Blue Acaras

[Elisabeth83]

Who ever said pairing up cichlids was hard? I haven't had these guys more than 1 1/2 weeks and they have already paired up and spawned. That was quick eh?

A few days ago I woke up to find these laid on a rock

and this morning the fry have hatched

Mom is the one with the orange stripe on her dorsal fin and Dad is the one with the white stripe. I only managed to get one decent shot of him. Mom will take a 1 minute break from the fry yet Dad seems to take his time and have 20 minute breaks.

Since taking the pictures Mom has carefully gathered up all the eggs and made a pit in the sand and there they are all living for the time being until their egg sacs go away. I'm not sure if I'll raise the fry or not. Maybe some but probably not all as I probably wont be able to find shops that will be willing to take them all.

 

[Bloo]

Beautiful mom & dad
What are you going to do with all the beebies ?
Such a shame with fish that breed so easily and prolific - the dilemma of what to do with off spring so lovingly raised

 

[jimbooo]

your LFS may not buy them all off you but if you said here's 50 free fish do you really think they'll say no. i dont think so.

if the price is right they'll buy them.

Edit: sorry how rude of me, lovely pics and beautiful fish

 

[lilfishie]

lovly fish good luck with the babies

 

[lucky62]

those are beautiful .........and babies already ........nice work

 

[Nix]

Wow, very nice lookin blues.

 

[Elisabeth83]

Thanks everyone

The fry are almost free swimming now. Mom and Dad have moved them again into another little pit in the sand. I might try and raise these fry..might as well seeing as I already have BBS going for my Smaragdina fry. I'm most likely going to be adding some type of other fish to the tank though like some Rainbows or Giant Danios so the Acaras can focus on them and not turn their aggressive towards eachother..also they will keep the fry population down seeing as I can't be raising fry every few weeks.

It's fun though and it's always nice to see fry.

edit: Just thought I'd put up another picture. I took this picture yesterday.

 

[Angel Lady]

WoW talking about luck. That would never happen to me. Since I want the babies so bad. They are stunning parents and I hope the fry do ok for you..

 

[Polardbear]

Looks like they've been getting lessons from your swordies and platys. It's a conspiracy to keep you enslaved to them! Your life has become nothing more than one long, constant water change with breaks for hatching brine shrimp and moving fry to fry tanks...oh wait, that's my life.

Congrats on the cool new babies and on your Smaragdina babies as well. I finally did a betta spawn a couple of weeks ago (as well as the endless swordtail fry) so I know how much fun you're having!