[mattleec]

I'm looking for any suggestions on taking care of fry.

my electric blue fryeri just released her fry, 28 if I counted right. I have them in a floating nursery tank inside the 75 gallon tank and the mother is back in the main tank. they ate some crushed flake food. I'm looking for any suggestions on taking care of them. plan is to raise them for a bit then sell most if not all of them once they are larger. I have 2 that are about 5 months old in the tank currently and doing well. their mother died and those 2 were the only survivors or her fry as she held them way too long and I have to strip them from her. found those 2 in the canister filter when cleaning it which was a nice surprise. kept them in a mesh breeder on top of tank for a few weeks til they got out, feeding them flake food and small sinking pellets. they were about 2 months old when swimming around in the tank and no one bothered them. I'm wondering how long I should keep the new ones separate because of that. I've got a bricardi, demasoni, afra, exasperatus and the livingstoni eyeballing them currently but the fry are quite small now (quite a bit smaller than the previous 2 when we found those) and they may just be curious. my rainbow sharks have shown interest in them also and have been close to the 2 older fry since we found them. the sharks would stay near them as if hovering over protecting them both when they were in the mesh breeder and once they got out and are often sharing caves and such with them still. yesterday the larger shark chased off one of the cichlids that was chasing the mother cichlid before she released the fry. interesting behavior on those. they seem particularly fond of that kind of cichlid and no problems getting along with the rest. the big male fryeri shares his territory with them and only a few other fish (the female fryeri, the 2 young fryeri, 1 particular yellow lab and the 2 johani). when the other 2 got out in the tank, my other fish showed some curiosity toward them but zero hostility. they have even been immune to the usual chasing in the tank until just recently now that they are older.

ended up with way too many fish we liked when setting up the tank. now I need to downsize the number due to overcrowding but haven't decided on which ones yet. only a handful are nearing full size and most are about half size or less so its not bad right now (a bit overcrowded but not too much yet due to them not being full size fish yet) but I know once they are full size it would make it too many for sure. I already removed 10 that I took of this list (just fyi for anyone reading this that saw a previous post I had) and had another one died leaving 47 fish in tank right now not including the new fry. I'm thinking taking out another 10 at least would be good but too many favorites to choose from so I'm watching all their behaviors to see which ones could be a problem so I can go from there. after removing the last 10, I have fish now that want territory that had no interest in it before which has led to some competition where their wasn't before and I don't have enough caves and such for all the ones that suddenly want them now.

current tank mates are:
all males unless specified otherwise.
electric blue fryeri x 4. (1 adult male that is the tank boss. 1 adult female. 2 fry about 5 months old now which I think are 1 male and 1 female.
yellow lab x 4 (3 male and 1 female)
acei x 4 (pretty sure 3 male and 1 female
electric blue johani x 2
kenyi x 2 (1 male and 1 female)
socolofi x 1
rainbow shark x 2 (not sure how to tell male or female on these)
bumblebee x 2 (1 definite big male and I think the other is female but not sure)
demasoni x5 (4 that I'm pretty sure are male and 1 definite female as it was carrying eggs at one point)
ob peacock x 1
sunshine peacock x 1
blue peacock with red behind the head x 1
green peacock with a blue head x 1
yellow head with silver/white body (sometimes the body is blue) and black line running horizontal down the middle peacock x 1
rusty x 1
exasperatus x 3 (hard to find info on these but I'm pretty sure 2 male and 1 female due the blue coloring on 2 of them)
synodontus lace catfish x 2 (1 is twice the size of the other and got them at the same time so I'm assuming that one is male. its also a very dominant fish. doesn't try to hurt anyone but will shove anyone out of its spot and out of his way when feeding and has the size to do so. my big electric blue hap and it always want the same territory. the hap was usually shoving him around or biting him to get him out of the cave they both want. now they have seperate spots next to each other and the hap had built a wall of rocks about 3 inches high between their territories. they have since starting getting along better and even sharing some space. the only fish the catfish freely allows in his territory are the 2 bricardi)
synodontus multipunctatus catfish x 1
bricardi x 2
livingstoni x 1 (white and brown with red on the fins top and bottom) pretty sure its a male
red fin borleyii x 1 (too young to tell of male or female)
jacobfreibergi peacock x 1
afra x 1
deep water hap x 1
ice blue zebra x 1

 

[punman]

If you are intent on raising fry from any African cichlid long term, put the fry in a 10 or 20 gallon tank BY THEMSELVES and concentrate on good feedings and frequent water changes.

Also decide if you like community tanks or breeding tanks. You have a community tank. Chances for cross fertilization (hybrids) and interrupted breeding. Okay if you are not that interested in fry.

I like breeding tanks. I'd prefer to have 18 fish in a tank with three species of six each that get along and do not interbreed (see my profile below). You might prefer 18 fish with 10 or 12 different species. Not me, but to each his own, as the saying goes.

 

[mattleec]

definitely going for community tank with many different types, shapes and colors. cant afford a separate tank. not planning on raising them for a living although I wouldn't mind doing that if I was physically and financialy able to. just cant afford it plus I'm in a apartment so I'm limited on how much I can have. the plan was to have a all male tank but when buying fish its not always easy to tell the difference when they are small so we ended up with some females. just keeping the fry for a while til they grow up a bit then plan on selling them. I would like to watch a group of them grow up together although I wont be able to keep them to full size given how big that kind gets and how many fish I already have. plus the bigger they are when I sell them, the more money I will get. might keep a few of the males to see how that goes. I think a few of them in the tank would look great if they get along and especially if not competing over mates. not planning on keeping the female right now but not 100% decided on that yet as I'm still trying to figure out which ones I'm going to sell off to prevent overcrowding too much. I want to make sure they aren't released into the tank so small they get sucked up into the filter and that they don't get eaten by the other fish. the previous ones were totally fine on their own at 2 months but that was just 2 fish. *** got around 28 in the floating nursery tank right now. they have heating and filtration in it but I'm worried that before 2 months they would be overcrowded in that given the number. also the previous ones we didn't even see til around 1.5 months old so this is the 1st time taking care of newly released ones. had some yellow labs that had fry many years ago with zero intervention by us and I don't recall anyone trying to eat them despite some full grown fish in the tank but hurricane rita wiped out that tank before they got very old.

 

[punman]

With that many species you will have hybrids and most people will not pay any money for those. Raising them for fun yourself is fine.

After a month or so they will be too big for a net so you will have to buy a small tank or let them go in the tank and they will mostly get eaten but a few will survive.

I know you do not have the room for another tank. If I were in your shoes I'd just let the mom spit the babies in the tank and see what survives.

 

[mattleec]

i would love to see what hybrids would look like with some of the mbuna. could be interesting if they ever get interested in each other which they definitely aren't right now. the fry right now are in a hard plastic tank floating in the main tank. mom is back in the main tank so she can eat. id say the floating one is about 6w x 5h x 4w. seems the newness has worn off for some of my fish. many were checking them out at first. the only ones still interested in them are the afra, 1 exasperatus and 1 bumblebee. the parent fish are keeping an eye on them also and the dad chases the other fish away when they hang around the babies too long.

 

[Cichlid_beast123]

If you are intent on raising fry from any African cichlid long term, put the fry in a 10 or 20 gallon tank BY THEMSELVES and concentrate on good feedings and frequent water changes.

Also decide if you like community tanks or breeding tanks. You have a community tank. Chances for cross fertilization (hybrids) and interrupted breeding. Okay if you are not that interested in fry.

I like breeding tanks. I'd prefer to have 18 fish in a tank with three species of six each that get along and do not interbreed (see my profile below). You might prefer 18 fish with 10 or 12 different species. Not me, but to each his own, as the saying goes.

what male to female ratio do you go for 1 male 5 females or 2 males 4 females?

 

[punman]

For breeding you'd want more females than males but to put exact numbers on it is difficult. What works for one species might not for another. The suggestion for 1 male 5 females or 2 males 4 females is a reasonable starting guideline.

Sometimes one male is enough but if it is a hard to find fish, then two might be better in case one dies or does not perform. Then again, in some cases two males could be a disaster.

 

[Cichlid_beast123]

For breeding you'd want more females than males but to put exact numbers on it is difficult. What works for one species might not for another. The suggestion for 1 male 5 females or 2 males 4 females is a reasonable starting guideline.

Sometimes one male is enough but if it is a hard to find fish, then two might be better in case one dies or does not perform. Then again, in some cases two males could be a disaster.

thx yeah i think 2 males is always good to have a backup could be the happy medium if they fight too much then youll have to split them
one question tho in the 18 pack of 3 you have how many males you got? and is it only a problem within the males of the same species or will they all generally fight?

 

[punman]

I don't have any groups of three at the moment - it was hypothetical.

But for example, you could have blue dolphins, yellow labs, and peacocks. Six of each. About double the females to males.
The males are all different from each other so that would help. They might not see each other as threats. The females are all different so you could tell them apart and not much chance of interbreeding.

What I would not want is three groups of different peacocks in the same tank. Does that make sense?

 

[Cyphro]

You just need one female to breed in a community tank. There is no need to have one male and a huge number of females to control aggression. You just have to make sure she is breeding with the right man, but that is not too hard so long as he is dominant as that is what she will want anyways.

You can also keep her in a separate little 10-20g aquarium and take your stud into it whenever you want new fry. If you want to keep them all then you will have to raise them separately anyways.

 

[Cichlid_beast123]

You just need one female to breed in a community tank. There is no need to have one male and a huge number of females to control aggression. You just have to make sure she is breeding with the right man, but that is not too hard so long as he is dominant as that is what she will want anyways.

You can also keep her in a separate little 10-20g aquarium and take your stud into it whenever you want new fry. If you want to keep them all then you will have to raise them separately anyways.

hi yes i was wondering if this is a good idea? they seem to be just eating lol and chasing around what if i take 1 female and 1 male into a smaller tank and somewhat force them to breed lol? easy to feed up well as well then return the female to the main tank and so on again give the male another female im guessing he'll want to breed often and the females once every 6 weeks?

 

[Cyphro]

The problem is you gotta get your females in right away if you take your male out, and you can't put her in alone unless she is ready to breed or she might get beaten up on. It also depends what you want to do with the fry. If you want them all back in the main tank then I would just let them do it naturally.

Usually what I would do is let most of them do whatever they want in the tank, and only take out the females who I care about and know the father is correct. Then I can sell them off or else cull them out and keep the best ones to raise til they are juvies and put them back in the tank. The rest won't have many survivors but they add up in time and the survivors will be very strong fish. That way for common fish you can get a really good example like a really nice yellow lab male or a great colored rusty without any big effort. Of course you probably get some hybrids that way too if you don't control the breeding, but you can periodically take them out and foist them off on whoever for cheap/free and the number of them is hopefully not too much who survive especially if you don't have too many similar looking fish. And sometimes you will really like the hybrids too. Some of them can be very attractive especially the various blue ones if you have a lot of blue species. Just don't give them to people unless they know what they are getting.

 

[Cichlid_beast123]

The problem is you gotta get your females in right away if you take your male out, and you can't put her in alone unless she is ready to breed or she might get beaten up on. It also depends what you want to do with the fry. If you want them all back in the main tank then I would just let them do it naturally.

Usually what I would do is let most of them do whatever they want in the tank, and only take out the females who I care about and know the father is correct. Then I can sell them off or else cull them out and keep the best ones to raise til they are juvies and put them back in the tank. The rest won't have many survivors but they add up in time and the survivors will be very strong fish. That way for common fish you can get a really good example like a really nice yellow lab male or a great colored rusty without any big effort. Of course you probably get some hybrids that way too if you don't control the breeding, but you can periodically take them out and foist them off on whoever for cheap/free and the number of them is hopefully not too much who survive especially if you don't have too many similar looking fish. And sometimes you will really like the hybrids too. Some of them can be very attractive especially the various blue ones if you have a lot of blue species. Just don't give them to people unless they know what they are getting.

id like to grow them out i would enjoy raising them then later sell or exchange in pet shop just at the moment i only had one fail breed where she spat them out after 4 days this was 4 weeks back. i was thinking of putting them into a tank alone and seeing what happens?

 

[Cyphro]

You can try it but if they don't breed right away then separate them.

 

[Cichlid_beast123]

You can try it but if they don't breed right away then separate them.

guess it could work maybe ill experiment