Taiwan Reef

[Hannibal]

Today is my typical water change day which usually means I am in the basement for a few hours cleaning tanks, changing water, and watching a little bit of television. After I am done I usually just sit there in the dark so I can watch the fish. I noticed one of my female TR chilling at the bottom of the tank and swimming around in circles. Anytime one of the other TR would come over she would chase them all away and dart back over to her corner. I managed to get over there in time to see what she was doing. She has babies!!!! Every time I or one of the other fish would come over she would suck them right back up into her mouth. It was pretty cool to watch and I instantly felt gratification knowing I have fry!

Now for the questions...
I have 3 females and 1 male in a 55 gallon to themselves. Should I try and pull the female and put her in her own tank or do you think the fry will be fine in with the others? I have pre-filters so I am not worried about the babies getting sucked into the filters.

Do I have to get the babies any kind of different food? I am assuming that they have been eating the leftover NLS, Super Soft Spirulina, or Green supreme that I feed the others.

I will try to get pictures but no promises since momma likes to suck them up when I get close. There had to be at least a dozen of them from the quick glance I saw earlier.

Thanks in advance for your help!

This has to be the most rewarding "hobby" I have ever gotten into!!!

 

[skanda]

congratulations@

 

[verbal]

congrats

I would strip or put the female in a separate tank with a pile of rocks for the fry to hide in depending on your preference.

I like decapsulated brine shrimp for feeding large cichlid fry. You can feed crushed flake in a pinch. Repashy should work also.

 

[zackcrack00]

I like to feed Baby Brine Shrimp or crushed spirulina to my cichlid fry. And I would get an egg tumbler, and strip the female, or isolated her in a ten gallon aquarium and strip her after 16 days of holding. Then put the female back in the main 55g, and feed the fry 3-5 times a day. And congrats on the spawn!

 

[Jmoore]

I would seperate the fry in a smaller tank

 

[verbal]

I like to feed Baby Brine Shrimp or crushed spirulina to my cichlid fry. And I would get an egg tumbler, and strip the female, or isolated her in a ten gallon aquarium and strip her after 16 days of holding. Then put the female back in the main 55g, and feed the fry 3-5 times a day. And congrats on the spawn!

If the babies are on their own some, there is no need to tumble them. If you are going to be stripping much an egg tumbler is a good thing to have on hand.

 

[Tony]

Congrats, Chris! Very cool, indeed.

See if you can snap some video with your camera or smart phone. I find it's a lot easier than trying to get a still camera to focus on the tiny fry. It's cool behavior, not often seen in our typically over-crowded Malawi tanks.

If you want to save fry, you definitely want to either catch and strip her or move her to an isolation tanks with rocks (as the others have said). She and the others will definitely make snacks of them before long in a large tank. Plus, they're easier to feed in a smaller enclosure.

If you don't have an extra tank, a breeder net with some substrate on the bottom and a small plant (java moss, anubias, water sprite, whatever) will suit them fine for a while until they are ready for a growout tank.

I feed golden pearls or decap brine shrimp eggs to very small fry, though very finely crushed flake will also work. When you drop it in, swirl the top of the water a bit to make it sink as they will sometimes not kno to come to the top to feed.

If you'd like, I can bring you a bit of golden pearls to the next meeting.

Good luck.

 

[hollyfish2000]

First Bites might also work (that's what I used for my rainbow cichlid babies).

If you're worring about stressing her out chasing her around the tank with a mouthful of babies. you might build a fry pile right in the tank. I've had pretty good luck with babies managing to grow up in these, even in a tank full of synodontis. (Basically, it's just a big pile of smooth, small river rocks.)

 

[Hannibal]

Thanks all! I guess the verdict for now is to get her out of the tank and into her own. I have a 20L and a 10, I guess either would work. I will probably go with the 20 as it is already set up.

I think there is a Petco or something near my work I will run down there before heading home today to see what they carry for the food. Hopefully they have one of the listed ones above.

If for some reason I can't get her out of the tank I will set up the pile of rocks, thanks for the idea Holly!

Maybe with a little bit of luck I will be able to raise up my first batch of fry!

 

[Hannibal]

Well was not very successful in getting momma out of the tank so I just decided to leave her be. Here is a quick video of her and her fry. I put a bunch of java moss in the corner along with some rocks for the fry to hide in when she spits them out but from what I have seen so far is that they don't leave her side and she doesn't let anyone come near them.

I am going to pull some rocks so there is less in the way and try to get her out just not tonight.

http://youtu.be/sU4vO1oAHxc

 

[Hannibal]

Have another batch of fry in the tank right now. I think this makes it my third batch. I have about 7 or 8 from the first two batches growing out in the tank now. Am leaving for Florida next week so I am just going to leave these guys in there. I have a rock pile for them to hide in so we will see how it goes.

 

[daninmd]

as far as fish food goes, i just use my normal NLS pellets. I have a cheap hand coffee grinder i keeo next to the fry tank. when its time to feed new fry, i just grindthe pellets at the finest grind setting. it creates a nice powder on top of the water, and as it passes by the filter, gets pushed down into the water column. my fish have always loved it and after a few days, young fry start eating from the surface too.

its nice because you use the same food you already have, and you can adjust the grind size as the fish grow.

 

[Tony]

as far as fish food goes, i just use my normal NLS pellets. I have a cheap hand coffee grinder i keeo next to the fry tank. when its time to feed new fry, i just grindthe pellets at the finest grind setting. it creates a nice powder on top of the water, and as it passes by the filter, gets pushed down into the water column. my fish have always loved it and after a few days, young fry start eating from the surface too.

its nice because you use the same food you already have, and you can adjust the grind size as the fish grow.

Awesome idea, Dan.