Quick fish mom salute

[Bubba643]

Had to post a pic of my hard working single fish mom. Had to separate the male a week ago due to aggression, and she's been a trooper for 6 days keeping her little ones together. Moved them 5 times etc. Well done!

 

[DreaminginBlue]

What a good mommy! That's dedication right there. Hope all is well with her and her little ones

 

[ScottM23]

How many electric blue Acaras could I keep in a 55 gallon?

 

[Bubba643]

How many electric blue Acaras could I keep in a 55 gallon?

At least a pair or two happily. I had 4 in the 60g until this one and a male paired up. They are very cool fish, and I'm normally one of those hybrid hating snobs but these guys are awesome. Like a less aggressive, bright blue, mini Oscar.

 

[ScottM23]

Okay awesome! So I couldn't do just one male and have two females for the male to pair off with? I'm not quite sure how these fish breed.

 

[Bubba643]

Okay awesome! So I couldn't do just one male and have two females for the male to pair off with? I'm not quite sure how these fish breed.

They lay eggs. I would buy 5 small ones and wait till they pair off and get rid of the 3 that don't pair. It's hard to find females sometimes and the EBA is tough to sex just by looking. I actually thought the fish above was a male till it laid eggs the first time, lol.

 

[ScottM23]

They lay eggs. I would buy 5 small ones and what till they pair off and get rid of the 3 that don't pair. It's hard to find females sometimes and the EBA is tough to sex just by looking. I actually thought the fish above was a male till it laid eggs the first time, lol.

Okay good to know. If I decide I'm not interested in breeding could I buy 3 and put them in together? They won't have issues if they're all males?

 

[Bubba643]

No they are pretty peaceful until they pair up. Then if you have two males you'll know it quick. The one that pairs up will get aggressive

 

[coralbandit]

Mom and fry look good ! My buddy just mentioned a link on how some cichlids beside the known discus actually aide in the feeding of the fry.
I have seen with my apisto and some rams how the female will eat up food and have it come out through her gills to send and supply the fry with food. He mentioned the short the time this happens helps the fry acquire some of the immunities the parents have through this exchange...
You and mom are doing great !

 

[Bubba643]

Mom and fry look good ! My buddy just mentioned a link on how some cichlids beside the known discus actually aide in the feeding of the fry.
I have seen with my apisto and some rams how the female will eat up food and have it come out through her gills to send and supply the fry with food. He mentioned the short the time this happens helps the fry acquire some of the immunities the parents have through this exchange...
You and mom are doing great !

Yep she is doing that with leftovers, cleaning with gills for them. So I got a funny twist to this post...

The large male dad of the above fry I had separated with plastic divider. I had all my tanks tied up until the other pair of EBA I had in my 40 g breeder decided to eat their eggs(or so I thought). I decided to move them to my main 180 tank and move the aggressive dad to his own 40 breeder that was vacated by the rookie pair. That was Saturday, since the move he has been staying in one spot with what I thought was a bad case of depression, loneliness and maybe some post pardum. My daughter just looked in the 40 breeder and says "um there are babies in there". Turns out the eggs from the removed pair were just really well hidden and have now hatched with the other male inside. To my surprise he has adopted them as his own. He is collecting them in his mouth and placing them back with others and filtering food just like his wife is doing in the other tank with his offspring. Here I was scared of him hurting his mate or babies and he is raising the fry of strangers. So here's a big ole DAD salute and apology from yours truly. So cool...

Here's dad in the 40g tending to his adopted wigglers...









And here's mom in the 60 g taking care of the their own two day older fry...




And here are the parents of the foster kids in the 180g...

 

[DreaminginBlue]

Aww! That's adorable, what a good dad.

 

[ScottM23]

Beautiful fish!

 

[EOGoldfish]

Cool story!