Pelvicachromis fry?

[Pelvicachromis]

I keep loosing fry!

After a couple of weeks or so my Pelvic. keep eating there fry. I assume this since one day I look in and fry and parents are doing well, the next the fry are gone and the male parent is chasing and nipping the fins of the female to the point she hides in corner of tank.

This has now happend in 3 different tanks with 3 different species. First with albino pulcher ( i managed to save 4), then subocellatus (no surivors) now taeniatus moliwe. -all the tanks have no other fish.

How long should I leave fry with parents? What should I do differently? My taeniatus bandewouri have 5 day old fry. I dont want to lose them too.

I want to get the happy couples back to being happy couples, have them breed again and have the fry grow up!

Help.

Keith

 

[westafrica]

Hi!

I've never had to face any problems of fry eating with the numerous Pelvicachromis i've kept and bred in my tanks (4 forms of taeniatus, wild pulcher and subocellatus matadi), but it may be a more radical sign of a behaviour I've seen very frequently: when the pair is alone is the tank, the male (whose role is to protect the territory, and whose hormons are pushing him into being agressive), does very often gets off steam by beating the female, which could probably trigger the eggs or fry eating phenomenon (the fact that you had to face this behaviour with several pairs seems significant to my mind).

In my opinion you should put some dither fish in your tanks, like little amazonian fish (Hyphessobrycon for instance), or Phenacogrammus or Alestes or Micralestes if your tanks are big enough (more than 200 liters (please excuse me, I'm french, and not very familiar with gallons). Your Pelvicachromis pairs will probably behave like perfect parents!

I hope it will help you

Westafrica

 

[Pelvicachromis]

Thanks for the reply. I have started adding dither fish to each tank. I had planned to add beckford pencil fish to each tank, but the large group I had in quarantine has not done well and I will have to go to a different fish.

Keith

In my opinion you should put some dither fish in your tanks, like little amazonian fish (Hyphessobrycon for instance), or Phenacogrammus or Alestes or Micralestes if your tanks are big enough (more than 200 liters (please excuse me, I'm french, and not very familiar with gallons). Your Pelvicachromis pairs will probably behave like perfect parents!

I hope it will help you

Westafrica

 

[Randall]

Spawning Pelvicachromis species

Hello Keith,

Methinks westafrica offers good advise; adding small dither fish to the mix should help to diffuse aggression. How big are your tanks, please? If they are very small, that could also explain the problems that you discuss. For dwarf Pelvicachromis pairs, I utilize nothing smaller than 20-gallon long tanks and have never had a problem.

Good luck!

Randall Kohn

 

[Pelvicachromis]

Hi Randall,

Tanks are 40 breeders divided in half. I have weekend fish store trip to hunt for interesting dithers, so I'll let you know how it goes.

At what point do you think fry should be removed from parents?
thanks

Keith

 

[Randall]

Removing fry

Hello Keith,

I usually remove Pelvicachromis fry about four weeks after they are free-swimming. By that time, parental care has worn off.

Good luck!

Randall Kohn