Newbie! - Remove Fry?

[JABouts]

Hi All,
My story is that I had a 29 gallon empty and sitting around so I decided to get some fish going. I bought two cacatuoides and before I could even get anymore tank mates, the two of them started breeding within a week of being in the tank!

The fry have hatched and I have about 15-20 free swimmers at this point (thanks to all the helpful information on this site!) It's been about 3 weeks since they hatched. The only fish I have in the tank is the mother, father, and all the fry. Within the last couple of days, the mother seems to have lost interest and isn't herding the fry anymore like she had been. I'm wondering if this is a smart time to move the fry to a separate tank to grow out, or if this is fine. (tips on set up on that? Sponge filter, heater, sand? bare bottom?

I'm also wondering if I keep the fry in this tank, should I move dad since mom is guarding the fry less? He hasn't had much interest in the fry and when he did, mom would chase him away, but that isn't the case so much right now.

Thanks for any info! I love the site and have spent a lot of time reading, when I'm not staring at my fry that is!

 

[slimbolen99]

You could try removing some of them, and leaving some. Seems like every time I remove all the fry, the mother will go ballistic on the male. If I leave a half dozen or so for her, she normally does ok, even if the remaining fry don't make it.

 

[ItaloBR]

f you want other spawning occurs remove the fry. Otherwise you can leave all pups with the mother. If separate can leave the fry n an aquarium without substrate for easier cleaning and feeding the fry.

I usually separate the pups 15 days, actually happens in the male assaulting female after the withdrawal, but no major problems happening here.

 

[dwarflover]

If you want more fry, seperate them. I always seperate mine after a few weeks.
I've never had any problems with parents going nuts.