I love unexpected babies - Aquarium Advice

hsherman1986 · 08-12-2008, 08:13 PM

So, at the beginning of spring, my husband built us 2 outdoor ponds. We decided that we would rather stock them with cichlids than koi or goldfish. So we moved our 7 jewel cichlids (all 1-2" at the time, now 3-4") to the smaller one (150g) and our four severums (the males were 2", now are 4", the females were 3.5", now are around 5") into the larger one (250g). We also moved some of our random fish (a few rainbows, some cories, and a kuhli loach). The 250g also has a turtle inhabitant.

Well, I had noticed over the past week, the larger female severum has been very aggressive towards all of her tankmates, even the turtle. The other day, she wouldn't let anyone eat. She would take the food and dash under the turtle's basking dock. If there were any fish trying to eat when she came back out, she would chase them away. Our turtle isn't scared of her, so when she flared up and him and he didn't budge, she started biting his shell. I was a little worried, but she hasn't caused any damage, so I just let her be.

So, during feeding time today, the same behavior happened. I fed other areas of the pond to make sure that everyone got to eat, and let her be mean. She came over to get some more food, and when she swam away, she had a herd of fry following her!! I didn't even think that they were large enough to spawn, or that they had paired off.

So, I am super excited, this is our first successful cichlid spawn. We had tried GBRs a while back, but they always ate the eggs. We currently actively breed and raise killifish and cherry shrimp, and are growing out our jewel group and a group of firemouth cichlids.

So, I do have some questions. What now? I have watched the parents today, and they seem like good parents so far. I am sure the fry are at least a week old. They are defintly too big to be newborns, and are completly free swimming. I dumped some microworms in the pond so that they would have some small food to eat, other than the many small microrganisms that I am sure are living in that water. Mom is defintly mean enough to keep everyone away from the fry, and everyone is scared enough of her to stay away. Dad is doing well too, he took turns watching the fry during feeding time. I have a few empty ten gallon tanks that I can set up for the fry if they need to be fished out. Anything else special that I can be doing?

mike47517 · 09-30-2008, 07:02 PM

it would be better if you got some of the fry out leave some though if the mother is protecting them and stuff leave a few for her to do her lob.

Musket · 10-01-2008, 08:33 PM

I agree with mike47517. My gold severums had fry several times, 2 different pairs, but they always ended up eatten. By whom I'm not sure.. They were good parents too, but something must have miffed them. Yours are probably okay with all that space, but to be sure I would snag a few out of there.
Good luck, and congratulations
tiny wee baby fish are the cutest

mike47517 · 10-01-2008, 10:02 PM

lob=job my bad.

hsherman1986 · 10-02-2008, 02:20 AM

wow, i had totally forgotten about this thread

Well, we freaked her out, and she ended up eating the first batch

Two weeks later, fry appeared again. We took as many as we could out this time and put them in a growout. Left some with Mom. I think us taking some of her babies though scared her into eating the rest. We are now waiting for them to spawn again

The last batch of babies got killed by accidental windex

Oh well, they have done it twice, I am sure they will do it again. And when they do, I will take their babies, and keep them protected from the windex

mike47517 · 10-02-2008, 07:33 AM

oh pk good luck.

08-12-2008, 08:13 PM	#1
hsherman1986 Aquarium Advice FINatic Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 719	I love unexpected babies So, at the beginning of spring, my husband built us 2 outdoor ponds. We decided that we would rather stock them with cichlids than koi or goldfish. So we moved our 7 jewel cichlids (all 1-2" at the time, now 3-4") to the smaller one (150g) and our four severums (the males were 2", now are 4", the females were 3.5", now are around 5") into the larger one (250g). We also moved some of our random fish (a few rainbows, some cories, and a kuhli loach). The 250g also has a turtle inhabitant. Well, I had noticed over the past week, the larger female severum has been very aggressive towards all of her tankmates, even the turtle. The other day, she wouldn't let anyone eat. She would take the food and dash under the turtle's basking dock. If there were any fish trying to eat when she came back out, she would chase them away. Our turtle isn't scared of her, so when she flared up and him and he didn't budge, she started biting his shell. I was a little worried, but she hasn't caused any damage, so I just let her be. So, during feeding time today, the same behavior happened. I fed other areas of the pond to make sure that everyone got to eat, and let her be mean. She came over to get some more food, and when she swam away, she had a herd of fry following her!! I didn't even think that they were large enough to spawn, or that they had paired off. So, I am super excited, this is our first successful cichlid spawn. We had tried GBRs a while back, but they always ate the eggs. We currently actively breed and raise killifish and cherry shrimp, and are growing out our jewel group and a group of firemouth cichlids. So, I do have some questions. What now? I have watched the parents today, and they seem like good parents so far. I am sure the fry are at least a week old. They are defintly too big to be newborns, and are completly free swimming. I dumped some microworms in the pond so that they would have some small food to eat, other than the many small microrganisms that I am sure are living in that water. Mom is defintly mean enough to keep everyone away from the fry, and everyone is scared enough of her to stay away. Dad is doing well too, he took turns watching the fry during feeding time. I have a few empty ten gallon tanks that I can set up for the fry if they need to be fished out. Anything else special that I can be doing?

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

10-01-2008, 08:33 PM	#3
Musket Aquarium Advice FINatic Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 546	I agree with mike47517. My gold severums had fry several times, 2 different pairs, but they always ended up eatten. By whom I'm not sure.. They were good parents too, but something must have miffed them. Yours are probably okay with all that space, but to be sure I would snag a few out of there. Good luck, and congratulations tiny wee baby fish are the cutest

10-02-2008, 02:20 AM	#5
hsherman1986 Aquarium Advice FINatic Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 719	wow, i had totally forgotten about this thread Well, we freaked her out, and she ended up eating the first batch Two weeks later, fry appeared again. We took as many as we could out this time and put them in a growout. Left some with Mom. I think us taking some of her babies though scared her into eating the rest. We are now waiting for them to spawn again The last batch of babies got killed by accidental windex Oh well, they have done it twice, I am sure they will do it again. And when they do, I will take their babies, and keep them protected from the windex