Help with chiclid fry and breeding in general

[Loui1]

I have a 30 gallon tank that started off with 4 chiclids. 2 yellow labs, 1 solid orange, and 1 solid blue.

One of the labs was female, and she successfully had 3 generations of fry...so now I have about 10 mature fish. Some females and some males...some grey, and some ended up orange. Now they're starting to breed with each other and I see a problem abrewing. I have a ton of shells/caves so there's no problems yet, but how do you address inbreeding and tank crowding? I'm hesitant to give them away via craigslist, but it seems to be the only option.

 

[mike47517]

go to your local fish store they will usually buy or trade them off your hands (contact first to make sure). and pet stores like petco will usually take them , but they wont give you anything for them. good luck.

 

[OldMan]

Another option for you, Loui1, is to take them to the next aquarium club meeting and trade them or auction them off. Most clubs have some time set aside at the end of a meeting for just such an auction. You usually won't get much for your fish but it gets the fish into the hands of people who now how to care for fish and it will give you something back for your trouble.

 

[Zagz]

I agree with Oldman, local clubs have aquarists that will provide the best possible life for your fish. Our club is having an auction 2 weekends from now and I will be auctioning off several of my fry.

 

[jibboo]

my labs breed like crazy ... but if I don't want to extra fry, I just let them spit into the tank ... no babies ... easy as that. But I like to watch em grow, so I usually catch the mother a couple weeks out and have her spit into a separate partition or a floating baby net thingy. When my tank gets out of control, I just take the ugliest fish to the pet store or give them away to friends.

You need to create some new fish friends ... give them some fish.

 

[jdboy]

I have been raising Jack Dempsey's. Usually I can get rid of the fry at my LFS, but if I start getting overrun with fry I use them as feeders. If you use something to get the fry out of the tank, you can then put them back in and the parents will not recognize them and eat them. Another advantage to doing this is you know that these feeders are free from diseases.