# how long can I leave mom with fry?



## hbsweet

Pearl Zebra with her first fry, doing a wonderful job with her babies. I had pulled her from the main tank 3 days ago to a 20 gallon all set up for her. She was relaxed enough to spit that afternoon. Fry look great and are free swimming, but will she consider her fry food for herself after a certain time?


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## Ryan82

Yes, eventually she will eat the fry. I've never moved a female to a fry tank because I don't keep fry, but I've heard that after 2 days or so, she will start to consider them as food.


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## hbsweet

Thanks Ryan I better be moving her this morning>lol


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## RifterFish

It is better not to remove the female from the main tank for any longer then it takes to strip the fry into the fry tank. The main tank might treat her as a new fish and attack her when you put her back in. The longest I keep a female out is a minute or two, just long enough to stip the fry and back in she goes. The only time you might keep a female with her fry are egg layers. Mouthbrooder fry don't need parenting in aquariums. You have to remember that the female doesn't eat for almost a month, so when she spits the babies out she is starving. Little squiggly fry can look appetizing. I don't give the female a chance. After she is stripped and back in the main tank, I feed her. And then I feed the fry first bites.


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## hbsweet

It all worked out well. I went ahead and pulled her from the tank, and stripped her. She would spit the babies and come up for food and I would feed a few flakes to her, she would then go back down and take the babies in her mouth. They were in and out of her mouth many times. Next time I will just strip the female and be done. So I have 13 fry that seem to be doing very well. Thanks for all your help


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## brineshrimp1

My female Jacobfriebergi peacock just had 36 fry!! She has been in the "maternity" tank with them for almost a week; they are all doing very well...she actually seems to be protecting them, and when I feed everyone she is very careful not to get in the way of the fry, infact the fry really didnt know to go to the top for food until the mother did it. (I have been giving them food that sinks, or crushed flakes) I will be moving her tomorrow morning, but I just thought this was an interesting observation. I have read that mouthbrooders can have maternal instincts and "care" for the fry after they are free-swimming, though I might add that i'm really not sure how long it lasts. I'm sure there are factors that affect whether a mother eats her young or not--fear, stress, bad parent, depends on type of fish etc...
There are so many websites about "stripping" the fry, and not much on just leaving them alone.
In my experience not tampering too much is where I have the most success...but again it very much depends on your fish, tank size and other variables.

Thats my two-cents!

K


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## DJRansome

My experience has been that after 24 hours the fry are at risk. I don't strip (too much work), but I do remove the females.


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## Dooner

Do you put the female back in with the male on his side of the tank? He is separated in the same tank now, a 40 gallon breeder. I could leave the fry in the tank on the opposite side Or should I net as many fry as possible and put them in a 10 gallon tank alone?


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## DJRansome

You would never put a male and female together without additional females, and certainly not in a too-small tank. Why not put the male and female back in the main tank?

You could put the fry in the 10G for a month or two but then you will need a bigger tank to raise them to selling size. 20G Long tanks usually work well for fry.


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## Dooner

The male was one of two I removed from the 210 because of aggression issues and female was one of the females I removed as part of the plan to pull my females out as well. I will likely be adding one or two more females as I can catch them.


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## DJRansome

So it is an all-male tank and your parents are a duplicate male and a lone female?

Why wouldn't you rehome them? Do you have a separate 48" tank for 1m:4f to keep these parents?


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