Blue Ram Fry

[skimmy290]

I recently had two of my rams spawn in my 55 gallon (tankmates below).
So after the fry doing well for two days, i went out to by some stuff and upon my arrival all the fry had gone missing! I figured another fish or the parents ate it, even though i saw the parents being uber protective over their new fry. The stranger thing than the fry going missing was the fact that the female who had the fry wasn't hanging around with the male she paired with but with the other male that is in the tank. any explanation? is there something i should change to ensure that this won't happen again? thank you =)

 

[jb12288]

cichlids will move their fry to a more covered and secluded space in the tank, usually in a cave or under a bunch of plants to keep their babies from getting eaten. so if in a few days you dont see free swimmers then they ate them or another tank mate did. is this their first spawn.

 

[skimmy290]

cichlids will move their fry to a more covered and secluded space in the tank, usually in a cave or under a bunch of plants to keep their babies from getting eaten. so if in a few days you dont see free swimmers then they ate them or another tank mate did. is this their first spawn.

yeah this is their first time. i don't see any fry ... =/

 

[Athena]

Unfortunately this does happen - the parents go over-the-top with protecting first the eggs, then the newly hatched fry - the tank can be like a war zone at this point in time - and then after a few days of playing "Parents of the Year", they end up eating the fry (the males especially are guilty of this)! Even if they don't eat them all, once the fry are free-swimming, the parents are less protective (if at all) and then other tankmates will target the fry.

Some people who want to rear cichlid fry will remove the fry from the parents from between 3 - 5 days old and put in a fry net/tank. They need to be fed finely crushed flake food (mix this with a little tank water and pour above the fry) or liquid food such as Liquifry because they are too small to tackle normal sized fish food.

Hope that helps!

Athena