Best fish to raise fry

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fishywishywowoo

Aquarium Advice Activist
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Feb 17, 2014
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So basically are there any fish that are good parents? I have platys, corys and adf but these all eat their own and each others babies :( are there any fish that won't eat their babies?

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Pretty much any fish will eat another fish's fry or eggs. There is a rather small selection of species that do parent raise their fry. If you are trying to parent raise fry, you would be best to put just the pair in a tank by themselves.
That said, the following is an incomplete list of fish that usually do well as parents. As with any fish, there are no guarantees. Little things can set them off and cause them to eat their eggs or fry.
Most species of small bristlenose plecos
Whiptail or Farlowella cats
Convict Cichlids
Keyhole cichlids
Oscars
Rainbow Cichlids
Mbuna African cichlids
Kribensis
Jewel Cichlids
Any mouthbrooding species
Discus

You see a commonality in this list? ;) Most are egg laying cichlids ( S. or Central American or African) or pleco type catfish. When kept by themselves , with no distractions, they will make very good parents. There's nothing cuter ( in my eyes ;) ) than to see a big haze of fry swimming around their parents but this usually only happens when security is great for them. If you are trying to do this in a community tank scenario, the odds go against you having this be successful or raising any large amount of a spawn with these fish types.
Livebearers, for some reason, will eat their own fry when given the opportunity which is why you want to do them in heavily planted aquariums. Once the fry get too big to eat, they will join the others in the open spaces of the tank. BUT these are not parent raised just Parent tolerated. ;) .

Hope this helps :thumb
 
Really helps thanks. Might look at a 'family' tank ad such

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