another breeding question

[SteffJ]

Hi everyone, I have been lurking on this site for some time and finally reg. I hope this is the right place for this.
This has problerly been asked a thousand times before, but here it goes.
I have a breeding pair of Dempey's and a pair of Jags that spawned two weeks ago.
I'm not having any luck raising these fry, They seem quite healthy for two weeks then drop like flies.
I'm thinking I either over feed them or starve them. I was using the first bites, fine powdered food, which I believe might be contaminating the water, this time I'm trying the liquid fry food.
I have my new batch of fry in a 5gal with a mico filter. and was thinking of getting some live plants to float around the top, other than that there's nothing else in the tank.
Could someone give me some more detailed info on raising fry?
Also how long can they be left with the parents, before they eat them?

 

[demon_surfer]

cichlids will usually raise the fry for you if you leave them in the tank with them. i know jags will and dempseys almost definatly too. It may take them a couple of times to get the hang of it but when they do you wont have enough space for all the fry.

They wont so much eat the fry as decide they need to be out on their own and try to chase them away.

i would suggest leaving them with the parents, using the micro flake you talked about. freshly hatched brine shrimp are also recommended by alot of succesful breeders.

my jewels actually chew up the regular flake and spit it out so the babies can eat it.

 

[SteffJ]

Thanks for your help DS. I wanted to give you an update, but don't want to jinx things. So far so good. This is the longest I have been able to raise fry. They seem healthy and I can notice a a black stripe on them. Like I said before, I had put most of them in a 5gal. nursery tank, but left some in with the parents so they can develope their parental skills.
We had a bad experince with the miro filter I have in the nursery tank, alot got sucked up in it, but was able to save most of them.
I really think the liquid fry food is working much better then the first bites I tried before.
I'm thinking of doing a water change on the nursery tank as it's looking a little cloudy.
The fry spend alot of their time at the water line, and there is small bubbles along the edge, is this normal?
I'm hoping to get good at this so I can either sell them or use them for trade at my local pet shops as my area doesn't have a really good selection of cichlids.
Can you tell me how long will it take for them to start looking like actual fish?? Thanks again for your help.

 

[demon_surfer]

i would say about a month before they start to look like fish. that is about what it took for my jewels.

it sounds like maybe there is not a whole lot of oxygen in the tank you have them in. you might try fiddling with your filter to make the surface disturbance a bit more to get some air in there. or you could try adding an air stone. anything to get the disturbance up a bit.


you say the water is a bit cloudy, was the tank cycled before you put the fry in? how many fish do you have in their? the fry will grow faster if they have more room and of course the better you feed them

the bubbles at the edge that dont go away, that could mean you have some chlorine in the water that is slowly coming out into the air.

HTH

 

[kveeti]

I think the bubbles are more likely due to the breakdown of organics, in your case too much food. For fry, I guess I wouldn't cut down on the food unless you get a huge foamy buildup, but keep up the water changes. The bubbles are not harmful, they are just an indicator. I assume you have test kits and are monitoring your 5 gallon water conditions.

 

[SteffJ]

The water I used for the nursery tank came from the main tank they hatched from. I did a water change today, well 20% of it.
I do have an air stone in there, and I have a ten gal in waiting for them if they make it. They are not gathering at the water line so much any more.
I did lose most of the fry that were in with the parents, I don't think the parents ate them though.
I did a ph test it was 7.5 range.
You guys have been so helpful getting me though this, I really appreciate it. thank again.

 

[kveeti]

Putting water from the main tank into the nursery was good for acclimating them, but you do realize the nursery was probably not cycled then? Did you do ammonia and nitrIte readings? You should also put in a handful or 2 of gravel or some "crud" from the main tank.