# Jewel Cichlid Fry



## Voodoo (May 6, 2009)

Hi there,

I have a 30l Biorb, which I kept 2 Jewel Cichlids in. Unfortunately due to their aggressiveness they killed all the other fish in the tank. After that the decision was made to rehome them into a tank my friend was setting up for cichlids.

A few days after a few days of the parents being removed we noticed several small things moving round in the bottom of the "empty" tank. On closer inspection we noticed they were actually cichlid fry!

Now about a week after the parents were removed we have about 50-60 fry swimming round the tank.

So my question is, will they be okay without their parents in the tank? and whats the best thing to feed them? I've read on another site that they eat part of the egg sacks in the first few days then are okay on flake food thats been finely crumbled, is this right?

Cheers


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## mncherie1 (Mar 27, 2009)

I have fry myself and have feed them "First Bites" to start, you can find it at the LFS. http://www.hikari.info/tropical/t_13.html
They also have liquid food, but I have never tried that. After that I went to grind regular food with my coffee grinder and they are fine with it. They enjoy the heck out of fresh brine shrimp as well. Mine are almost 3 months old and I just recently removed the parents. Whatever you do....do not put the parents back in the tank; they will now eat them since they have been apart. Make sure they can not get sucked up in your filter. I put some panty hose around the intake and zip tied it, it works well. Keep up with water changes and enjoy watching them grow up. They may lack some parenting skills when they grow up but they should be ok without the parents. 
Keep us posted

Here is Dad with 5 day old fry.


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## mncherie1 (Mar 27, 2009)

oh, yeah I almost forgot....you want to try to feed them 5 times a day in small quantities, rather than 2 big feedings. It helps sustain them. I took the back of a teaspoon and out barely enough on to cover the tip, without mounting it.


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