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I was an enthusiastic hap/peacock breeder for years, raised thousands of fry, and ime there's a variety of options, whether feeding or housing. Some approaches might have certain advantages or convenience, but there's more than one way to do it, room for personal quirks or preference.
So I've done it different ways, but generally my preference ended up as follows: After a spawn, mouth-brooded hap/peacock fry are typically free swimming in @ 10-14 days, depending partly on tank temperature. I liked to wait at least two weeks, but typically somewhere in the neighborhood of two to three weeks I'd strip fry into a breeder net (or box, but usually a net) in the parent tank. Exact timing not critical because fry will continue to grow and get stronger during this period, studies show they actually get bits of food while being mouth brooded. Fry net had light layer of fine gravel or sand in the bottom, usually enough to keep typical hap/peacocks from munching fry through the net ime.
Fry might stay in the breeder net a week, two weeks, occasionally longer, would just depend where else I had room for them, how busy I was, etc. Longer periods and the tight quarters slow their growth a bit, but within reason it's just a temporary effect and doesn't affect their overall growth or size-- in other words they catch up. After fry net they'd go to a 50 or 55 gal tank, with either simple hang on power filter-- I like the old style Whisper filters because you can adjust the flow if need be and if you ditch the store bought cartridges you can fill them with a combo of media, including simple poly floss that make them pretty efficient for their size-- or a hang on Magnum but with something over the intake, like a foam-prefilter, Malawi fry are safe that way.
Why not a smaller tank? All about water volume. With the larger tank it's easy to maintain stable conditions and, guess what, you don't have to do daily water changes, normal weekly water changes work just fine. I don't do bare tanks, including for fry, no matter the species. Sand bottom, couple of rocks, bits of driftwood. Driftwood and rocks will grow algae/bio film, which provides food for fry to graze on. Also, studies have shown fry brain development is less robust in bare tanks. I prefer this more natural environment, as opposed to small bare tank and daily water changes, results are good with a lot less fuss.
55 gal tanks make great fry tanks because you can divide off different species or spawns with tank dividers, works great when you've got a fry factory going. In a 50 you can combine two standard dividers or make your own to either divide off the filter from the fry (something I've done with severum fry, for example, which are tiny and frail for a while) or separate different size fry, etc.
Feeding-- I eventually settled on starting them with freeze dried brine shrimp which easily crushes up to powder as long as it stays dry. Then crushed up flake or pellet, or before long they can take NLS Grow pellets.
Few years ago, except for keeping my Kapampa fronts, I went from Africans back to my earlier interest in new worlds. With a few variables, like how long to leave them with the parents, I've done something very similar with them with equally good results.
Note... some people think fry won't find food if the tank isn't small enough. Myth. Whether in a net or a decent sized tank, doesn't matter. Might take some fry a day or two to figure out it's food, but it's not long before they understand the program and I've yet to see fry of any cichlid that won't comb the tank for wherever the bits of food happen to land. And in between they'll spend time grazing on algae, biofilm, and the little critters that live there.
So I've done it different ways, but generally my preference ended up as follows: After a spawn, mouth-brooded hap/peacock fry are typically free swimming in @ 10-14 days, depending partly on tank temperature. I liked to wait at least two weeks, but typically somewhere in the neighborhood of two to three weeks I'd strip fry into a breeder net (or box, but usually a net) in the parent tank. Exact timing not critical because fry will continue to grow and get stronger during this period, studies show they actually get bits of food while being mouth brooded. Fry net had light layer of fine gravel or sand in the bottom, usually enough to keep typical hap/peacocks from munching fry through the net ime.
Fry might stay in the breeder net a week, two weeks, occasionally longer, would just depend where else I had room for them, how busy I was, etc. Longer periods and the tight quarters slow their growth a bit, but within reason it's just a temporary effect and doesn't affect their overall growth or size-- in other words they catch up. After fry net they'd go to a 50 or 55 gal tank, with either simple hang on power filter-- I like the old style Whisper filters because you can adjust the flow if need be and if you ditch the store bought cartridges you can fill them with a combo of media, including simple poly floss that make them pretty efficient for their size-- or a hang on Magnum but with something over the intake, like a foam-prefilter, Malawi fry are safe that way.
Why not a smaller tank? All about water volume. With the larger tank it's easy to maintain stable conditions and, guess what, you don't have to do daily water changes, normal weekly water changes work just fine. I don't do bare tanks, including for fry, no matter the species. Sand bottom, couple of rocks, bits of driftwood. Driftwood and rocks will grow algae/bio film, which provides food for fry to graze on. Also, studies have shown fry brain development is less robust in bare tanks. I prefer this more natural environment, as opposed to small bare tank and daily water changes, results are good with a lot less fuss.
55 gal tanks make great fry tanks because you can divide off different species or spawns with tank dividers, works great when you've got a fry factory going. In a 50 you can combine two standard dividers or make your own to either divide off the filter from the fry (something I've done with severum fry, for example, which are tiny and frail for a while) or separate different size fry, etc.
Feeding-- I eventually settled on starting them with freeze dried brine shrimp which easily crushes up to powder as long as it stays dry. Then crushed up flake or pellet, or before long they can take NLS Grow pellets.
Few years ago, except for keeping my Kapampa fronts, I went from Africans back to my earlier interest in new worlds. With a few variables, like how long to leave them with the parents, I've done something very similar with them with equally good results.
Note... some people think fry won't find food if the tank isn't small enough. Myth. Whether in a net or a decent sized tank, doesn't matter. Might take some fry a day or two to figure out it's food, but it's not long before they understand the program and I've yet to see fry of any cichlid that won't comb the tank for wherever the bits of food happen to land. And in between they'll spend time grazing on algae, biofilm, and the little critters that live there.
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