Found African Fry

thanks...i think after this batch she's going to be getting her own tank...i think i got the wife talked into setting up an all female tank...i would like to get a 75 or 90 gal to put the males in (and get a few more to go with them) and use the 55 gal as the female tank...we'll see how it goes. ha ha

 

ain't that the truth...lmao

 

tonight when i gave the fish alittle snack i discovered that the female had spit out all the eggs... she must've been getting harrassed too much or something. we were planning on getting her out of the main tank saturday and putting her in the fry tank. next time we find her holding we'll try to get her out sooner.

 

here's some updated pics of our greshakei/socolofi fry...more like juvies now. there are 6 total ranging in size from 1 1/2in to 2 1/4in. last night we moved the 3 larger of the fry and put them in the main tank...so far they have adapted well.

 

they get that from their dad, but sometimes they'll show more of a rusty color like their mom. can't wait til they're full grown to see which color they'll support most.

 

the blues are very pretty...mamas colors aren't bad either...when she's in breeding colors her dorsal fin will get really bright and more of a firey orange.
here's a good pic of the mom from back in march of this year.

 

chances are high that we could see one of the fry turn out like that...the male greshakei has a blue body and the yellowish orange dorsal fin. we'll just wait and see how they turn out when they get a little older.

 

update:

since the end of august early part of september we moved 4 out of the 6 juvies into the main tank, left the 2 in the fry/holding tank because they aren't growing like the others, about 1/3 to 1/2 the size of the others, also had to put their mother back in with them because she was getting bullied too much by the socolofi. i noticed friday morning when i fed the main tank that one of the juvies wasn't eating...well she's not a juvie anymore...she reached adulthood...that's right she's holding now with this being her first spawn, we (wife & i) are debating on just leaving her in the main tank (55g w/9 other africans & 1 pleco) or putting her in the fry/holding tank(10g) with her mother and put the other 2 juvies in the main tank. any suggestions/advice ?

 

here's a few pics of the "mother to be"

 

thanks dawn.
as far as i can tell, she isn't being bullied yet by the others. chances are latter today when we do the tank maintenance we'll get her out of the main tank and put her in the fry tank, take the 2 runts and put them in the main tank. now by doing it this way, our big concern is that she would be sharing the 10g with her mother (had to take her out of the 55g due to that the dominant male will not leave her alone) who is the dominant female. the question is...would the 2 females get along in such a small tank ? we are looking into getting a larger tank so we'll have one that's all male and one that's all female.

 

took the last 2 juvies out of the fry tank and put them in the main african tank. took a female from main african tank that's holding and put her in the fry tank. rearranged the decor in the fry and main tank. so far it looks like everyone is adapting very well.

 

i was hoping to say that we have more fry...but about 2 weeks ago (when she should've been releasing fry) she had got beat up pretty bad by the other female (which is her mother). all was good until then. found out that the females can be just as mean and nasty as males.

the 2 runt juvies that went into the main tank are doing great, they even chase the bigger ones around.

 

when we first got started with the africans we didn't do any research (took the advise from the lfs so called cichlid expert) and had too many highly aggressive fish which lead to alot of fighting and deaths. the first 6 months we probably spent $150.00 - $200.00 in fish, then i got on-line and found a few good fourms (including this one) and got great advise for people who has first hand experience.
here in a month or so we are going to up grade the main african tank to at least a 75g and keep it all males and make the 55g an all female tank. there's a lfs (about an hours drive away) that has adult africans, that way we'll know for sure the sex of the fish we're getting. i wanted to trade/sell the females but the wife is "attached" to them, she'll keep her fish and i'll get another big tank, win - win for everyone.