Dempseys

[Humbug]

my pair of dempesys have just spawned . The fry are now roughly 2 weeks old they are free swimming withdark bands and are approximately 3-4mm long, they are still guarded by the parents. When should i transfer them to a baby tank?

 

[Humbug]

come on guys someone must have an idea

 

[smb]

You can transfer anytime after they are free swimming.

 

[Humbug]

cheers smb,

now ive got to prise them away from mum and dad. How long do you think i can leave the fry in the big tank with them before they start to eat the them!

 

[thecichlidaddict]

These fish are decent parents, they won't eat the fry. They will take care of them until they are big enough to be considered competitors more then offspring. It would probably be a good idea to remove them at between .5" and 1".

 

[Aienu]

When the fry were about 4 mm I took about 30 of the Jack Dempsey fry and put them in a 5 gallon with an undergravel filter. Bad idea. First off they were being overfed (even though I barely fed them) and they were going underneath the filter and getting trapped. I eventually bought a 10 gallon tank and transferred the surviving 5 into the tank. Since their mouths were so small and I didn't want to pollute the water, I was feeding them freshly hatched brine shrimp and some "small fry food" I had bought from a pet store. 2 weeks after that when I knew the tank was stable (I had NO substrate in the tank, and had to find a box filter) I added another 100 of the fry into the tank. I have since then put them on a ground pellet and flake diet. There are still approximately 200 fry still swimming with the parents. The results are these:

The ones in the separate tank are all about the same size, with the exception of the initial 5 that survived from the start, they are slightly larger. Of the fry that are still with the parents (no, the parents will not eat their young till as stated, they are a threat to themselves) the majority are slightly smaller than the ones separated, with a few GIANT ones. Well to me at least, 2-3 are reaching 1.5" while most in my tank are hitting 3/4". We are finally trying to catch the last of the spawn and moving them to a 60 gallon tank until they're big enough for sales. Have fun catching the babies, bewarned that the parents will probably attack your net