# Jewel cichlid spawn



## greggb (Feb 4, 2010)

Hey all. My jewels have just spawned for the second time since I've had them. The first time I wasn't ready for them (kind of a long story) and had to move them out of the tank they were in to another. This time they're in a tank all by themselves that is suitable for spawning.

So now I'm thinking I better start getting ready for a bunch of baby fish.

First question: do unfertilized eggs remain white? I was just curious how many of the eggs are fertile and how many aren't. All of the eggs I can see are more of a yellow color.

And from what I've read I'm going to want to have another tank to move either the adults or fry to at some point in the near future. Would a 29 gallon be a good choice? I found a few on Craig's list for a reasonable price that come fish and all. I figure this would eliminate the need for cycling if I went about moving the tank correctly.

I have another issue. The overhead filter died on me a few days ago (I assume a few days ago). I didn't notice until today. I have a bubble stone in the tank so the water stayed aerated, but the filter element dried out completely. I'm getting ready to head to my office to replace it (I was able to get it started again earlier by nudging the blades with my finger) and test the nitrogen levels. I'm thinking that if the ammonia level or nitrite levels are up I'll have to do a water change to bring them down. I'm hoping that doesn't screw up the spawn, but I guess that at this point the health of the adults should be top priority.

Any tips on how to go about cleaning things up without disturbing the spawn?

It might sound kind of irresponsible that I didn't keep a closer eye on things, so I just want to add that I messed up my back a few weeks ago and haven't been able to spend much time at my office where the fish are.

Thanks,
Gregg


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## Comic Sans (Apr 21, 2009)

Hi Gregg,

To answer your first question, unfertilized eggs do usually turn white, and the parents will usually keep an eye and pick off and eat the dead ones, so odds are any eggs you see are doing ok.

Second question, if I recall, the parents are currently in a 29g correct? Well then it all depends on if you want baby fish! I think if you left them in with the parents, in the end you might be able to expect a small handful surviving to the point of possibly being able to evade the parents when they spawn again (like maybe 4 little guys). A 29g would be great for raising the fry is you plan on rising and rehoming them. Often stronger fry will kill the weaker, so consider having a divider on hand to split the tank into the A team and the B team.

I would NOT advise taking a "fish and all" tank from craigslist, rehoming the inhabitants and moving in fry. 1) there's no telling what ****, diseases, parasites are in there, 2) the water parameters will be different and 3) fry are usually very sensitive to water changes. If it were me, I'd get a tank, sterilize it, cycle it and move the parents in, leaving the fry int he tank they hatched in. I know thats not a desireable solution, but it would be best for all involved.

As for the last question, testing the water is always the best place to start, and will give you an idea of how much has to be done. As far as trying to avoid disturbing the fry, I would do a series of very small water changes (for a 29, say, one 2.5g bucket every few hours, maybe 4 or 5 times in a day) until the parameters get in line.

Good luck with the fish and your back!


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## greggb (Feb 4, 2010)

Comic Sans said:


> Hi Gregg,
> 
> To answer your first question, unfertilized eggs do usually turn white, and the parents will usually keep an eye and pick off and eat the dead ones, so odds are any eggs you see are doing ok.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the great response! Yeah, my back is doing way better and I'm going to have a 100% full recovery as far as that goes.

I had thought about diseases in a new tank. Maybe I've just been lucky up to this point, but I haven't had any problems with fish diseases. Truthfully I haven't been as careful as most of the people here seem to be with regard to diseases. I'm guessing they've had an incident or two, and I imagine I will one of these days. But anyhow, that sounds like good advice and I suppose I ought to follow it.

I checked tonight and the eggs have hatched. They're inside of a plastic stump towards the back of the tank so I couldn't get a great look at them. I could see little quivering eyeballs. I actually hatched wild catfish eggs (bullhead or channelcat... wasn't sure which) one time before, and the baby jewels look quite a bit like those. I imagine that's what most baby fish look like when they're a day or two old.

I've read a lot of articles about jewel cichlids, and in one a person had mentioned that her jewels spawned about every two to three weeks after hatching fry (while still caring for the fry), and allowed the fry to eat the eggs. Her theory was that this was to provide food for the fry. I'm kind of curious to see if that will happen. My jewels seem to be little spawning machines, and they're still only about 2.5".

I wasn't really planning on starting a jewel hatchery. You probably remember me mentioning that the LFS told me they were a type of peacock, which is why I bought them? Anyway, I don't think there's a huge market for jewels in my area. They don't mix well with other fish, which means that if a person is going to keep them they're going to have to know what they're doing and probably set up a species tank for them. I'd probably end up giving a lot of them away to people who don't know what they're doing (and aren't willing to make an effort to learn about them), which I don't feel real good about.

I know some people here frown on the idea of letting nature have its way, and I know that a 29 gallon rectangular tank doesn't equate to nature, but I might just let them sort it out. I'll plan on removing fish if there get to be too many for the tank, or if the conditions get to be inhumane. I could deal with a handful after each spawn, but 50 or 100 (I'm not sure how many you could expect if you made an effort to keep them all alive) would just be too many.

I'm curious, how do you deal with the spawns of your jewels? I'd think you'd have a lot of fish to be raising and finding homes for if even half of the fry survived, given the way these fish spawn.

Thanks again for the well-thought response.
Gregg


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## Comic Sans (Apr 21, 2009)

Well, they don't have the reputation of "convicts of the Westies" for nothing!

You won't find me on the side of preserving every fry. In fact I was prepared to suggest that you have a great little factory for disease-free feeders! Unfortunately, I am not sure if feeding peacocks the fry would be a wise idea. Just bear in mind that they grow fast, so (if) the numbers in the tank continue to grow, the water quality could quickly degrade.

I understand your hesitance to sell the fry back to the LFS's in your area. I'd only add that, like Convicts, Jewels can do quite well in tanks with larger american cichlids. As you know they are scrappy enough to hold their own, and in such a tank fry don't stick around long. Of course these tanks are the minority, and if you don't think there is a market there probably isn't. You could always try listing them on craigslist, that would filter the amount of people interested, and might at least get a few off your hands.

A third option, and this is closest to what I suspect is occurring in my tank (I see all the spawning behaviour, and none of the eggs), is to get a small catfish. You have to be super careful, because a 29 isn't enough for most species, but they are nocturnal fish who will take the eggs i the sleeping parents give an inch. I also had Tiger Barbs (with salvini, not jewels) who were pretty ruthless egg eaters. To be honest I'm not sure I'd go either of these ways again (my BN pleco poops like what), but they are certainly effective egg controllers.

Hope that helps! I wish my jewels would protect their eggs and start following yours' lead!


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## greggb (Feb 4, 2010)

Comic Sans said:


> Well, they don't have the reputation of "convicts of the Westies" for nothing!
> 
> You won't find me on the side of preserving every fry. In fact I was prepared to suggest that you have a great little factory for disease-free feeders! Unfortunately, I am not sure if feeding peacocks the fry would be a wise idea. Just bear in mind that they grow fast, so (if) the numbers in the tank continue to grow, the water quality could quickly degrade.
> 
> ...


A fourth option is to place the most desireable spawning place in the tank near the filter. This was an honest mistake on my part. Today I watched 4 or 5 fry get sucked in a pretty short period of time. So, I turned the filter down to as low as it would go. I really don't want to see them going that way.

Today the fry were free-swimming. It's really cool to watch the whole scene. First I saw the parents pulling brown algae off the back of the tank and spitting it out for the fry. Then I watched the parents picking the fry up and spitting them back into the nest. The adults certainly have a full-time job taking care of the fry.

I kind of got the impression that the fry were unable to eat just by watching their behavior. They didn't go after any of the food the adults got for them. I saw the same thing when my catfish spawned; they swam around aimlessly for the first few days until they finally started eating.

Anyhow, I really enjoyed watching them today.


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## Comic Sans (Apr 21, 2009)

Cool!

Yes, filters can be an issue...but that can be solved by putting some nylon or sponge over the intake. You never know, depending on your filter type you may still have live fry in your filter!

My understanding is that for the first few days of freeswimming, the fry are still living off the very last of their yolk sac, so it makes sense that they wouldn't be eating. Sill fun to watch!


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