Agassizi spawn help

[Brown Water]

Yet again... Another dilemma! My agasizzis spawned over night, but I still have 1/4 inch fry from the last spawn with them. I was planing on moving the old fry next Monday (would be a whole month with parents) but the female is now chasing the old fry... My question is, I guess, do I remove the male and female? Or do I chance bothering them and have em eat the new spawn by geting the 1/4" fry out?

 

[Mike Wise]

You have a dependable, consistent spawning pair of aggies. I personally wouldn't like to upset their tank. You might be able to partition the tank with a separator and trap most of the older fry on 1 side. Then I'd try a soda bottle fish trap (google it) to capture the rest. Just make sure that the opening in the bottle cap is large enough for only the fry to enter.

 

[Brown Water]

I added some java fern to the tank to maybe help the fry hide, the problem I have is they are in a ten gallon tank. Partitioning it really isn't feasible. I googled for a day trying to find out how long to leave the fry in with the parents, and came up with about a month average. Thinking I will just have to adjust hoe long I keep them in for. Maybe I will try 3 weeks with this next spawn. Do you think she would eat her first spawn? I would assume that in the wild, she would eaither kick them or they would have ventured out on their own by now. Sucks havin to work out these kinks. Just worried about losing the first spawn from them. Would going in and grabbing the old fry out make the female eat her eggs?

 

[Mike Wise]

Will she eat her first spawn? Yes, that is a good possibility - or kill them when she can't drive them out of her brood territory. Then again, you might be lucky and she won't.

Will netting the fry cause the female to eat her new spawn/fry? Yes, that is a good possibility, too.

You have options, but neither that you suggest are the best for all the fish concerned. A 10 is a small breeding tank, but I've succeeded using them in the past. You just have to be very careful monitoring behavior.

Is there any possibility of trapping most of the older fry in 6" of one side of the tank temporarily and then netting the into another tank?

 

[regani]

I had some success in similar situations with siphoning out the older fry. you'll need a clear plastic hose of sufficient diameter and a bucket or container to siphon into. start the siphon, then stop/start the flow by holding a thumb on the end in the bucket.
with the end of the hose and no flow (and some patience) you can get close enough to the fry to suck them in when you remove your thumb, you often get a few at once as they tend to stick together. stop once the fish are in the bucket and slowly move th e hose close to the next fry or wait in ambush until they reappear. I usually do it over a few days as they get too spooked if you just on trying to catch them. this gets more difficult the older the fry are as they are stronger and can get away from the sudden current if you are not close enough.

 

[Brown Water]

I ended up grabbing them all out last night after the lights went out. This was the first spawn I'm working with, so I'm still working the kinks out. I will just have to pull the spawn out earlier this time. Thinking three weeks will work unless they change my plans... Again...

Used a net and a flashlight. Think the female kept her clutch of eggs. She is still guarding the spawning cave.

Thanks for the help guys