ok my story in a nutshell, a month ago 100+++++ babies, 5 africans was in the tank aswell, didnt get them out cos the parents were very good at looking after their fry! the next morn, 50+, the next 25+ then 0 
they had all been eaten. so i puckered up and found more eggs last week, this time i was on a mission to fish out the other fish in the tank, which i did very carefully, making sure non of the cichlid eggs fell out of the shell. All was well, got them all out and re-stocked my tank with my rocks ONLY to find 2 which i missed - so i thought i would leave them 2 v 2 is more equal, but this morn i noticed the babies free swimming but in the shell. so i HAD to get these 2 other fish out, i had to carefully take out the rocks once again, but i also had to tip the babies out of the shell into a breeding box so i didnt tangle them in the net. This went well i got the majority of them. The parents looked a bit lost - so i decided to tip the babies back into the tank, the loving parents found their fry, and started spittling them back into the shells now they are happy as larry. But 1 thing that concerns me is the filter! will it not suck up the fry once they start to explore, its nothing powerful, just a small standard filter that came with the tank which is 2ft wide.
Sorry to go on - i look forward to your replies.
p.s anything else i should do?, i really wanna raise this lot of fry.
they had all been eaten. so i puckered up and found more eggs last week, this time i was on a mission to fish out the other fish in the tank, which i did very carefully, making sure non of the cichlid eggs fell out of the shell. All was well, got them all out and re-stocked my tank with my rocks ONLY to find 2 which i missed - so i thought i would leave them 2 v 2 is more equal, but this morn i noticed the babies free swimming but in the shell. so i HAD to get these 2 other fish out, i had to carefully take out the rocks once again, but i also had to tip the babies out of the shell into a breeding box so i didnt tangle them in the net. This went well i got the majority of them. The parents looked a bit lost - so i decided to tip the babies back into the tank, the loving parents found their fry, and started spittling them back into the shells now they are happy as larry. But 1 thing that concerns me is the filter! will it not suck up the fry once they start to explore, its nothing powerful, just a small standard filter that came with the tank which is 2ft wide. Sorry to go on
- i look forward to your replies.p.s anything else i should do?, i really wanna raise this lot of fry.
