Taking the babies away?

[trev1]

I have a pair of bandwouri and they had 20 young
then 10 and this morning 3..
Should I take the babies away when free
swimming to get the most from the pair?
I am wanting to supply some stores so
getting the most from the pair is the idea.
I just don't want to have this happen again.

Trev

 

[nellyfish22]

What else do you have in the tank?If you are housing the pair on their own it might be an idea to add some dither fish to focus their attention on protecting the fry. As for separating the fry, with my P.Taeniatus I generally try to leave them for as long as I can, but this is different for different people. I would at least leave them with the parents until about 2 weeks after freeswimming. This is when you will begin to notice the fry becoming a little more independent from the parents and instead of being in a tight group, they will be more dispersed around the tank.

 

[slimbolen99]

I've had the same problem. I learned that if I keep the free swimming fry with the parent's too long, they'll slowly get picked off. But, if you take them away to soon, you'll really upset the apisto parents. The first batch I took away at 4 weeks, and only ended up with nine fry. The second batch I took away at 1 week, and really upset the mother. They didn't spawn again for four months. I'd say if you notice you're losing fry, try and take them. It's easiest for me to take them right after I turn on the lights.

 

[nellyfish22]

It is strange that your fish only seem to pick the fry of gradually. Usually, in my experiences the fry would all be driven away, or eaten if that's what is happening. I have never had fry be picked off in this fashion, although I have had a pair of P.Taeniatus Moliwe that produced a small batch of seven and then all of a sudden they disappeared and then a monster batch of over 100 appeared. I suppose this was because the pair weren't content with their small batch. I find that 2 weeks is about the right time to seperate the fry as any younger and they are still heavily reliant on their parents to lead them, again this is my experience and is not necessarily right :biggrin:

 

[trev1]

thanks

thanks for the reply everyone. I found a few more today after work..
hope these stick around..

trev

 

[trev1]

dithers

what dither fish would you recommend?