes in handy to sifen up detritus from the bottom of the frytank.
- I read in Jack Wattleys column that raising the same amount of discus fry in a 2 gal and a 20 gal they experimented with waterchanges. The 2 gal recieved 75% daily changes while the 20 got 20% every other day (I may not have the figures right but the general idea is the point). The smaller tank , eventhough it was overcrowded, that got the many large waterchanges had double the growth within weeks. The point: Do a lot of waterchanges.
-
Here are a few things I have found and perhaps people can add to it to make a good informational thread (maybe even sticky):
- Help the parents along by making the environment safe. Either remove tankmates that would prey on the fry or remove the parents. This is best done between spawns when there isn't any fry in the tank and the parents are less aggressive. If you don't have an additional tank , try a breeding trap or divider.
- Either shut off any power filter/cannister and run only sponge/box filters or cover the intake with a stocking or some foam. You will save a lot of fry this way.
- Usually the parents will chew and spit food for the fry or the fry will pick on the slimecoat of the parents. Make sure you feed the parents good food as they will help feed the fry.
- Waterchanges!! Keeping NH3 (ammonia), NO2(nitrite) and NO3(Nitrate) down will speed up growth and keep them healthy. Warmer water also encourages growth.
- Leaving a small light on at night is a good idea as the parents can keep watch over the fry and the fry can find the parents.
- I think it is wise to remove some fry to make sure some make it (if you plan on keeping them). But leave some in with the parents even if you know they will not make it. This will keep the bond between the pair so they don't fight and/or kill eachother.
- When you remove fry there are a couple of important things: Put them in a small tank 1-5 gal to start. It will make waterchanges easier and it will make it easy for the fry to locate food. Make sure this tank is cycled and preferably established. Nothing wipes the little swimmers out like spiking ammonia and nitrate.
- One of the most important foods for the smallest freeswimming fry is the microfilm and algaecoating on the tank glass or on decorations.Try to make sure to cultivate that in the breeding tank and in the frytank as it will be vital to the growth and survival of the fry. Clay flowerpots seem to promote this growth/coating and if needed you can pull one from another tank and add it in.
- Newly hatched brineshrimp are good food; this is how I have found works to feed them. Run an airstone in a small container 1 Qt to 1 gal with the brinshrimp eggs and salt in it. They will start to hatch in 24 hours. To catch and feed them I remove the airstone or shut it off for a few minutes to let the water calm down. Next draw off water in with a turkeybaster from an area that seems to have a lot of activity. Spray it back into the brinshrimptank through a brineshrimp net and then dip the net in the fry tank to release the shrimp. As the shrimp are really tiny it will be important to have the fry in a small tank so they can find the food.
- The turkeybaster comes in handy to sifen up detritus from the bottom of the frytank.
- I read in Jack Wattleys column that raising the same amount of discus fry in a 2 gal and a 20 gal they experimented with waterchanges. The 2 gal recieved 75% daily changes while the 20 got 20% every other day (I may not have the figures right but the general idea is the point). The smaller tank , eventhough it was overcrowded, that got the many large waterchanges had double the growth within weeks. The point: Do a lot of waterchanges.
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