I traded a bunch of salvini cichlid fry for 2 female and 1 male blue ram three Saturdays ago. I had tried, maybe a half dozen times during my fish keeping in New Jersey, but I was never able to keep one alive for more than a few days. Since I've moved to the Saint Louis area I have noticed that I really had nasty drinking water that was a magic elixir for any fish I put in it. Therefore I figured I would try the rams again. One of the females died after a week and I thought I was headed for the same old failure with GBR again.The 2 that were left seemed OK and I've been watching them closely to see if they might be bonding. No such luck. When one was on the left side of the tank the other was on the right. I never saw any of the close following that usually precedes spawning....until this morning. I have a hokey little fluorescent cave that I got with a Craigslist tank and this morning I observed that there was ALWAYS one of the two in there. This afternoon I looked in just before the lights went on for the evening and I see some little particles floating past the male. Closer inspection revealed about 30 or so free swimming fry!
GBR babies!
- Thread starter Finster
- Start date
Nice! I think what you were noticing was the parents were exhibiting 1st-spawn over-protectiveness where one doesn't trust the other. The early wiggler stage is typically impossible to see when they hide the fry, so it sounds about right. Unfortunately for the other female, the pair likely bonded and decided she was a 3rd-wheel and was perceived as a threat so they terminated her contract
It sucks, but it just proves that with death always comes new life Keep us updated on the little guys.
Thanks. These are new to me and the behavior is pretty different from the angels and salvini that I've spawned. I did see some seemingly very minor aggression between the females. I think it might have worked out if I didn't put them all together being fresh from different waters. A sensitive species to begin with I guess it doesn't take much during acclimation to weaken a fish. I won't make that mistake again.
They seem to be doing quite well. Their tank was used as a grow out for salvini fry and has a nice accumulation of algae on the back and side glass. They are apparently grazing on the infusoria that the algae provides. (same as my other fry usually start off) I'm also giving them a little squirt of the smallest size Golden Pearls every couple hours that sends them into a feeding frenzy. I have some daphnia coming in the mail that I should have multiplying by the time the little ones are able to handle them.
These are fun little fish! I just might keep up with spawning them for trade now that I have water that works for them.
They seem to be doing quite well. Their tank was used as a grow out for salvini fry and has a nice accumulation of algae on the back and side glass. They are apparently grazing on the infusoria that the algae provides. (same as my other fry usually start off) I'm also giving them a little squirt of the smallest size Golden Pearls every couple hours that sends them into a feeding frenzy. I have some daphnia coming in the mail that I should have multiplying by the time the little ones are able to handle them.
These are fun little fish! I just might keep up with spawning them for trade now that I have water that works for them.
Congrats! Maybe it's your "nasty" water or maybe you're a better cichlid keeper than before. Nothing like a move & starting all over to change things up, I've been there a couple times.
There's nothing cuter than cichlid fry...well, corys too. Can you post some pics for us, please?
I have to admit I loved salvini pics I'm pretty sure you posted back in the day. Nice fish!
There's nothing cuter than cichlid fry...well, corys too. Can you post some pics for us, please?
I have to admit I loved salvini pics I'm pretty sure you posted back in the day. Nice fish!
Cichlid fry are SO cute! I didn't see them in your first pic but the second is very nice! Good luck! What are you feeding those babies? Mama looks to be on her job.
