# What's the likelihood that the fry have been eaten?



## tikva18 (Jul 27, 2007)

Have a pair of kribs - I've seen up to 4 fry at once. The parents have been doing a moderately good job of guarding the area/parenting. However, at times they swim away without a care. Then the male comes back and chases everyone away. I've seen the female pick up a fry and spit it back out toward the back of the tank. However, the fry numbers that I've seen are quite small (as said above) and I'm rarely seeing more than one at once.

So, what do you think? are they okay back there? or were they just another tasty snack. Hmm, maybe I shouldn't be feeding brine shrimp - about the same size...


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## MalawiLover (Sep 12, 2006)

What else is in the tank?


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## tikva18 (Jul 27, 2007)

3 boesemani, a dwarf pleco and a dwarf bristlenose, as well as 2 diamond tetras and 2 penguin tetras.


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## MalawiLover (Sep 12, 2006)

I can pretty much guarrantee that the fry are being eaten. Also, what kind of substrate? gravel or sand?


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## tikva18 (Jul 27, 2007)

gravel. So, who's doing the eating? and I don't have a second tank set up. Years ago, my tanganyikan tank often had gracilis fry - and they did not get eaten - of course there weren't any tetras in there, but there were loaches, rainbows, giant danios, and sometimes bala sharks and/or redtailed black shark... I often sold fry back to my lfs.


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## MalawiLover (Sep 12, 2006)

It may be that they are not getting eaten but rather the parents are losing them in the gravel and aren't able to care for them properly or keep leaving to look for them leaving the rest unguarded. Either pleco could hoover them up, and if the parents are not on the spot with defending them then any strays would get munched by almost anyone. You may have significantly better luck switching to sand


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## tikva18 (Jul 27, 2007)

okay, sand sounds intriguing... Why is it better? and that means totally dismantling my tank, no? how would you go about doing that? - and how would cleaning the bottom of the tank work? wouldn't it just get sucked up?


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## MalawiLover (Sep 12, 2006)

Actually sand is easier to keep clean than gravel which is why so many people use it. All the fish poo sits on top and is easily syphoned off. It is done a bit differently than vacuuming your gravel, but its not hard at all.

There was an episode of Cichlid TV where Joea shows you how to do it. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/videos/cleaning_sand.php

Sand is more like the nautral substrate in the lakes. This will aloow the debris to sit on top where it can be easily removed. The substrate spawning parents will digg small pits to contain their fry and keep them close together for feeding and protection.

It will require you to remove the fish for a short time drain out most of the water and refil with sand (be sure to rinse the sand first (another Cichlid TV episode

For a 46g it should only take a couple of hours start to finish.


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## tikva18 (Jul 27, 2007)

hmm. I've got to come up with a temporary place for my fish then...
Where would I get the sand?


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## MalawiLover (Sep 12, 2006)

My favorite container for fish during tank tear downs is a muck bucket, or a large rubbermaid container. You can put your heater and filter on it like an extra tank.

Personally I use pool filter sand from a plumbing supply place, but you can use play sand from Home Depot type places. I prefer the pool filter sand as the grains are quite uniform and I like the natural tan color. Just stay away from sand blasting sand, its too fine. Quickcrete makes a nice builders sand that many people use that you should be able to find at home improvement places.


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## tikva18 (Jul 27, 2007)

So, if I've got some hoovering going on  , then what do you suggest I do to prevent it in the future? This is a major bummer for me - I really like raising fry - it's been ages since we've had a nice batch of fry - last ones were gotten by hydra ...

The kribs have been digging in the gravel - there's a pit underneath a couple of rocks.

I posted a pic of my tank, but don't know if it's up yet for others to see.

Here's a link to it

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https://flic.kr/p/3527455058

and here's the female krib

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https://flic.kr/p/3526639019


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## MalawiLover (Sep 12, 2006)

I really think sand would help. The parents will be able to contain the kids much better and will be less likely to wonder of looking for the one who went through the cracks.


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