AHHHHHHH BABIES!!

[Fishckabibble]

umm what to do with like 50 jewel chiclid fry, i didnt even know that the were a breeding pair , what do i do with all of the baies? and how do i care for them? i went to feed them tonight and there are babies EVERYWHERE keep in mind this is only a 10 gallon tank and i didnt even know they could breed in such a small Sspacve. URGENT help needed.!!!!!!!! please any suggestions.

 

[Fishckabibble]

here are some pis of the fry with mommy and daddy sorry so blurry i was in a rush im just so excited. now i know i will need a bigger tank lol

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

yikes! if you want to keep them you should probably net them and put them in a fry net thingy that is like a net box that hangs on the side. most fish eat their fry, i assume these arent any different. if you dont want to keep them, just let the parents eat them all. although i dont know much about cichlids. your "AHHHHH BABIES!" just caught my eye.

 

[FroggyFox]

actually cichlids are a lot different than community fish yahoo...most of them dont eat their babies.

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

hmm... looks like fishkabibble gets a bigger aquarium!

 

[Big Vine]

actually cichlids are a lot different than community fish yahoo...most of them dont eat their babies.

Hmm...interesting to know...I was wondering the same thing. I'm virtually a newbie when it comes to cichlids---guess I better browse through this section of the forum more often!

Fishckabibble,

I'm amazed that you've had them breed in such a small tank---that's wonderful! Best of luck in housing your new tank inhabitants.

Big Vine

 

[PuNanny]

Man can you imange the tank you'll need when they all grow up. ^_^

 

[PlecoCollector]

Lol, congrats! Good luck housing all of those little guys

 

[Zman16]

If you don't want them, but you raise them anyways, you could always give them to a pet store. But congrats *celebrate !

 

[Orion]

One of the interesting thing about cichlids is that every cichlid shows some degree of parental care. Some more than others.

If you want to keep the fry I would move them to there own grow out tank. This way you can keep a better eye on them and better maintance. You can leave the fry in the tank with the parents, but they may well dispose of them once they are ready to spawn agian. A few cichlids species will allow the fish from previous spawns to stick around and help them take care of the newer spawns. I'm more familiar with seeing this from some african species from the lakes, I don't know how well this applies to this species if at all.

You probably don't have to be in a huge hurry to move them. I would wait untill they are close to half an inch unless you notice the population declining quick.

 

[Fishckabibble]

ok well i did some homework about this at like 1 am this mnorning (couldnt sleep) and found you should leave them with BOTH parents till they are about 30 days old then remove the parents and there are at least 100+ fry, wich from what i read is a very small batch of them, jewels tend to have 200-500 fry when they spawn. so i guess the cramped living quarters has helped in a small way, this was absolutely unexpected i thought they were both males and didnt even see any eggs. So far they are being great fishie parents, takeing turns watching the fry while the other one goes "on patrol" and searching for food. I dont have any baby brine shrimp to give them so i tried some bloodworm shavings mixed with a little bit of water and in a large sirynge i squirted it twords the babies, they seemed to be eating it but they are so small i couldnt really tell. any suggestions till i can make it to the lfs for baby brine shimp?

 

[Orion]

BBS or daphnia (sp?) would be great food for them. Untill you can get some you can ground up some flake food very fine and feed it to them.

More food=quicker growth=dirtier tank. So keeping up on water changes is very important.

 

[FishGeek]

COOL!!!!!!

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Oh a 10gal? I love when things like this happen. I've said it for years that its possible to breed fish such as these and convicts in 10gals. And have them thrive. Congrats on you're fry, thats awesome!

Jewel cichlids won't make a colony setting like the brichadi, especially not in a 10gal. If you want to keep them you are better off moving them to another tank. The parental care will stop when the parents start breeding again and the fry will probably get killed or eaten.

Yes cichlids eat their fry, but not while they are the only active spawn. Meaning that if they just hatched, their parents will care for them. If the parents lay eggs again then that first group of fry is on its own.

BBS or daphnia (sp?) would be great food for them. Untill you can get some you can ground up some flake food very fine and feed it to them.

More food=quicker growth=dirtier tank. So keeping up on water changes is very important.

And i second this.

 

[cakelady204]

Congratulations! If you can't find a pet store that will take them, I put a free ad in our local tell-n-sell and I have no problem finding homes for my fry. Good Luck!

 

[Fishckabibble]

thanks everyone, and no im not planning on keeping 100+ of these things im gonna try to put out the word to all the lfs and hope they will take them when they get big enough, im not sure if any of them will buy them but heck i can give them away, makes no difference to me, i only paid 2.50$ a peice for the adults. and yes im planning on doing small water changes every other day till they are big enough to sell/give away. guess i really have to go buy the 30 gallon tank i have been eyeing now., the reason for me not wanting to keep any of the fry is simply because i dont want incestamong the fish, at least i know now i have a proven breeding pair and im just so proud to be a fish mommy, also i have 2 very pregnant mollies about to pop any day now lol

 

[Fishckabibble]

ok heres my plan, correct me if i have any errors in it.


tommorow im going to go get a 30 gallon tank, set it up, start the cycle process, im just going to use leftover gracel from my newly remodeled 55 gallon, i have about 20 extra pounds of it. im wondering if i can put some hardy plants in there (need suggestions) and im going to get some rocks from the landscape place 2 lots away from my house. then when the tank gets fully cycled im moving the parents to the 30 gallon and keeping the fry in the 10 gallon, i need some sugestions as to what other tankmates i could keep with jewels in a 30 gallon. i was thinking some electric bues ( i think that is what they are called). but that is my plan so far.

any how here are a few new pics of the babies the pictures came out really yellow but my tank is clear, it might be from the sunlight but not sure.

 

[lordroad]

Oh a 10gal? I love when things like this happen. I've said it for years that its possible to breed fish such as these and convicts in 10gals. And have them thrive. Congrats on you're fry, thats awesome!

Rock on, C-man. A friend of mine who set me onto aquariums used to breed convicts in tens and keep pirahna looking fish in a custom 70 gallon job and his tanks were always spotless and the fish always thrived.

I can't say for your jewel cichlids, but I know convict fry were kept together for up to three months before they mauled each other to death in a ten gallon. I remember coming over to my friend's house and playing games with the dozens and dozens and dozens of con fry by hypnotizing them with my hand.

 

[Fishckabibble]

well update on the babies, they are all doing just great, thy are now eating finly crushed flake food, and some bbs, they seem to really enjoy it and the parents still are doing a great job watching over the babies., im so paranoid when i do water changes, because i use a plastic cup and a 2qt pitcher to do the water changes and i get worried im gonna suck up a baby or 2 in the cup, so i examine it very thouroghly before i put the water down the drain.

on another point, i have decided to get rid of the jewels and go for some less agressive chiclids, i found a LFS that will take babies and parents for store credit so i may be in good luck, its not the best of fish stores and i have to watch the quality of fish they have last time i went in they had ich in almost all the tanks but other times they have very clean and healthy loking tanks. and they also do custom orders and have the biggest selection of fish around.