Eggs in my new tank!

Well, I have the 2 elongatus cichlid fry swimming about, along with a few BN wrigglers (about 30-40 in the cave still).

Then today, I stripped my holding peacock cichlid and I now have about 15-20 peacock cichlid fry about the tank as well.

It got busy in a hurry!

Kaenon wrote:

Well, I have the 2 elongatus cichlid fry swimming about, along with a few BN wrigglers (about 30-40 in the cave still).

Then today, I stripped my holding peacock cichlid and I now have about 15-20 peacock cichlid fry about the tank as well.

It got busy in a hurry!

"IT NEVER RAINS......"

I feel your pain spawning is contagious- everybody seems to go at once!

Fortunately baby BN are relatively easy, fresh veg and a wafer now and then- no live foods needed. What about your cichlid fry? What do they eat? I do feed my baby BN small amounts of live bbs since I always have it and I feel it's probably closer to the small organisms they would consume with their algae grazing than other protein foods.
If you are feeding bbs or other live to the cichlids, I would just make sure to siphon out the bottom of any excess so your BN don't have access to large quantities.

Congrats Kaenon! Would love to see more pics of both fry. Sarah

So the BN fry have been with my peacock cichlid fry and 2 elongatus fry for some time now.

Today I bought 4 yellow lab cichlids and 4 rusty cichlids (both pretty docile breeds, relatively speaking), and they were 1.5" in length. I am planning on transforming my main tank into a 3-4 species tank and with the new 8 cichlids being so small, I figured I would just keep them in the fry tank overnight until I could sell back 80% of the fish from my main tank (because I was worried about the new little ones getting picked on in the main tank).

Not a good idea. I lost about half my BN fry in a few hours and 3 of the 25 peacock cichlids. Terrible... I was mad. I couldn't believe that would have happened in a mere few hours.


Also, my 2 BN haven't spawned in my main tank since the last batch.. any thoughts?

yeah, cichlids are like that. I never recommend putting them in with fry.

They might not feel safe to breed again or maybe they are not feeling the triggers.

Oh dear that isn't good,i hope you have taken them out.Sorry to hear what happened,thankfully they havn't eaten the lot.Your bristlenoses would be better in a tank of their own really if you intend breeding or at least with safe fish and with proper caves.


Bristlenoses

Bristlenoses wrote:

Oh dear that isn't good,i hope you have taken them out.Sorry to hear what happened,thankfully they havn't eaten the lot.Your bristlenoses would be better in a tank of their own really if you intend breeding or at least with safe fish and with proper caves.


Bristlenoses

I watched a movie and after that I looked at the fry tank and I saw many of them dead and I immediately took our the juvy 4 yellow labs and 4 rustys and put them into the main tank. I still have a good amount of BN left, but it is still bothersome.

The juvy cichlids weren't very big either so I thought it was going to be okay for just one night, guess not.

Kaenon wrote:

Bristlenoses wrote:

Oh dear that isn't good,i hope you have taken them out.Sorry to hear what happened,thankfully they havn't eaten the lot.Your bristlenoses would be better in a tank of their own really if you intend breeding or at least with safe fish and with proper caves.


Bristlenoses

I watched a movie and after that I looked at the fry tank and I saw many of them dead and I immediately took our the juvy 4 yellow labs and 4 rustys and put them into the main tank. I still have a good amount of BN left, but it is still bothersome.

The juvy cichlids weren't very big either so I thought it was going to be okay for just one night, guess not.

Yes, it's surprising how vulnerable baby BN are. Even dime size baby angelfish will try to eat them, killing them in the process. Guppies will do the same. Baby BN seem somewhat oblivious to the danger larger fish pose and don't really try to avoid them, possibly because they're accustomed to being around adult BN that don't bother them, or because normally they would blend in with their surroundings and don't tend to flee.
Sorry you lost some, but glad you caught it before they were all gone. As Bristlenoses says, it's easier to breed them in a tank of their own, there are very few fish that can be trusted around the fry.
Sarah

Good news, finally had the third spawn of BN eggs last night. I was getting worries that nothing had been happening since the last move.

All is well =)

Kaenon wrote:

Good news, finally had the third spawn of BN eggs last night. I was getting worries that nothing had been happening since the last move.

All is well =)

Nice to hear!
Sarah

Wow Kaenon you've had quite the interesting set of events with your bns :P
Congrats on your new batch mate. Hopefully all goes well this time. Do you have any current photos of the tank your bns are in? We can offer advice if we can get an idea of the current arrangement and hopefully improve the survival chances of your new batch. How many do you reckon you've got in the cave?