# Holding fish, what do i do?



## Buddy.08 (Apr 26, 2007)

within the last week, i recently set up my 46 gallon bowfront and transfer my 6x estherae to the tank. I also bought 2 demasoni for the tank and soon will be recieving more to help with aggression. both of these damasonis are holding and the other night my male estherae and a selected female have been taking interest in each other. after a few nights of watching them follow each other, she is now holding. So out of a tank with 8 cichlids, 3 of them are holding. i noticed the female estherae having a bulge in her throat yesterday so im assuming i need to watch her for the next 2 weeks. im unsure about the demasonis since i bought them 3 days ago and both were holding.

My question is, since they all are new to the aquarium, do i need to strip them and if so when, or should i let them stay in the tank and see what happens? this is the first time the female estherae has spawned.

on a second note, one of the demasonis throats appear darker now, could this mean the eggs have hatched into fry?


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## bearded lab (Apr 28, 2010)

If you want to save the fry, then you can strip them or let the mother release them into a breeding tank of some kind. If you let them release into the main tank, you might get a few that survive.


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## Buddy.08 (Apr 26, 2007)

whats the worse case scenario if i dont remove them. the fry become a meal? i dont want to cause anymore stress to the fish than i already have when transfered to the new tank, but i assume if theyre spawning, they must not be to stressed. if i were to strip them, i would need to set up a fry tank correct? and if so, how do i go about doing so


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## bearded lab (Apr 28, 2010)

Correct, the worst case scenario is they all get eaten. As far as facilities for the fry, I am not too knowledgeable in this area, but they need to be kept either in a small breeder net, or a breeder box with holes, and then released into the open water of a fry tank once they can swim well. Some people have kept them in a breeder box in the main tank, I believe, but they will get eaten through a net. Other people will hopefully chime in with more advice and techniques.


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## shaguars7 (Apr 12, 2009)

if you want any to surivive you must separate them with something that is more than a breeder net. If you want to set up a fry tank there is a certai process of cycling it and will be alot of work. but is really the only way your going to get any positive results.
you need a small tank and a spnge filter for a fry tank..or a small hob witha sponge on the filter intake..if you have these right now you should start running it on the established aquarium you have...once it has been a week or so you should be good to move it into the new fry tank...what i have done is i have done a water change and filled the new fry tank with the water from established tank and filter i was cycling on the big tank...the water parameters are the same and the filter should be seeded.


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## lil_flame33 (Mar 20, 2010)

You need to seperate them, You can either put the 3 holding moms into a tank until they spit, or leave them in the main tank until day 18, and then strip. If you seperate them and wait until they spit you have to remove the mom within 24 hours or she will eat the babies. You have to keep fry that are more than a couple weeks difference in age apart, because the fry will eat each other. I use breeder boxes, but alot of people say they will get eaten through the mesh.... It hasn't happened to me yet, but.. im 100% sure it can. You can put breeder nets/boxes in the fry tanks to keep the different aged fry apart...

I would seperate the two holding demasoni into breeder boxes...... until they spit, giving you time to get your sponge filter seeded. (run it on the main tank for like 1-2 weeks...) 
then either strip or move them to the new maternity/fry tank. If you strip, put her into the breeder net to recouperate... chances are she hasnt eaten in 2-3 weeks...... once she has her strength back you can release her into the main tank. If you let them hold until they spit they could hold for like 25 days.....

For the estherae, start counting from the day you noticed she was holding, and either strip or move her to a breeder box, on day 18 ish..... not sooner if you want to avoid egg sacks....

a certain big name pet store that starts with a p and ends with a t has some pretty sturdy breeder boxes that have some plastic plants and stuff to hide in, and mesh sides so the water flows pretty well.... also if you put some substrate at the bottom of the breeder box it will make it harder for the adults to suck them through the netting.

Hope thats what you wanted to know, good luck.... and Congrats on the new grandfishies :fish: =D> :fish: =D> ....


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## shaguars7 (Apr 12, 2009)

i have yet to see plder fry eat yung fry although i am sure it happens..i have had 1 month old yellow lab fry maybe even a bit older and put in 18 day old fry as in 18 days of a holding female then stripping her and putting them in a fry tank with the 5 week old fry.. i did it accidentally because when i was putting them into a breeder net in the tank i missed with about 6 of them...after about 4 days the 6 were still fine, so i moved all of them into the tank and took out the breeder net. I did not lose one fry other than a gimpy fish which no matter what i did it would of not made it.


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## Buddy.08 (Apr 26, 2007)

i searched for a breeder box on that big pet stores website, the one that starts with a p and ends with a t... had no luck finding one. new concern, the female estherae that is holding also has signs of stringy white poop. is this due to the fact that she isnt eating or do i have something a little more serious on my hands? i want to recall that *** seen it with her before when i had concerns of bloat but she never showed any other signs (isolation, lack of eating, and swelling...) she still swims around the tank with the other fish and isnt as chill as the demasonis are currently. I think im going to pull the dems out and let them spit on there own since i have no clue when they spawned and just leave the estherae in the tank with the rest of the fish cause her fry arent as wanted as the demasonis :\

when you say sponge filter or hob with a sponge, what do you mean? because i am more than likely to set up a fry tank with the water from the main tank. another question, does this tank require lighting? it will kept in the stand under the 75g so i dont have to look at it as an eye sore.


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## Buddy.08 (Apr 26, 2007)

anyone input or advice on the last post?


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## shaguars7 (Apr 12, 2009)

as for the sponge filter...just google it. hydro sponge filter is a bradn you can google...you can also place a sponge over the intake tube on an hob..that is so the fry dont et sucked up the intake tube. 
Yes it will need somelight.. if it is dark all the time it wont work and they will just die.

I dont know about the red zebra... it could be a parasite, or bloat..not too familiar with diseaes or sickness


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

If she is not eating because she is holding, I would worry less about poop that is not colored. No food in, nothing to pass through.


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## Buddy.08 (Apr 26, 2007)

so im setting up my fry tank tomorrow. I have my sponge filter and a 10 gallon tank to set up for fry. im going to cycle some of the main tank water into the fry tank and begin running the sponge filter with it. do i need to add substrate and a heater to this tank? and when i set it up in the morning, how soon can i strip the fry and put them in the fry tank. also for feeding, can smash up the flakes i feed the adults and feed them to my fry and if so, how often should i feed them?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Buddy.08 said:


> so im setting up my fry tank tomorrow. I have my sponge filter and a 10 gallon tank to set up for fry. im going to cycle some of the main tank water into the fry tank and begin running the sponge filter with it.


There is almost no bacteria in the water. It would work better to run the sponge filter on the established tank for two weeks, and then move it to the fry tank when you strip the fry.



Buddy.08 said:


> do i need to add substrate and a heater to this tank? and when i set it up in the morning, how soon can i strip the fry and put them in the fry tank?


Yes you need a heater, but no substrate is necessary. You need the filter running on the main tank for two weeks to establish the bacteria colony in the filter media. Then set up the fry tank and strip at the same time.



Buddy.08 said:


> also for feeding, can smash up the flakes i feed the adults and feed them to my fry and if so, how often should i feed them?


Yes you can feed fry crushed adult food, feed 3-5 times daily. Tiny amounts because a fish's stomach is the size of it's eye.


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## Buddy.08 (Apr 26, 2007)

what if i dont have 2 weeks to spare? one of the dems has been holding for quite a while, she could spit any day now :[


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

You can put substrate from the established tank in the new tank and/or filter media. Leave it in there for 2 weeks though so the bacteria have time to migrate to the sponge filter.


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## Buddy.08 (Apr 26, 2007)

i have the fry tank up and running... i squeezed the sponge and drizzled water from 4 biowheels over the sponge to absorb the bacteria, i also used a tooth pick and scrapped it along the bio wheels and jabbed it into the sponge filter. the tank has 2 peices of holy rock and water from the main tank the dems came from. i successfully stripped both and have roughly 24 fry and only lost 2 during the whole process. one due to me sloshing one out of the bowl and the other i believe i smashed with holy rock :?

i isolated both females in a nursery tank and after 5 hours of recovery, established them back into the original tank. both are eating and active which is a good sign. can i start feeding the fry now? or should i wait a day or so and as for lighting, how long should i leave the light on?


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