# why are my jewels behaving badly?



## kfenk (Jun 13, 2009)

:-? everything was doing so well until tonight. this morning i woke up to find eggs in my tank. not where i was expecting either. the male had spent more time under the sponge filter while the female near the heater. the eggs ended up on a rock near the heater. this morning i watched them switch between fanning the eggs like normal, no strange behavior. any ways things were fine all day (i think, i was at work) then tonight out of nowhere they started attacking eachother. i think she just wanted to get back to her eggs after she had her say but he wouldnt leave her alone. the male was really hammering her bad, now shes hiding under the filter. does this mean hes not happy with the eggs or hes just showing whos boss. i did notice that when i got home he wasnt really colored up much and spending more time swimming around the other side of the tank. sorry bout the long post but thats about all of it


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## Randall (Jul 2, 2003)

Hello kfenk,

From your post, it doesn't seem like you have a very compatible pair of Hemichromis sp. Normally, the female tends to the eggs, much of the time, while the male defends the surrounding territory. If your pair continue to attack each other, you may want to remove the dominant aggressor and leave the remaining parent in peace with the clutch.

Good luck!

Randall Kohn


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## kfenk (Jun 13, 2009)

i dont know what happened but things are all fine now. the fry have hatched, mum spends alot of time with the wigglers, dad spends whole time patrolling the tank. he will once in a while watch the babies while she darts about the tank for a whole of 5 second before going back to her little ones. fingers crossed things will stay as is. any way whens the best time time to start water changes and how much, how often? conditioned tap water fine or would water from my community tank be best?


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## Randall (Jul 2, 2003)

Hello kfenk,

Congrats on the fry.

Hemichromis fry are at their most vulnerable for the first two weeks after they are free-swimming. It's important to feed them several times daily with a powdered food suspended in water. I mix up the solution and squirt the "milk" into the shoal five times daily. After two weeks, the fry are usually large enough to injest other foods.

As for water changes, conditioned tap water is fine. I've had success changing about 10% of the water starting on week two post free-swimming stage. After four weeks, you can change a larger volume.

Good luck!

Randall Kohn


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## kfenk (Jun 13, 2009)

i dont think feeding will be a problem, i have wardley essential small fry and iv ordered some brine shrimp eggs (decapsulated, cant be too careful). so once fry are free swimming start water changes? how long does it take before parents want to breed again? i dont want them to turn on the babies before i can get them out. id prefer the parents to do the parenting rather than move the fry too soon, im still only a noob lol


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## Randall (Jul 2, 2003)

If the fry are not free-swimming yet, it's best to perform a partial water change now rather than later. After the fry are up and about, you should leave them alone for the first week before resuming very small (10%) water changes.

Typically, parental care lasts from 4-6 weeks. In my experience, however, up to eight weeks is not uncommon, depending on the parents. You'll know when your pair are preparing to spawn again and can remove the fry or parents to separate quarters at that time.

Randall Kohn


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