At What Age Are Fry Safe/Safer

[gwand]

My Apistogramma cacatuoides fry are now 15 days old. This is the pairs second spawn since acquisition. The parents have been much more protective this time round. I’m feeding them BBS, and the tank is fully mature so the fry have other food items available to them. What are the chances this group will become juveniles? There are no predators in the tank.

 

[GaryE]

In my experience. parent fish begin to prepare the next spawning at anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks. At this point, juveniles will be told to get lost. If they don't, and in a tank they can't, most will be slaughtered to prepare a safe place for new fry. They pose a real threat to the new spawn, and why would they stick around when no longer welcome unless they had a plan to attack the nest?

Apistogramma culture doesn't lead to adult children living in the finished basement.

 

[gwand]

How do you remove the fry from the tank? Turkey baster?

 

[MaloK]

When small, I used standard gravel siphon. If bigger fine mesh net.

Or you can use breeding trap an fry will naturally seek shelter in the trap (My preferred way)

 

[GaryE]

You aren't going to like this....

When I wanted to raise Apisto fry, or if I want to raise my Parananochromis now, I tore down the tank, and removed everyone. Then I would put it back together.

Yup.

They can outrun any turkey baster, or a two net hunting strategy. If I didn't want them all, or didn't want to rescape, I had to accept those left behind would often not survive. I did have survivors in a 55 gallon. But from a brood of 60 unremoved, I might raise 5 or so.

 

[gwand]

Yikes!

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I had a similar problem with Motezuma swords. I had enough plany cover the fry could hide and also escape the parents if they tried to eat them. The fry could outmaeuver the bigger fish when in the plant jungle. But as the first generation got bigger they his a point where they were big enough to eat new fry and small enough to be able to catch them in the mass of plants. I had no good solution except that some fry managed to survive and grow to where they became to big to be food.

I ha a similar issue with a pair of of: "Pseudocrenilabrus nicholsi is a species of cichlid native to the Congo Basin in Africa. As other members of the genus Pseudocrenilabrus, it is a mouthbrooder." I was given a pair so I could observe mouth brooding. The male has to be removed once she is holding as he will never leave the female alone. She raised the first spawn, spit them out and they were cute as heck, Two days later there were no fry in the tank, she ate them all.

The next spawn I induced her to spit the fry out and then the fry stayed behind in the breeding tank and she was removed. I rasied the fry. to where they were too big to be eaten and then returned the parents fon the tanks to which I had removed them. He hounded her immediately and incessantly and ended up killing her. One of their daughters became his new bride. I eventually gave them all away as they serve the prupose of showing me how mouth brooding worked.

The point is that, IMO, the best solution for you is not to remove the fry but to catch and remove the parents. It should be easier to nab two adult fish than a bunch of babies.