first spwan (a few questions)

[brad]

Well as some of you know I really didn`t expect my cacatuoides to spawn so soon. So I`ve got afew questions to start me off.

1: There is a pair in a well planted 29 gallon and today my other female came in. I was wondering if it was safe to add her to the tank with the other female and male. (The male isn`t being harassed too much)

2: Is it normal for thr fry to be rather motionless? My krib fry are always swimming around and exploring. These guys seem to just hang out on top of a cave and not do much.

Thanks for the help.

 

[cootwarm]

1. It mostly depends how your tank is set-up. Are they many hiding spaces? There is a good chance for excessive aggression as the first couple probably has established territory. The new addition is usually at a disadvantage. Try moving some of the major 'landmarks' around to confuse the existing territories. If there is excessive agression after that, you could try a tank divider until they grow accustomed to each other. Put the male on the same side of the divider with the new female and leave mother alone to tend her fry.

2. - How old are the fry? They mostly lie around and just wiggle for the first 3 or 4 days. They don't swim well with a yolk sac to lug around. It's when they become free swimming that you can feed.

Michael

 

[brad]

The female does already have an established territory. It only occupîes about 1/3 of the tank if that. From the first week on she wouldn`t even go to the other side of the tank. Nothing interesting I guess. The male considers everything his except where the female won`t allow him to go. Would changing things around stress the female with her new fry?

The fry must be over a week old. They`re defenately free swimming. I didn`t even know she had layed eggs until I saw little things moving around on the sand. They swim when they want to. I`ve seen them eat brine shrimp but I must say they`re not great eaters. They usually swim right up to the shrimp, look at it, and go back to laying around on the rocks. Sometimes they spit them out if they do eat them. Obviously some get eaten but not with as much enthusiasm as my kribs eat. Maybe it`s normal?

 

[cootwarm]

The new female will probably do fine then as long as the male accepts her. Just provide her with her own cave, some cover and keep an eye out when you put her in. You shouldn't have any trouble. He might even accept her before she's released from the bag! You never know, as cichlids all seem to have their own individual personalities.

As long as the fry are eating they should be fine. I've had batches of fry that seemed unusually inactive and I was concerned about a problem, but so far they've always grown out of it and were perfectly normal.

I'm suprised your fry are picky about BBS because they usually create a feeding frenzy. If they're not eating BBS, I don't know what to tell you. You can tell if they're eating because the stomachs of the fry will visibly be orange from the BBS.

Also if the parents are caring for the fry, they won't eat just an occasional fry. They'll eat all of them or none of them. But they do clean and move the fry with their mouths. Of course cichlids are individuals so there are exceptions to most every rule.

Michael

 

[brad]

Thanks. I appreciate the help.