when to remove parents from fry?

[scott]

i have a rather odd situation in one of my 10gal breeding tanks. i recently crossed a Y/G female cac (which i purchased from Neil) with a triple red male. the first day the fry became free swimming the male chased the female away from the fry and began caring for them himself. i had to remove the female so she wouldn't be injured or killed. the fry are about 2 weeks old now and the male is still caring for them. i would like to move him back with the female which is in a 40 gal planted tank. the fry are taking bbs, decaps and even daphnia pulex. do you think it is ok to remove the male at this point or should i leave him another week or so. the fry still hover around him. i am just afraid that he will eventually get fed up and eat them but on the other hand i don't want to remove him to soon and possibly stress out the fry who are used to having him there.

 

[aspen]

i would pull him anytime.
rick

 

[ervis]

when to pull mom

i would pull him anytime.
rick

Hi Rick, From your senior status I'd assume you have some previous experience with the little apistos? I've got some Borellii fry that are now just over one month old. Most are about 3/8ths inch long and a couple of Mega fry are about 1/2 inch. They eat decapsulated brinies. I pulled the male after only about a week, they're still with the female. I take it I can pull her now too? She's not harassing them or anything, but she's serving no purpose?

thanks,
steve

http://www.geocities.com/erviservy/babies.html
and
http://www.geocities.com/erviservy/fry12_30a.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/erviservy/fry12_30b.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/erviservy/fry12_30c.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/erviservy/fry12_30d.jpg

 

[scott]

well, i pulled him about 6 hours ago, i ended up putting him with another y/g female i had in a 10 gal. should have another batch of fry in about a week. this guy is a real stud, already have 2 other females raising fry in other tanks that are also his. luckily i have a few different places to unload the fry to avoid to much inbreeding. all of the females are not related to each other or the male(except the 2 y/g's) . anyway, the fry seem fine although they are hovering closer to the substrate than usual. the are still eating. all seems well. thanks for the advise aspen. i just needed someone else to agree with moving him before i did it. i have a little problem with trusting my own judgement sometimes.

 

[scott]

when i fed the fry this morn i noticed that they don't stay together anymore. they are all scattered about the tank, this makes it rather hard to feed them the bbs. i have never had fry this young away from there parents before. i hope they manage to find the food and get enough to eat. also i hope the uneaten food doesn't pollute the tank. i'll be doing daily water changes. if all goes well i'll post some pics when they are big enough.

 

[aspen]

hi steve, i have bred borellii opals and they were perfectly fine being pulled 2 weeks after free swimming. ie, there is no reason not to try and get another spawn from your fish if you have the growout tanks.


rick

 

[ervis]

hi steve, i have bred borellii opals and they were perfectly fine being pulled 2 weeks after free swimming. ie, there is no reason not to try and get another spawn from your fish if you have the growout tanks.


rick

Thanks Rick, I pulled mom out a few days ago. Now all four adults are in a 55g community tank. I like watching them interact.

The fry are coming along nicely. I have about 35 or so, in a bare bottom 20g L tank. A huge clump of java moss, a bog log and a clam shell for buffer. I also added 4 Amano shrimp for clean up duty. They all seem to be getting along fine.

thanks again,
steve