FishieRuffio Posted March 26, 2006 Report Share Posted March 26, 2006 Hi everyone, So, a few weeks ago, I thought one of my cichlid females looked a bit weird, but I didn't think anything of it. Then, yesterday, I was watching them...and I notice a few little fry guys poking around near the bottom! I'm thrilled, and I've got a 5 gal fry tank set-up. BUT (and this is a big "but") I have no idea how to catch them! I've been trying to use a net, siphon them, everything - but nothing seems to work. They dart back into the rocks, which I'm afraid to take out (since the big guys would just eat them without their rock cover, and that would be oh-so traumatic). So, any ideas? I would just leave them in, but if they got eaten, I don't know if I could get to bed at night! Any help at all would be much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunl Posted March 26, 2006 Report Share Posted March 26, 2006 Net the big guys out, and then keep siphoning water until you can catch them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted March 26, 2006 Report Share Posted March 26, 2006 You can use a divider to help you out. Put the adults on one side and then remove the rocks and scoop out the fry. IN my experience with finding fry when i've been cleaning my tank is that the adults dont' seem to ea tthem while my hands are in the tank. I've removed all the rocks and discovered tiny fry and the parents were too busy being scared of me cleaning to pay too much attention to the fry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishBrain Posted March 26, 2006 Report Share Posted March 26, 2006 IN my experience with finding fry when i've been cleaning my tank is that the adults dont' seem to ea tthem while my hands are in the tank. I've removed all the rocks and discovered tiny fry and the parents were too busy being scared of me cleaning to pay too much attention to the fry. I agree. If I need to remove fry I remove all of the rocks and scoop them out without an adult eating any of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishieRuffio Posted March 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2006 Thanks for the help, everyone! I did end up removing some rocks, and managed to rescue three cute little fry. HOWEVER, here's my next question...it looks like another one of my females is holding! Her throat is distended - that's what it looks like, right? Is it a bad idea to move a holding female into the fry tank? I'd like to keep as many of them as possible. Will she eat the three little guys I already have in there? Thanks again for the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
secretlaw Posted March 28, 2006 Report Share Posted March 28, 2006 What kind of female is holding? If it is peacock, I would wait roughly 2 to 3 weeks, then net the female out. Hold her mouth wide open and dump the fry out to another tank. The tank should be empty except water and has a sponge filter running for few weeks before u put the fry in. Of course u need a heater as well. I hope it helps. One more thing, you can put the female back to it's orginal tank after u took all the fry out from her mouth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanker Posted March 29, 2006 Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 The tank should be empty except water and has a sponge filter running for few weeks before u put the fry in. Just to clarify: This sponge filter should be running in another tank for a few weeks, and not in the fry tank (without fish) otherwise there will be nothing there to feed the bacteria and you'll just have a tank of 'dead, dirty water'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishieRuffio Posted March 30, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2006 What kind of female is holding? If it is peacock, I would wait roughly 2 to 3 weeks, then net the female out. Hold her mouth wide open and dump the fry out to another tank. The tank should be empty except water and has a sponge filter running for few weeks before u put the fry in. Of course u need a heater as well.I hope it helps. One more thing, you can put the female back to it's orginal tank after u took all the fry out from her mouth. She's a perlmutt, and not very big (maybe 2-3 inches?). I would estimate she's been holding for about a week and a half now...maybe a bit longer. Also, the four little guys are doing good - I'm feeding them crushed up Veggie Flakes. They are CUTE!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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