Thanks a lot, currently they are in a plastic breeding contraption that is a pretty nice one it cycles the tank water through the bottom and it is closed off so they cannot escape and the adults cannot suck them out. However, they probably will need a larger contraption/seperate tank to allow them to grow bigger I was just planning on keeping them seperated until they were about an inch 1/2 or until they seem bigger and faster so they can fend for themselves? I have plentyy of rocks in the main tank.. no plants though =/
I wish they made some kind of huge isolation tank (such as a 5-10 gal) that could float in my main tank because my main tank is so well cycled and leveled right I would hate to get a new tank and see the babies die =[
It will take a couple of months for the to reach 1.5", at least it always did with mine. A larger (around 10gal) tank and frequent water changes (a couple a week) will speed that up a little, but like I said, labs are slow growers.
If you run a sponge filter (they're best for fry because the fry can't get sucked into the filter) on your main tank for a couple of weeks the fry tank will be instantly cycled (called cloning). And with small fry and frequent water changes, there's little to no chance of a mini-cycle.
As for feeding, I usually just crush up whatever I feed the adults, just be sure to add small amounts to avoid fouling the water. You can also hatch some baby brine shrimp if you feel like it, that labs will LOVE you for that.
Here's a great link on raising fry:
<a href="http
/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/raising_fry.php" target="_blank">http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/raising_fry.php</a>
