Jellybean babies

Flavius

AC Members
Aug 31, 2005
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Bucharest
Hello!

I recently fell into the trap of buying 4 jellybean parrots, being attracted by their bright pink color. Less I knew decent aquarists boycott their spreading. Then I found out about the horrors these poor little guys go through, just to get into our tanks. I guess what's done it's done.

As expected, one of them died week one, but surprisingly two others bred soon after. I was actually away for a few weeks when it happened and I guess the water conditions weren't the best, so I was quite surprised to find probably over 30 little things floating inside the large shell I have in my tank. The female probably laid the eggs in there. The two parents were guarding them closely, not letting anyone come near the shell. After a while, as they grew, they left the shell and settled at the bottom of the tank. One of the parents (I guess the female?) was constantly floating above them, while the male(?) was swimming in a wide circle around the group. It was pretty amazing to witness their defense strategy.

Since it was too late to separate them, I just let nature take its course. Only the strong survive. I can imagine few of them ended up in the filter.

I didn't worry much about other fish getting close to the babies, their parents were just ballistic about everything that moved. I think they even murdered my betta, I saw them attacking him in tandem, from two sides.

However, recently I saw something disturbing. The female (?) was chasing the babies and was apparently eating them, but then she spit them out unharmed. "It must be some kind of way of showing parental affection" I thought initially, but on ocassions she forget to release them from her mouth... So I'm left with about 15 babies now. They are probably a month old, they started to be independent, swimming afar from the nest, to their old folks dispair.

The old guys are still very aggressive. They terify and harress the whole tank, inlcuding my poor snails who wouldn't be able to catch a baby even if it was disabled in wheelchairs. I'm pretty sure they also ate some other fish, unless the Bermuda triangle has shifted into my tank. Which makes me freak out about the idea of having 15-20 of these little monsters in my tank. It would be the apocalypse of my aquarium, the final coming of the Terminators. On the other hand, if they multiply at this rate, I can quit my daytime job and open my own fish farm business.

What's also interesting to notice is that the two that bred remained smaller than the 3rd one, which is almost obese, twice their size, allthough they are about the same age (sex is the best workout, huh?). They don't get along well with the big guy at all, like if it wasn't one of their own. Probably jealousy plays a role too. He's like the fat dirty old men.

Anyways, just sharing a story, a small miracle, because I heard these guys never breed, but they are created by mixing other species of cichlids. And because they are dyed when they are young, their immune system is traumatized for life and the male is sterile, allthough the female can lay eggs which usually end up unfertilized.

Thanks for reading.

P.S.: The female seems to be digging holes in the gravel with her fins. Is it happening again???
 
when the parents put the babies in their mouth they are giving them a "washing".
 
Amazing. Is it possible she also ate a few? I can't tell 100% sure if she always spits them out. It's happening so fast. She is chasing them around the tank. Makes sense, my mom used to do that when it was bath time.
 
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Hi again,

The female paired up with the other male (Jim) and they ate all the babies. The father (John) seemed very depressed. Few days after she layed eggs again and now I have a new batch of over a hundred babies. But now John is taking his revenge, attacking the fry. They are one week old and today they left the ornament shell that sheltered them. They are out in the open, protected by their parents, but it seems that the outsider male always tries to get them. I'm thinking of returning it to the store and only keep a pair, but it seems kinda cruel. Any suggestions?
 
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