Help! My rams had babies and now I don't know what to do.

[ddsmd]

Here's the skinny on my tank:
72 gallon, heavily planted, Co2 injection, Temp @80, ph 6.8,
Only been setup for 1month, but have added Bio-Spira twice to aid cycling
Currently have the following fish:
12 Cardinal Tetra
3 Oto
5 Corydoras Sterbai
2 Ram
Well, the rams have been doing the mating jig, but I just ignored it due to the recent setup.

Anyway, I came home today and must have 30 small fry swiming with the Rams.

What do I do? I would love to leave them in the tank, but I know other people move them to their own tank. I don't now if I could even catch them. And I don't think I have anything that will eat them.

Help! I want to do what's best.

[Maillis]

Let the parents raise them. Put a stocking or spong over the filter intake too so none of them get sucked up. Also, you may want to consider feeding them some sort of fry food like Hikari First Bites to make sure they are getting enough to eat.

[malkore]

the bigger issue is that most cichlids, even peaceful blue rams, are viciously aggressive towards other fish when they have fry. Every fish is seen as a predator, so I'd keep close tabs on your other fish to make sure they aren't being beaten up by the rams...particularly the male.

Kribensis are pretty easy going normally, but they killed three fish (including an SAE) when they had their first batch of fry.

You might just want to get a tank divider.

[ddsmd]

thanks for all the advice. I think I will just leave them alone and let the parents take care of them. I will try to keep you updated on their progress.