I bury mine a little in the substrate to make semi circle cave
Becks.

Woo, you may have babies yet! Fingers crossed Backs x
I succumbed last night and had another peek in the coconut cave.... can't see any tails in those eggs but they are sooo small! Looks like she has made a large dent in the gravel inside the cave to move them to, I was expecting her to move them to somewhere completely different but she has obviously decided that the mini tree cave and the flower pot are not worthy of her babies She is so funny when I pick the cave up, she swims round and round where the cave should be until i replace it! Such a loving mum

I HAVE WRIGGLERS! omg I am so excited..... I wondered why Spot was suddenly happy to spend more time outside the cave.... I am dying for them to become free swimming!
Now, what I need to know, is when is the best time to move them into a grow out tank??

When either the are really big, they are wandering very far away from the paretns, to the pint of the parents not careing for them, or when they parents show signs of breeding again( they'll eat the current babies if you allow them to lay again).

Thanks!

My Pleasure.

O.M.G. THEY ARE SWIMMING!!!!!!! Mum and dad have taken then to a nasty plastic plant pot on its side, i went in there to replace it with a nice terracotta one I just bought them and they are all in there! And there are looooads! Can't even begin to count right now. I am SO happy! here is a pic!

Fantastic, they are sooooo cute!!
Mine are wriggling, but not yet free swimming, so fingers crossed
Becks.

ooh, any day now Becks!

Here's another pic. Shame I can't get Spot into focus.....

Wow there's tonnes!

There are more, some at the bottom of the pic were really blurred cos I made a fingerprint on my lens in my excitement! So i cropped the pic I reckon there are at least 40, husband reckons it is 50 or 60!

Wow, very nice! Spot is still very pretty, cant wait for the babies to color up, they'll be gorgeous!

Thank you! Spot is stunning nowadays, she has been such a vibrant colour since laying her eggs I will be posting more pics of the fry over the next week or so!

Is it normal for the parents to be fighting a bit? Dad keeps shoving Mum out of the way, and in turn she dives at him. they don't seem to be hurting each other... its just like they both want to be the primary care giver for the fry!

Then i would suggest removing the male, befroe war beaks out.

Things have calmed temporarily, will decide in the morning... see how they are together then!
If I moved him to my 4ft with my other female, would he be likely to breed with her too? Or are they a strictly one woman fish?

He'd breed with her. Well, he should, they will breed with one female and usually apir for life, but if you were to seperate him and put him with another female, he'd most likely breed with her aswell.

Hmmm I may move him into my 4ft for a while then, any babies he makes there will likely be eaten by the tank inhabitants and it will keep him out of Spot's way for a while! Then when the babies are all grown and sold, I can move him back in for round 2!
Approximately how old do the babies need to be before going to the LFS? I know it will depend on how fast they grow etc, but can you give me some idea of timescale?

2 to 2 1/2 months if feed nothing but BBS, and when able to eat flakes, Spirulina( Spirulina is optional, but is very good for colors, and helps immune system, which means less disease chacne, more energy growiong instead of fighting off a diease). Most retailers will but at 1 1/2 inch mark, others at 1 inch, or 2 inches and above.