Acara eggs

[Dyl123]

I have 2 electric blue acaras in my 40 gallon community tank, today the female has laid eggs and both of them are taking turns watching over the eggs, I haven’t had any experience with fish breeding so I’m needing advice, I’ve read that the fry will take between 4-7 days to hatch and I am wondering what is the best size tank to move the fry into when they are big enough and when I should do this, also what is the best food to feed them, any other advice is helpful, thanks.

 

[aqua.land]

Hi,
I'm not experienced with hatching and fish breeding, but I know that you can get a breeding box/hatchery.
Hatchery Box
There is an example.
Sorry, I don't know much more, apart from the fact that the small fry may or may not be eaten by the other fish when they hatch.

 

[Dyl123]

Hi,
I'm not experienced with hatching and fish breeding, but I know that you can get a breeding box/hatchery.
Hatchery Box
There is an example.
Sorry, I don't know much more, apart from the fact that the small fry may or may not be eaten by the other fish when they hatch.

Thanks for that, I’ll look into getting one tomorrow

 

[Colin_T]

Don't waste your time with a breeder box or net for cichlids. Just leave the babies with the adults until the young are swimming around the tank on their own. They are usually about 1 inch long at this stage.

Feed the babies on newly hatched brineshrimp and microworms. The following link has info on that.

Back to Basics when Breeding Fish

STARTING OUT Make sure you have a pair, (1 male + 1 female). There is nothing worse than spending your hard-earned dollars buying a couple of fish to try and breed and ending up with a pair of fish of the same sex. Let's face it, to reproduce fish you need a male and a female. Two males won't do...

www.fishforums.net

 

[Dyl123]

Don't waste your time with a breeder box or net for cichlids. Just leave the babies with the adults until the young are swimming around the tank on their own. They are usually about 1 inch long at this stage.

Feed the babies on newly hatched brineshrimp and microworms. The following link has info on that.

Back to Basics when Breeding Fish

STARTING OUT Make sure you have a pair, (1 male + 1 female). There is nothing worse than spending your hard-earned dollars buying a couple of fish to try and breed and ending up with a pair of fish of the same sex. Let's face it, to reproduce fish you need a male and a female. Two males won't do...

www.fishforums.net

Thankyou for this information, will there be problems with fry getting eaten in the community tank, if so is it worth going and getting a new smaller tank to raise them?

 

[Colin_T]

Thankyou for this information, will there be problems with fry getting eaten in the community tank, if so is it worth going and getting a new smaller tank to raise them?

Other fish will eat the fry but that is good because the adults can lay 500+ eggs and you won't sell 500 fish. You only want to keep about 20 young and then you should be able to find homes for them. If you have more than 50 young fish, you will struggle to rehome them.

 

[Dyl123]

Other fish will eat the fry but that is good because the adults can lay 500+ eggs and you won't sell 500 fish. You only want to keep about 20 young and then you should be able to find homes for them. If you have more than 50 young fish, you will struggle to rehome them.

Good point, didn’t think of it like that, thanks again.

 

[Metalhead88]

What other fish are in the tank?

 

[Dyl123]

What other fish are in the tank?

Buenos Aires tetras and Corys

 

[Metalhead88]

Buenos Aires tetras and Corys

Just be careful as breeding pairs can be aggressive. Corries and the tetras don't really understand territories the same way other cichlids do.

 

[Dyl123]

Just be careful as breeding pairs can be aggressive. Corries and the tetras don't really understand territories the same way other cichlids do.

Yeah I’ve read up about that, at the moment the acaras don’t seem aggressive, just taking it in turns looking after the eggs, do you know if it’s likely the acaras will get more aggressive as the fry hatch?

 

[Retired Viking]

I had 8 African Cichlids that I allowed to breed and in no time they took over my 55 gallon tank. I had to move all my other fish due to them being very aggressive. They were fine with the other fish until they started breeding and setting up their territories plus protecting their fry.

 

[Metalhead88]

Yeah I’ve read up about that, at the moment the acaras don’t seem aggressive, just taking it in turns looking after the eggs, do you know if it’s likely the acaras will get more aggressive as the fry hatch?

100% they will.

I haven't had acara breed, but considering their normally peaceful nature, I'd assume that aggression cab possibly be tolerable. Things can go the other way as well.

If you took a breeding pair of an already highly aggressive fish like a red devil, they would kill everything while breeding.

 

[Dyl123]

100% they will.

I haven't had acara breed, but considering their normally peaceful nature, I'd assume that aggression cab possibly be tolerable. Things can go the other way as well.

If you took a breeding pair of an already highly aggressive fish like a red devil, they would kill everything while breeding.

So when possible is it best to move the fry to a separate tank or will the acaras carry on with their aggression?

 

[Metalhead88]

So when possible is it best to move the fry to a separate tank or will the acaras carry on with their aggression?

Do you have the means to properly set up a tank on a momente notice? This is one reason I keep a sponge filter running.

I'd see how things play out and take it from their. It is best to let the parents raise the fry in their tank.

You can pretty much do any combination of things as far as moving eggs, parents, or fry.

I have only had success when no fish are moved.

Once the babies are "fish" and are free to explore on their own, the parents will return to their normal behavior.