Babbies!!!

[anonfoo]

I just got an aquarium about a month ago with 10 Ciclids in it, fairly small, the size you get from Petsmart. Anyway I got home the other day and saw hundreds of babbies swimming around and one of the fish hovering over them attacking anything that came close. I fished out as many as I could and put them in a small tank so they wouldnt get eaten but there are still a ton left.

Whats the best thing for me to do to keep as many alive as I can? What do I do with them? Food? Special Needs? I had no intention of babbies but now that I have them I want them to grow up.

 

[studmaster]

Congrats! That's great news!

Make sure that anywhere you put them is cycled. If you don't have that option, try to find a tank seperator and place them in there inside your tank. How big is your tank?

I would try a seperator like the one found on this page
http://www.fishybits.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Breeding_Traps_120.html

I'm not sure how Ciclids are with young, but to be on the safe side, try to seperate them somehow inside your tank. Then do some research on feeding them ASAP.

 

[Jchillin]

Do you know what cichlids they are? Feeding is not so much a problem. Baby brine shrimp and finely crushed flakes are ok.

 

[PsiPro]

Congrats on the news! Welcome to AA!

 

[anonfoo]

My tank is a 30 gallon. I'm pretty sure the Convict is the mommy since she is always protecting them. I pulled out a bunch and put them in a little beta tank with an airbubbler and gave them some flake food. I was planning on stopping off at Petco tonight and getting whatever I needed. I tank seperator might be slightly difficult.

heres a pic of my tank http://www.russkatz.com/photos/other/FishTank/DSC_2793.JPG

What do you mean by cycled? Do you mean filtered or good current?

 

[Jchillin]

Cycled refers to the nitrogen cycle...check this article:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/article_view.php?faq=2&fldAuto=21

Are they all convicts? If not, you need to ID them since not all cichlids are compatible.

Edit - I looked at your pic and see what looks like a yellow lab.

 

[rich311k]

Congrats on the babys. Very pretty tank. Do you have Africans in there as well?

Welcome to AA!!!!

 

[studmaster]

My tank is a 30 gallon. I'm pretty sure the Convict is the mommy since she is always protecting them. I pulled out a bunch and put them in a little beta tank with an airbubbler and gave them some flake food. I was planning on stopping off at Petco tonight and getting whatever I needed. I tank seperator might be slightly difficult.

heres a pic of my tank http://www.russkatz.com/photos/other/FishTank/DSC_2793.JPG

What do you mean by cycled? Do you mean filtered or good current?

Cycling is the most important thing you can do for your tank. I didn't know about it either when I first started and lost many fish and couldn't for the life of me figure out why. They don't usually tell you about cycling at fish stores.
If whatever tank you put the babies in isn't cycled you could be in for a lot (most) of the babbies dying. If your filter has cartridges, replace one and put the used one in the small betta bowl with the babies, or grab some of the gravel from the main tank and put it in with the babies.

Oh the other hand you can buy a breeder trap that hangs inside your aquarium so that the babies could live inside until they are big enough to fend for themselves. Something like:

http://www.incrediblepets.com/Aquar...-Pumps,-Accessories_3-In-1-Guppy-Breeder-Trap

But get the biggest one you can.

Also you will probably want to get a master test kit that gives you the ability to test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and PH. I know this might seem like a lot, but in the end your fish will live and you will get a lot more enjoyment out of the hobby. You have a beautiful tank by the way.

 

[anonfoo]

thanks everyone for the compliments, welcomes, and advise. I think I'll pickup a breeder trap and food tonight if they have them. Otherwise order online. I'll also put a bio ball in there with them, there is already gravel from the main tank which is the buffering gravel.

I looked at your pic and see what looks like a yellow lab.

I have a few different types in there:
2 Yellow Labs
1 Melanochromis auratus
1 trewavassae
3 Convicts
3 of a bluish fish with 3 black stripes I forgot the name
1 Pleco
I know some will probably become food as the others outgrow them but for now thats what I got.

Do you have Africans in there as well?

I think there all Africans but not possitive.

This is actually my 3rd tank (1 at a time) but my first Ciclid tank. This was previously a salt water tank for a while until I moved and didnt have room to re set it up. Now I had room again but didnt want the trouble of a salt water again. I never really had much trouble with deaths, I tend to get equipment rated for a tank 2x the size of what I have and test the water regularly. In the salwater I had 6 of these powerheads 2 hangon filters a wet dry and a skimmer LOL talk about overkill... but it worked great haha...

Heres some other tank photos...
http://www.russkatz.com/photos.asp?dropdown=other&selection=FishTank

 

[rich311k]

The convicts are Central American. I dont know how well those fish will mix in the long run.

 

[anonfoo]

I got the breeder trap and baby food, man it was hard getting the babbies in there. I couldnt get them all but I got enough.

The girl at the petstore said convicts are protective of the babbies and will feed and take care of them. Also said I should put the parents in with the babbies. Is that true? I was thinking since i couldnt get all the babies putting 1 parent in and leave one out, problem is there a pain to catch, i tried for 30 minutes today. I have noticed them being super protective of the area though.

 

[Guest]

They are good parents but. You've already removed them so now they'll just see them as food. I wouldn't put them in the tank with the fry. You said you added them to a betta tank. If it's a 1.5g tank and you've added gravel from the main tank. I wouldn't worrie about the cycling of it. The water going to take the bactria from the gravel.
Here's where you run into your proplum the convicts and the labs are going to not mix will at all. The labs being african and the convicts being central america. There not going to get along. Also I'd be worried about the Melanochromis auratus being with the labs they are very aggrassive where the labs are more non aggrasive.
The stocking of the tank is mostly malawi and you've got nonaggrsive with very aggarsive. Your also keeping 1 of each of the malawi hopfully not males. Males of this type are very aggrassive to each other. Then you got the totally out of place convicts. Who if kept in the malawi set up will become a punching bag for the others. But as far as the fry I'd put what you can get and add them to the fry tank. But don't put the parents back in the tank withthem as they will eat them now.

 

[anonfoo]

Cool thanks. I got a breeder trap and got most of them in there maybe 50+. There are probably about a dozen left in the main tank that the parents are watching over.

I'm not too afraid about the yellow fish there kept in check by the blue ones who have grown quite a lot faster then the rest. The yellows stay to themselves. The blue fish have been trying to get to the babies and slowly picking them off. The convicts and the blues face off, its like two dudes staring each other down, then the blues back off usually. Before the babies though the convicts stayed to them selves and the blues left them alone.

 

[Jchillin]

Thanks for linking more pics. The blue with black stripes look like mbuna. I'm not too familiar with whether ARLC are really compatible with SA's though.

 

[malkore]

I know TravisSimonson keeps Acei, yellow labs, mbuna, and demasoni in his 125, along with lots of other species.

Don't think he has any convicts tho.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

The auratus and convict are definately out of place. For the sake of the rest of your fish, remove them as soon as possible. The yellow labs may be attempting to hold their own, but it is not a good situation. They are one of the most docile of Mbuna. Do you have a better pic of the blue fish?

 

[anonfoo]

WOW they did it again. The original babbies are still in the breeder trap. There are about 5 growing healthy about an inch long now. Today I noticed the moma convict had another batch of babies!!! She really dug them in this time. Is that normal? Is she going to breed every month or so? Should I throw these in the same breeder trap? There going to be hard to catch where she is keeping them.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Convicts will breed very easily. You will have many batches of fry if you keep saving them.

 

[Zagz]

FF is speaking the truth! You will need to contract MTS and get a larger tank for them very soon. Without all the fry, 30 gals will be too small for those cichlids IMO. Good luck with the babies. MTS is not a bad thing btw.