How Long Can I Leave The Fry With Parents

[pirate monkey]

I am just wondering at what point I should separate the fry from the parents?

Are there any signs to look out for, with regards to the parents behaviour?

For instance, would the fry be safe until the parents spawn again?

I think they are just over 4 weeks old (I forgot when they hatched )

 

[pirate monkey]

Can anyone offer advice on this?

FYI cutteri are from the same family as convicts, sajica etc so if you have any experience of breeding these (or NW cichlids in general) that would be helpful for me.

The male looks like he is starting to harass the female a little, so I would like to know the best course of action.

 

[minxfishy]

Once the fry are free swimming and eating, you can move them to a grow out tank if you like, generally speaking they are usually pretty safe with their parents until they decide to spawn again, which can be a different time frame for different species, once they do spawn again, they can see their 1st spawn a danger to the eggs/new fry.

The male is likely to want to spawn again earlier than the female, but with fry still around, she will probably hold out and there is often a danger the male will harrass the female constantly to try to get her ready, usually chasing, nipping anal fins etc.

Different species I know, but my male Thorichthys Aureus harrassed the female to death (within hours) as she refused to spawn again at around 4 weeks after fry were free swimming. Sometimes it helps to remove the male rather than the fry, to give the female a break, then once they fry are removed to a grow out tank, to re-introduce the male.

Hope that helps a little.