My first impulse purchase in probably 5 years...

platytudes

platytudes

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Nov 4, 2006
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Panama City, FL
Real Name
Nicole
So today, I was checking out the dregs of the Petco sale (the $1/gallon sale was part of their "biggest aquatic sale of the year") when I saw a lone female firemouth in a tank by herself...with a bunch of babies around her!

Firemouths are a cichlid I've always wanted to keep, sadly I've never had the space to set up an American cichlid tank. So I caved. I asked the guy for the babies (which were free) and now there are 10 of them in a Rubbermaid bin with plant clippings and an airstone in my bathroom :screwy:

Of course, I'm setting up a proper tank for them as we speak. At the moment, all I have free is a 10 gallon which I'm getting out of the shed. After a rinse it should be ready to go. I have plenty of plants, a clip on light, sand and decor to make it actually look decent and of course, a spare filter...I'll borrow some media from another tank and probably use tank water from a freshly maintenanced tank.

My big question is: how long can I keep 10 baby firemouths (the fry are probably just a week or so old) in a 10 gallon tank? I would like to grow them out and then trade them in to the LFS in the next town over.

From my reading, it looks like it will take at least 4 months to get them to a sellable size. I was planning on getting a new dresser (tall vs. long) so that I could accommodate one more tank in the bedroom, a 40 breeder or thereabouts...I just wonder how long I have before I need to bring this plan into action ;)
 
For the babies see if you can get cyclopeeze works wonders for growing up fry.

I would personally think you can easily keep them in that till they are ready to move. Pretty much I think a 10g is big enough to hold 10 3 inch baby fish till you take them to market at that size.
 
The shop tanks seem just about 10 gallons, and they have way more than 10 3" fishes' worth of bioload, so I was kind of hoping they would last that long in there. We'll have to see though, if I do twice weekly 50% water changes (the plan so far) they may grow faster.

Cyclopeeze is amazing I'm sure, but so expensive! I tried it once and most of my fish didn't like it...guess they didn't realize how good it was ;) Paying $14 for a tin of flake that most of my fish didn't eat wasn't the result I expected. I would try golden pearls next, but really I have so much homemade food, bloodworms, brine shrimp...these fish will be eating really well regardless!
 
The powdered format made for fry is the kind I am speaking of. Just have to make sure that you only put a little on so that the water does not get to polluted.

Yet home made is better for sure.

You should be more than good to go with growing the hatchlings to juvi size for trade in. I would also recommend keeping a spare 10g or so up and running for when your fish have babies so you can plant the mom in the tank with the fry and have a better success rate with them staying alive.

Good score on getting the fry for free.

Fire mouths are a wonderful fish
 
Long time in a ten gallon...good score. I love when lfs give away fry :)
 
We'll see, I can definitely find a way to upgrade if it seems necessary. I'm not planning on maxing them out on high protein food (too messy) but I do plan on changing water very often, I think that's the key factor in stunted fry.
 
Just a quick update, it's been a while :D

The fry are almost 3 months old. Some are growing faster than others, four or five of them are definitely salable size now, a couple of them starting to show the a hint of red coloration. Unfortunately, I've grown rather attached to them...so I bought them a 20 gallon tank to keep them for a while longer ;) I guess Petco really got the best of me, huh? For 10 free fish, I ended up spending well over $50 in their store! That's like selling me 10 full priced adults!

Here's a pic of their 20 gallon tank:

GEDC0039.JPG

They're all getting along well, and as you can see there are plenty of hiding places...since not a single fish is present in the picture! :silly:

I hope to keep them there for another 3 months maybe. Then we'll see...

GEDC0039.JPG
 
platytudes said:
Just a quick update, it's been a while :D

The fry are almost 3 months old. Some are growing faster than others, four or five of them are definitely salable size now, a couple of them starting to show the a hint of red coloration. Unfortunately, I've grown rather attached to them...so I bought them a 20 gallon tank to keep them for a while longer ;) I guess Petco really got the best of me, huh? For 10 free fish, I ended up spending well over $50 in their store! That's like selling me 10 full priced adults!

Here's a pic of their 20 gallon tank:

View attachment 173082

They're all getting along well, and as you can see there are plenty of hiding places...since not a single fish is present in the picture! :silly:

I hope to keep them there for another 3 months maybe. Then we'll see...
Click to expand...

Yeah but if you bought the 10 adults you'd spend $500 setting them up!
 
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