Help! Unexpected Cichlid Fry In Community Tank!

[melknee]

I took over my sisters tank about 5 months ago because she was moving out of state and didn't want to go through the hassle of moving the entire set up a long distance and risk stressing out the fish. At the time she had two immature cichlids which she was told were Green Terrors. The set up is a 65 gal, deep bow front corner tank, there are rocks and potted plants, a ground filtration system, heater and filter, and a light on a 14 hr timed light cycle. I wish i could be more detailed about the exact specification but that is the extent of my knowledge. I know the ph level is at about 7.2 and the temp is kept constant at around 82 F.
 
When I took over the tank I added a pleco and was told melon barbs would be safe with the cichlids in a group of three by a local aquarium store so I added tree melon barbs as well. Almost immediately 2 of the melon barbs were attacked and I put them in a separate small tank hoping they would get better and heal but they ended up dying. There is one melon barb left and for some reason he seems never to be injured and has in fact fattened up, however he's still no where the size of the cichlids.
 
 I noticed one day that the two cichlids were doing some weird kind of dance and thought it was territorial because at the end the big one would chase the other one away, but I looked more into it hoping research would help me save the one cichild from being attacked, and from that I kind of gathered that they weren't green terrors but Jack Dempseys and they were mating and not really fighting. I did see some eggs but what I saw had turned white and I read that meant they were unfertilized, so when I checked three days later and found a large fry in the tank I was pretty surprised. Now Im concerned for how to care for the little guys! The mom, or at least what I think is the mom, is the biggest most dominant fish in the tank and she is hovering over the fry and attacking the other cichlid, the barb, and the pleco if they even look her way. She seems to be caring for them really well but im still worried about the other fish and eventually what she will do to them. I don't know how I would remove the fry, my second tank is not big enough for the male dempsey the barb and the pleco, Im not sure if the food im giving them is okay, and over all i could just use some advice.  Is there a mcgyver way to divide the tank? Is crushed up flake and cichlid pellets legitimate food for them? if not any suggestions? Should I turn off the groung filter? Will they get sucked up in the regular filter? is the father a threat? is the barb and pleco a threat? I think I could give the barb and pleco to one of my friends for the meantime but the male cichlid would terrorize his tank I think, is this a good idea or necessary? Any advice would be much appreciated.
 
I tried to post a video as an attachment but it was too big so i put a link to you tube so you can see it
http/youtu.be/MO-YMZTOh6c .
It is of the female(at least it seems like the mom to me) and the fry, hopefully you can confirm whether it is a jack dempsey or not. In the video she is really black, but she changes colors alot generally a lighter color green/blue. If you find the video unhelpful just ask and i can take more pictures/videos
 
 
Thanks for your advice ahead of time!

 

[Khalil]

Congratulations! Having baby fish can be so exciting! Well the first thing I would do is remove the barb from the tank, since cichlids can be extremely aggressive when guarding their young. The pleco might be all right, just keep an eye on it to make sure its not getting harassed. It does appear to be a Jack Dempsey from the video. It is a little hard to tell though so I'm not 100% on that. I wouldn't be too concerned about losing the young having too many is probably more of a concern lol for my baby cichlids I just crush up flakes so that they're small enough for them to eat. As far as type of flakes I fed them a mix of just regular flakes and also specialty flakes designed for new fish as well as young fish. I also feed my babies spinach every now and then. I have heard it is best to boil it first that way it is easier to eat but I just break it up into little pieces and put it in raw. The babies as they get older will also graze a lot on the algae in your tank and since its been set up at least 5 months you should be good on algae supply.
I wouldn't try to turn off any filters, the mother will generally keep them confined to a specific area of the tank and it would appear that the corner they are in is pretty safe. I would be more concerned about keeping the quality of the water up, so that's why I would leave the filters running. All in all you should have a really good survival rate if you only have the two cichlids and a pleco in the tank!

 

[DrRob]

Looks like a JD to me. Would help to have a better shot and a shot of the male, but I'd say JD.
 
If you want the best possible survival rate then you want just the parents in the tank. Plecs will probably be OK (now that it hasn't eaten the eggs) but the parents may still have a go at it.
 
I suspect that the barb will do badly, as it won't be able to help itself about seeing the fry as a foodstuff and the parents are likely to take exception to that.

 

[melknee]

taking your advice and placing the melon barb in a new home, im still worried about the papa though, the momma is really chasing him around,  havent seen her take any significant nips yet but still worried, should i look for a place for him too?


here is a pic of  all the fish except the pleco. the male is up front, the female is lurking in the bottom back and the barb is up top.
 
http/i1312.photobucket.com/albums/t521/tur4003/photo_zpsb9a9fe58.jpg
 
I can't really get a good pic of the female because she is confined to the back corner with the fry and only comes up front to chase the other fish but when she changes coloration she has the exact same pallete and features as the male, in fact a week ago the male was that black and the female was more colorful. 

 

[Khalil]

Yes it certainly does appear to be a Jack Dempsey, as far as the father is concerned you might need to rehome him temporarily as long as you have a large enough tank for him. A 65 gallon should have enough space though I would think, I would recommend adding more caves in the tank at some point. Since you will be having more JDs, they tend to be territorial. Not as bad as African cichlids but they still need their caves and hiding spots. In general you should have at least one cave/hiding spot if not more per cichlid. 
Oh also, forgot to mention. The males tend to turn a darker color almostr black sometimes when mating.

 

[melknee]

Thanks for all the advice.  
 
What should I do about changing the water?  I was told that I need to start changing the water 50% almost daily once the little ones start to develop side fins (approx 5 days from now I was told).  Is this accurate?

 

[DrRob]

Depends a lot on the tank that they're in.
 
In small, growing on tanks, yes, if they're still in the community tank then no, I'd not bother.