HELP!

[ac3mya]

I have a castle w/ cave in the middle of the tank. One of our cichlids started hiding out in cave, coming out rarely. Usually only to eat. Tonight I decided to lift the castle to see if the cichlid was dead and found 1 baby about the size of the zero at the top of the keyboard. I scooped him out with the brine shrimp net and now have him sitting in it at the top of the tank. I am not sure of the species other than African. The suspected mother is an albino.
What should I do now? Do I keep him seperate? Should I buy a fry tank? Might there be more fry? Whatever you can tell me will help greatly. Thank you in advance!

 

[Ferris]

I would certainly keep the little guy seperated from the other fish. Whilst the mother will probably try and protect him/her the other cichlids would undoubtedly see it as a meal. Fry tank, tank divider or some way of keeping the new arrival seperated would be advisable, at least until he/she has grown a bit and can hold their own in the main tank.

If you can, a couple of pics would be great. Good luck!

 

[loafybones]

I say put the little-un back where he was, baby cichlids are good at hiding. I discovered one in my tank and was VERY surprised, I think he had been hiding in a hole in one of the rocks or something. he was only tiny when I first spotted him but he's been in there a good few weeks now and has grwn loads!

 

[bodasafa]

i have had my labs and my hap. insignis spawn off a couple of times and i never even knew it the fry with the labs are mouth brood for a while and then sent on there own to hide where the big guys can get them (if you have good rocky places for them to hide) and you will see them bolt out every now and then for a quick bit to eat. sooner or later they will grow big enough to join the others and wala you have more fish in your tank.

 

[petey Z]

either get a net breeder to hold the young fry or keep it with the mother. the mother will most likley protect it very well.

 

[MNfishy]

when my yellow lab had babies, i didnt notice untill i saw a little yellow blob moving around, so if you have good enough cover, i think he'll do fine, but im sure getting him seperated from other fish is better, i just couldnt catch mine

 

[ac3mya]

Thank you for the advise. I did buy the breeder net and moved baby and mother in it. Now this morning I noticed about 6-8 new fry. They are 1/2 the size as the first one I found. Do you think this could be 2 seperate batches?
Thanks again!