spit while moving

[neely]

i had an Electric Blue II (Sciaenochromis fryeri) that was holding... until today. she had been holding for about 2.5 weeks and when i went to move her today into the 10 gal nursery, she spat. the fry were pretty small and still had large egg sacks unable to swim well on their own. She eventually just ate them (it was her first time). Is there anything that i could do in the future to avoid this? if you end up with fry in this state, can you raise then yourself?

[Vallisneria]

Sometimes females will spit the fry if you net them and remove them from the water. I have found that its better to net them and transfer them into a container(under water) and then remove them from the tank. That way they are never out of the water and usually donèt spit.

At 2.5 weeks the fry are old enough and should do ok even though they still had egg sacks. People sometimes strip their females at that age.

[African_Fever]

I often use a bare tank with fry that age since they can easily get lost in gravel or injure their yolk sacs on any rough edges that may be in the sand. Not too much different than raising older fry, you just don't have to feed until they've used up the yold sac!

Sc. fryeri are generally electric blues, with Cop. azureus being the electric blue II (or even sometimes Mel. cyaneorhabdos).

[neely]

i do transfer all my females in containers under water. So the fry will survive if all they do is just lay on the bottom of the tank?

[African_Fever]

They wiggle around a bit and bounce off the bottom. I used to always strip at 14 days (before I knew any better) with no ill results.

Best luck next time!