Breeding. Are Parents Important ?

[snowflake311]

I have a batch of week old Angel fish I took the dad out of the tank because mom turned on him. SO mom is with the fry and doing great. At night she collects them all and puts them to bed honest to god. She spits them all on in to one area.

I was going to take mom out tomorrow but after seeing her put the fry to sleep I think it is best to wait.

So for you that have bread fish that care for young not Guppies or corys who just spawn and forget. This question is more for the fish that tend to eggs and young well.

What are your thoughts on when to take parents out of fry tank?

 

[helterskelter]

Of course it depends on the fish and even species.

Angels have a tendency to eat the egg and/or fry in the first few times of spawning, as their still learning.
Others get it first time and never have a problem, while other's never learn and eat them every time.

That said i know many people who remove the eggs once layed and place them in a strongly aerated tub, where they hatch and are reared till free swimming. These fry never see the parents and do just fine.
However it's though that these fry may be the ones that tend to produce slightly more fish that dont care for their fry.

 

[snowflake311]

Yeah with Corycats they just spawn and go. the parents don't tend to the eggs so For these fish the parents are not needed. BUT I'm asking more for Cichlids and even Bettas fish that tend to the eggs. I think you will have a better servival rate if the parents care well for the eggs and fry.

 

[kizno1]

I would leave the female in there for as long as you can unless you really want another spawn. One of the people that works at my LFS has a pair and when they breed he moves the male and just leaves the female with them and every few days the female lays a new batch of eggs and forces the babies to eat the eggs. He said he left them with her to see how long she would do it for and she didnt stop doing it until the babies where 2" long. Ive never heard of it happening before but thought it would be quite interesting to see how they behave.

 

[star4]

I have voted 2 weeks, with the convicts and brazilliensis which were fantastic parents the fry started to go missing at around 10 days (parents ready to spawn again) even with just removing the male the female seemed to get fed up after a couple of weeks. Its great watching parent fish care for their young, the cons & brazilliensis always use to gather up the fry for bedtime. I use to switch the lights out then back on as a warning the lights were going out, the fry soon learnt this was bedtime too as went into the cave

 

[snowflake311]

I have voted 2 weeks, with the convicts and brazilliensis which were fantastic parents the fry started to go missing at around 10 days (parents ready to spawn again) even with just removing the male the female seemed to get fed up after a couple of weeks. Its great watching parent fish care for their young, the cons & brazilliensis always use to gather up the fry for bedtime. I use to switch the lights out then back on as a warning the lights were going out, the fry soon learnt this was bedtime too as went into the cave

Thanks for the replays. I was waiting for you to responed Star seeing that you have bred many cichlids. It is too cute when the mom gets the fry ready for bed I love it. I'm going to give mom another week with her babies then back in with dad she goes. Mommy angel makes it very hard to clean the tank because she bites haha.

Has anyone seen a differance in fry growth with and with out parents? maybe a differance in survival rate?