calvus spawned, now i need help

[supafreak]

I have a 20g tank with two female and one male calvus. two have paired up several times before, and they used to be in a larger tank with many other calvus. Today i noticed that there were some fry swimming around in the tank, and i totally missed the spawn, and the hatching in the shell. The parents at this point are agressive about protecting their babies (the father bit me!) The two parents are side by side, one watching one end of the tank and one watcing the other end of the tank. I decided that i'm going to put the parents in a 5g tank temporarly, maybe a few weeks untill i can pick the babies out of the gravel, and i will have to take the other female to the ifs because i have nowhere for her to go, and i don't want to house all three in a 5g tank. I'd love to be able to put the babies in the 5g tank, but they are so small that i'd never be able to catch them all. I'm just wondering what you guys think of this plan, and what you do in similar situations. In the past, i'v noticed that the mother is in the shell with her babies, and i'v removed the entire shell, mother and all and put them in a fry tank until the babies come out on their own, and then return the mother back to her larger tank. this has worked, but this time i'm a little too late for that.I

[Steven_Askham]

Do you have any pictures please

[supafreak]

can no one even comment on this topic? I did try to get some pictures, however the babies are soooooo small, and my photography skills leave much to be desired, so they didn't turn out so well. I'v noticed a few fry dead in the tank. They were fully formed, and about the size of the live fry. Does anyone know why this happens? there is nothing in the tank except the crushed coral, and the fry. Looks to be a pretty good spawn though.

[mattrox]

Well, I don't know anything about calvus, but Your plan sounds as good as any?

Sometimes fry die because they are weaker.

At some point there has to be competition for food and the stronger ones eventually win out.....

[thatmagicguy]

Hi
I wouldn't attempt to move any of the fish,,,this will be stressful and you will be risking disease with the adults. The fry that have died,,,,barring any water quality issues,,no doubt starved. I would allow things to go on as they are,,,you may even get new breeders if some of these young grow out. And continue to monitor the shells for new spawns and progress as you have in the past and remove the shells with spawn. Have you raised any fry before??? Bill