so ive begun breeding jack dempseys

[d1anonly22]

so everyone tells me jack dempseys will protect there young, and my first batch got eatin, well i pulled out daddy them someone told me to put him back, and he ate a few then she ate the rest, what happened, now im on my second round and i put them in a separate tank only problem is i dont have a filter for that tank and cant get one yet what do i do. im going to turn an old fidge into a two tank setup so i can breed them and then separate them but i havent had the money for that yet, i was also wondering what other cichlids can i cross breed with the dempseys, thank you.

 

[the_elvish_misfit]

If they've never bred before they may not know what happened. I hear if they spawn a few more times they get good at it and are good parents. Don't get discouraged, they probably didn't even realize what the fry were. Seasoned breeding pairs pull it off excellently you probably just have newbies.

 

[d1anonly22]

well i feed the parents feeder guppies, is it possible that that is the reason why they eat the babies. do you know of any other cichlids i can cross breed them with?

 

[the_elvish_misfit]

I know a lot of people feed the adults live fish, but they know the difference (or eventually will).

Be careful when crossbreeding (some result in things like too small fins or jaws that don't work) but in theory ANY Central American Cichlids can breed as long as they are around the same size and age. A few crossbreeds have names like Electric Blue, Green Terror, and Flowerhorn.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

My convicts went through 4 batches before they started protecting (not eating) their fry. Normally newly paired fish that do protect their young will need some practice tries.

Just give them sometime to get the hang of it and soon you should get some free-swimming fry.