[dijonaise]

We have a pair of Apistogramma eunotus (Blue-cheeks) and the female turned up this a.m. with a school of fry! javascript:emoticon(':dancing:')

We are pretty excited, but want to know how to protect them from the other residents of the tank.

The female is doing a good job of keeping the fry rounded up into a small area. We are nervous first parents of these gorgeous smart and fascinating fish, and want to d our best to keep 'em around!

Thanks!

 

[Dutch Dude]

Congrats!!! Keep in mind that if this is their first spawn there is only a small chance the parents succeed in raising the fry but it isn't impossible. Basically the parents have to protect the fry. You need to keep the water clean and need to introduce foods for the fry such as bbs.

 

[DCguy]

It sure is fun to see a good pair shepard their school around the tank!

You don't mention much about the tank and tankmates but, depending on the tankmates, the parents will probably not be able to fend off all of the other fish and at some point you could find them vanishing quickly. If the are being eaten by tankmates you must either remove the other fish or the babies. In each case you have to have another tank ready.

Feeding is another problem and live foods are required to get a high survival rate. If the tank is heavily planted with live plants that will help a lot as the babies will find microscopic foods to graze on.

The parents will do their best to protect the fry andthey might succeed which will give you many hours of observational pleasure. However, if the parents lose them don't despair. Young Apistos are very productive and you will likely have another spawn in a few weeks.

DC

Best of luck

 

[cichlidaholic]

If you have another tank available, I would siphon off the fry and move them. You can set the new tank up using established filter media from the main tank.

Kim