When to separate Fry?

[Danny Stephens]

I have a batch of about 15 apistogramma cacatoides that are roughly three months old, they are growing well and staring to get fin colouridge, however the female has had a brand new batch of fry, will the older fry eat the younger fry? Is it worth separating them?
Thankyou

 

[Mike Wise]

The older juveniles will eat the younger fry if they can. If nothing else they will cause the female extra stress trying to protect the new fry. I'd move the older juveniles.

 

[Danny Stephens]

The older juveniles will eat the younger fry if they can. If nothing else they will cause the female extra stress trying to protect the new fry. I'd move the older juveniles.

Thanks a lot for the reply, I'll separate the older fry asap

 

[ErtyJr]

Just to add my 2 cents in I prefer to remove the fry and mother from the father after 1 week to 1 month depending on how everything is going. In some cases the father has to go after 1 day but I generally prefer 1 month.

My reasons are this, and I don't have any more evidence then my own experiences. I have noticed that after helping in the care for rearing fry, the father showed significantly less aggression towards small fish/inverts. He used to eat anything that would fit in his mouth. Now he is almost 4 inches long, maybe more, and he lives with both very small celestial pearl danios and red cherry shrimp, and pays no attention to them at all. He only eats the smallest of shrimplettes, and I believe that is because I feed him scuds on a normal basis, ever since he was young.

The reason I pull the father but leave the mother is because I want her to continue to parent but after 1 month she often begins to think of spawning again.

So for me the ideal time is 1 month, and I keep the mother with them as I try to avoid her spawning to frequently, because mike wise has suggested he thinks it is possible that breeding to often (as well as overfeeding) contribute to a shorter lifespan for these fish. And their life is already so short I don't want to shorten the lives of the fish I love so much.