My Firemouth Cichlids Have Had Babies

[methven]

depends on the size of the mom. I would probably say they're ok by themselves w/ the food u mentioned earlier. How big is the mother?

Mother is at least a third smaller than the father.

The fry can just go to the nursery on their own. In one spawning of Vieja sinspilum the male had to be moved away and the female reared the young until I sold them at 1.5". But at the moment, im rearing Cichlasoma bolivense babies alone, so I guess you should make the desision based on whats happening in your tank.
Personally, I prefer to keep the babies seperate.

This weekend I am going to go and get a small nursery tank. When I set my tank up originally I had no intention of breeding fish, nor did i expect them to breed. But to allow them to live as naturally as possible, then I have to respect their breeding patterns and behaviours.

being cichlids though, if your looking for the most survivng fry, it depends on the parents, since cichlids have such personality. Some parents are mediocre parents, and you may lose quite a bit of fry, and some parents are so good, you wot lose any fry. I would probably give the fry their own tank, since the parents aren't working together

A timely comment hobbit - here is an update...

All fry gone.

The big male and the tiger barbs maraud the entire tank. The poor, exhausted mother for whom I feel very sorry rests by the heater and pump extract. The Daddy is a greedy so-and-so, yet he still looks for food fro me. He is in my bad books at the moment. He is still a character.

Thanks for all your advice folks. Am going to prepare myself for the next time it happens!