[Wak28]

Hi I have 5 wild caught Kavala Frontosa, they are all around 6" long the male little bit bigger, last couple of weeks I've noticed that they are moving sons into big piles, and today I noticed that one of the females is hiding! ( a lot more than any other time) she is also not coming out for food and she has like a sack under her mouth and she is kinda doing chewing actions, also the male seems to be protective of her and she's not going near any other fish for a bite/nibbling contest as they all seem to do lol, I think she's got fey in there
How long can I expect until I see them?
What do I do when they come out?
Any info would be great
Thanks

 

[Wak28]

On further inspection I believe two of my females are holding eggs in their mouths, one definitely as I be sent them in her mouth
What's best now?
Shall I just leave em?
I only have the 5 fonts in my tank

 

[DJRansome]

I don't raise frontosa, but this may help you.
https://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/c_frontosa.php

Do you want to keep the fry? Are the adult group in a six foot tank now? Do you have one or more extra tanks to house the holding female and raise the fry to selling size or until they are big enough to add to your main tank with the adults?

 

[Wak28]

Yes I want to keep them
No my tank is not big enough I'm currently looking at quotes to have a bigger one made, I didn't think they would breed this quick as only had them 2 month
I could get hold of a quarantine tank I suppose but I was saving up to get my bigger tank

 

[Wak28]

Here's my current tank set up

 

[DJRansome]

Maybe let the moms spit in the tank this time and get the six foot tank for the adults. Then when they spawn again you can use the current tank for a holding mom.

If you want to save more than one batch of fry at a time, you will need 3 extra tanks for multiple batches. I would get 2 20G Long tanks for small fry and one 55G tank to raise one clutch of 12 juveniles to two inch size.

What will you do with so many fry?

 

[Wak28]

That was my plan, to get the new tank and save this tank for holding the females, but they are ahead of me!!
Couldn't I remove the eggs from the mother and use and incubator in a smaller tank ? Just for this time around, would that be a good idea or should I just leave them to it and see what happens?

 

[Deeda]

I would just leave her to spit naturally until you get the larger tank and decide on what your future plans are for raising fry.

What are the dimensions of your current tank and any other fish in with them?

 

[Wak28]

My current tank is 4ft long 425 litres, so quite big and I know it's not big enough for fonts that's why I've been planning on getting one made which will be around 800ltrs.
I don't have any other fish in with them and wasn't planning on adding any.
They've just caught me out to soon

 

[DJRansome]

I agree the urgent need is to get your six inch fish into a 72" tank. Get that first and use the original tank to raise the next batch of fry.

You don't want to delay them being in the larger tank by any amount of time if you divert funds now to a 2nd tank for the babies.

If you strip the moms and put eggs in a tumbler in a 10G...you will still need a 20G a month later and 2 clutches could be 30 babies...you may need a 55G a month after that.

Care for the immediate needs of the adults first.

Why are you keeping the fry if you don't want to add any of them to your main tank to increase your group? I believe more than 5 individuals would be better for the fronts in the main tank.

 

[Wak28]

Yes I'm on with getting the new tank and I'm expecting more quotes tomorrow, as I don't have room for a 6 foot tank I'm making it 5 foot long and 3foot wide and 2 foot height which gives me over 800 litres maybe even 900 which will be perfect for these fonts, maybe I will keep some of the fry in the new tank and sell the rest in but wouldn't this encourage interbreeding?
My friend has just brought me a 50ltr tank up so I'm thinking of splitting the eggs from their mothers and incubator them,
I have a spare heater and a filter for shrimp with the foam on from when I use to hatch brine shrimp, so I'm thinking of doing this, because my tank at the minute is too small so I don't think the fry would last long around the other fonts! Plus I have a sump on my tank meaning the fry would end up down their! So I'm going to give it ago and save the fry I think! Just need an incubator