question about leaving fry with mom

[ErtyJr]

Hey guys, as some of you may know, I'm currently growing out my first ever batch of apistogramma cacatuoides fry. I have another question and hoping some of you can help as I have received so many helpful answers in the past.

My current batch is growing close to a size where I am going to sell them soon. I currently have a second batch growing out in my community tank (sorry mike, I know i shouldn't but it was the gf's choice not mine). When I sell the juvies I would like to remove the mother and fry and put them all into the grow out tank together untill I sell the young juvies because I do not have enough room for the pair to keep spawning.

I am not allowed to purchase another tank, and I need to separate the male and female to stop breeding as I will be traveling soon and the gf will not be able to care for any fry.

My question is will the fry be OK with mom for 2-3 months? Will she turn on them before then? Any advice at all on what I can do?

 

[Mike Wise]

In my experience each female is different. Some will happily stay in the same tank with the fry and even breed with one of her sons. Others can't be bothered after a week or two and ignore them. Some will look at the fry as food. Usually, if a female doesn't have a new batch of eggs/fry, the fry are safe so long as they aren't in her territory.

 

[ErtyJr]

Thanks mike. With this female she protected her fry in the community tank for a month untill I saw her fattening up, at that point I knew they had to come out or she would lay another batch and chase away the fry or eat them. I then siphoned as many fry as I could out over a period of 3 days. Two days later she laid the current batch. There was 4 more still in the tank, which I discovered later, when I spotted her chasing them relentlessly around the tank. I got 3 out and the 4th is still hiding somewhere.

So basically what I am getting at is she has been a very good mother untill she had this current brood and then she ditched the old fry and is now a very good mother with her current brood. So I have been hoping she would rear them atleast into the early juvenile stage.

 

[Mike Wise]

Her behavior it typical. She is protecting her new fry from being eaten by her older fry. In the wild her older fry would already have left her brood territory. In an aquarium this is hard to do.

 

[Dano1311]

sorry to jump in on this thread but i currently have four batches of fry from two different pairs, im starting to run out of tank space as they are spread over four tanks, would i be okay to put them all in the same tank? they range from 2 weeks to 2 months old.

 

[ErtyJr]

All of them could not go together, they would have to be similar in size, the two month Olds would likely eat your 2 weekers.