LFS, Firemouth Pair

[Circus]

My lfs had two more of their firemouths pair off and breed. Here is the pic I caught of them. This is the 2nd pair so far from that shipment, the first was sold as a breeding pair and the customer also got all of the fry.

 

[Colin_T]

Are you going to buy that pair?
If yes, leave them at the shop until the babies have started swimming off on their own, then take the adults.

 

[Circus]

Not going to buy them myself, as I don't have tank for them to be on their own. I thought it was cool that even under stressful conditions they were able to produce fry. I haven't seen fish have fry at a pet store excepting livebearers.

 

[Colin_T]

It's probably a good shop if they have fish breeding. We had fish breeding at the shop all the time. Baby tetras were popping up in all the plant tanks. Bristlenose were pumping out babies in every tank we kept them in. Half the cichlids in the shop would breed when mature and we were constantly removing the other fish from tanks if a rare fish bred or if the fish were real agro. We even had Cories and goldfish breeding.

We got in a bunch of adult bronze Corydoras that had just been released from quarantine. We put them in a shop tank and the following day the entire tank was covered in eggs. There were thousands of eggs all over the glass. We took the adults out and left them to hatch. Three months later we were selling the babies.

We got in some adult goldfish from a supplier over east. They were in his outside ponds. We put them in the coldwater section of the shop but the water was about 10C warmer than outside. A couple of days later the tanks were milky cloudy and there was a layer of eggs on the bottom of every tank.

 

[Circus]

Since almost all of my tanks are community, I don't get to see fry very often. Any eggs are usually eaten shortly after I notice them, and I have only seen fry from my chromides twice, and eggs four times. It always ends badly for those two. Maybe they'll figure it out eventually.

I might consider keeping a breeding pair of small cichlids in a 29 gallon, and see if I actually like raising fry rather than just admiring the looks and behavior of my fish.

 

[Colin_T]

If you have orange chromides, you should put them in the 29 gallon and try to produce lots of them. They are lovely little fish and endangered in the wild. So aquarium bred fish are needed.

 

[Circus]

I have a breeding pair in a 29 right now, actually, but with the other chromides in there the fry get eaten. After taking the others out, the pair are too nervous. I might try putting one other chromide in with them and see how it goes. Or try putting them in a 10 gallon and see if they will breed there.

 

[Sunnyspots]

I've bee wondering what people do with their fry if they don't have space to keep them as they grow?

 

[Circus]

If I don't have the space for fey, I will usually ask my lfs if they will take them. Usually the answer is yes, at least for all my guppy fry.