# First Hemichromis lifalili fry (jewels)



## CichlidSTNR (Apr 25, 2009)

I know they're not too popular in the trade,but I'm still excited that my jewels spawned. They had 200 - 400 fry. Some of their tank mates had a nice protein snack of baby fry, so i moved about 100 of them into a 10G tank and left the rest for nature to take its course. I'm only raising them for the experience. I'm a major newb! I've been feeding them powder (finely crushed pellets and flakes.), but I'm not sure if they've been excepting the food. Does anyone know if they except the food this early? They have been free swimming for 2 or 3 days.


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## oldwheat (Dec 24, 2007)

Sure, they begin to feed as soon as they are free swimming. I would strongly suggest supplementing your feeding with baby brine shrimp or other small live foods to help with their development.. Also, it is a good idea to only keep a few dozen of the fry for growout as the hobby insists on perpetuating the rumor that hemichromis are any more aggressive than most other cichlids & they can be difficult to find homes for. I routinely allow jewels to parent raise in community tanks with non-territorial fish ( rainbows, characins etc.) without bloodshed. I fact; in my almost 50 years of keeping/breeding a number of different hemichromis species, I can't recall ever seeing a jewel cichlid actually kill another species of fish due to aggression. As you may have surmised; I am fond of hemichromis & find myself quite annoyed when they are 'dissed' & misrepresented.
P.S. The odds are that your fish probably not lifalili ( whatever that is :wink: ) . Post a pic if you can.


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## mbargas (Apr 19, 2009)

oldwheat said:


> the hobby insists on perpetuating the rumor that hemichromis are any more aggressive than most other cichlids & they can be difficult to find homes for......I am fond of hemichromis & find myself quite annoyed when they are 'dissed' & misrepresented.
> P.S. The odds are that your fish probably not lifalili ( whatever that is :wink: ) . Post a pic if you can.


In my opinion they are very aggressive, but that's an expectation with most cichlids. That should not be a reason for making them unpopular.

Most of the jewels I've seen at local stores are of a very drab variety. I believe they are either H. bimaculatus or guttatus. Whatever they are, they're not very colorful.

I have H. lifalili, which I ordered online. They are totally unlike the ones at the local stores. They have an intense ruby-red coloration even when they're not breeding. I don't understand why they're not more popular.


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## mbargas (Apr 19, 2009)

CichlidSTNR said:


> They had 200 - 400 fry. Some of their tank mates had a nice protein snack of baby fry


I've had the same problem. My first 3 spawns were consumed. Some from not removing the other fish, but also by their own parents.

My 4th spawn was done on a powerhead. I removed it to a separate container without the parents. i kept the powerhead going to assure adequate waterflow to compensate for lack of parental fanning. They are now wiggling around on the bottom of the container. They are very, very small, smaller than daphnia.

I'll try feeding them powdered cyclop-eeze and fairy shrimp larvae, if I can get the fairy shrimp eggs to hatch.


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## steve_58 (Jan 20, 2009)

Jewels are great to watch when they breed and have little ones.Lots of times you will see eggs in the tank and it will appear that the parents are eating them .Then all at once they are gone.Don't get to excited tho because the parents will more times than not remove the eggs from the spot just as they are to become wigglers and place them in a site they picked out in the gravel.Both parents will guard this spot they place the very soon to be wigglers in and before u know it u will see little swimmers.Make sure to cover the intake on filters and turn off any under gravel filters.Mine have spawned a few times and they lay eggs 2-3 days later they move them and they are wigglers .Then 2 days later they start swimming.i have had both parents carry the fry around in the tank in they're mouths and thought they all got eaten.lol.By the way both parents get very aggressive during spawning and will protect and attack other tankmates no matter what size they are or what they are.My female gets alot more protective of the fry than my male does.


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## mbargas (Apr 19, 2009)

mbargas said:


> CichlidSTNR said:
> 
> 
> > They are now wiggling around on the bottom of the container. They are very, very small, smaller than daphnia.
> ...


JUst a follow-up to my previous post. They are now free-swimming and they seem to be getting bigger already. When I first saw them a few days ago, they looked like small daphnia. Now they look like fry.

Haven't been able to hatch the fairy shrimp eggs. Might have been a bad batch. I'll try ordering some eggs from a different retailer.


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## steve_58 (Jan 20, 2009)

I feed my Jewel fry "Wardley Essentials Small Fry" liquid food for baby fish. In no time at all they will be able to eat finely crushed flake food.


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