I have an expecting mother cichlid.
3 posts
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snookfishin85 - Posts: 18
- Joined: Sun May 11, 2008 6:26 am
I have an expecting mother cichlid.
One of my African Ciclids is expecting she's got her eggs in her mouth you can see the bulge under her chin and it is getting bigger by the day. I need to divide my tank but the problem is that I have a 75 gallon tank and can't find dividers any where for one. And I don't want to set up a smaller tank and intorduce and reintroduce and risk the fry getting sucked into the filter. So any way I need some ideas on making a temperary divider for the tank. I desperatly need ideas
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gumbii - Posts: 1695
- Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 3:31 am
egg crate will work to seperate the female...
unless you are prepared to breed, there's no way getting around it... you have to setup another smaller tank...
unless you are prepared to breed, there's no way getting around it... you have to setup another smaller tank...
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miami754 - Posts: 373
- Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2008 9:18 am
I used to worry about separating the female and everything, but I have since learned otherwise. I now just let my African females spit out in the tank. If you have enough rock work, she will be able to hide (the males usually only bother her for a couple of days anyways) and the fry will hide when they are spit out as well. I don't use a divider or anything - just the caves and rockwork. Now, I have alot so that helps, but it can work even when you don't have quite as much as mine. You will be amazed at how many fry survive. My first batch only yielded a couple, but ever since then, I have had tons of fry in my tank. They live under rocks or in rubble and just crush up flakes and sprinkle them in the tank. They will dart out and get them. Once they are big enough to not get eaten then they will swim out.
Now, there are two instances when I do separate the female:
(1) SOmetimes the females can't control themselves. They will hold for 4-5 weeks (without eating of course) then go a couple of weeks and then be holding again. You can see how this would eventually lead to starvation. So, if I have a female that did not get back to full strength before holding again, I will move her to her own tank so I can feed her and let her gain her strength before she holds again.
(2) If I have omnivore cichlids in the tank that will eat the fry.
Anyway, that is my two cents. You will of course get a better success rate if you separate the fry and everything, but most Africans mate so much that your main tank will be over run in no time anyways. If you do just leave her in the main tank, I would recommend taking some rock and hitting it with a hammer to break it into 1-2" peices. Then create a pile of rubble in the back (so it doesn't effect the look of your tank). They fry will love to hide out in it because the bigger fish can't get there. Also, they like to hide underneath flat rocks where there are little caves formed beneath the bottom of the rock and the substrate. It is realy cool to watch them hide down there and then dart out for food.
Now, there are two instances when I do separate the female:
(1) SOmetimes the females can't control themselves. They will hold for 4-5 weeks (without eating of course) then go a couple of weeks and then be holding again. You can see how this would eventually lead to starvation. So, if I have a female that did not get back to full strength before holding again, I will move her to her own tank so I can feed her and let her gain her strength before she holds again.
(2) If I have omnivore cichlids in the tank that will eat the fry.
Anyway, that is my two cents. You will of course get a better success rate if you separate the fry and everything, but most Africans mate so much that your main tank will be over run in no time anyways. If you do just leave her in the main tank, I would recommend taking some rock and hitting it with a hammer to break it into 1-2" peices. Then create a pile of rubble in the back (so it doesn't effect the look of your tank). They fry will love to hide out in it because the bigger fish can't get there. Also, they like to hide underneath flat rocks where there are little caves formed beneath the bottom of the rock and the substrate. It is realy cool to watch them hide down there and then dart out for food.