Cichlid Fry

[cichlidlover2]

Hello,
I have about 20 convict cichlid fry in a 10 gallon tank. How many weeks until I can put them in my 55g tank with 2'' convicts? - Should I put a breeder box in the 55g with the fry in? They are about 1 week old.

 

[Colin_T]

Why are the babies separated from the parents?
Baby cichlids need to be reared up by their parents so the fry can learn their language and parental care. Fish that are not reared up by their parents tend you become bad parents that eat their eggs and young.

If you have baby fish and want to add them to a tank with other fishes, the babies need to be at least half the size of the biggest fish in the tank, so they don't get eaten.

 

[cichlidlover2]

The mom was in the tank with the fry for about 4 days before I moved her back. The Male is not with them because, well he already started mating with another female and was very aggressive towards the mom. Should I put the female back? Will she remember it’s her babies? I took her out 4 days ago

 

[Colin_T]

She might accept them back, it depends on the individual fish. Some fish will take care of anything that is small and resembles a fry, others eat them. They are convicts so will breed repeatedly, and I would put the mother back with the babies and see how they go. If she eats them, it's no big loss because they breed every month and you will have thousands to get rid of

 

[cichlidlover2]

Ok, thanks.
I have 2 different spawns right now

 

[gilpi]

Nothing written in stone for these fish. I started out with a mating pair, great parents and protective. The male wanted more, female said no, he killed her. I took out the male now I have a tank with about 15 one inch or more convicts. I'm sure a war will break out in the tank, but at this point, whatever happens, happens. They are protective parents by design, not by them "watching" or being "taught"

 

[Colin_T]

They are protective parents by design, not by them "watching" or being "taught"

Yes it is instinct to protect their young but fish brought up artificially without their parents are shown to be poor parents for the first few batches and many struggle to look after their eggs or young even after dozens of batches of eggs. This is clearly seen in angelfish, discus and numerous other cichlids that are bred commercially and the eggs are removed from the parents so the adults lay again. The fish farmers get more young from each pair of adults but the fry turn into bad parents and regularly eat their own eggs and or fry. Compare that to cichlids reared up by their parents and they usually make very good parents the first time round.