Need advice on fries in community tank

[huhengyi1986]

hi all. My apisto eunotus spawned in my community tank while i was having my exams. didnt notice until recently there are over 40 fries in a small cave near a corner.

There are quite a lot of cardinal tetras in the tank. should i remove the fries with the mom or just leave it as it is? fries are a few days old i guess. there are still egg sags on the stomach. thanks

[Jitticus]

First of all, congratulations!

I think any disturbance now will cause the babies to get eaten. It's quite impossible to remove the fry now and if you get them a few more days to develop, you may lose a few to the tetras, but they will be better suite to fend for themselves. After that, you can suck them out using a turkey baster and keeping them in the same tank water.
You should be prepared to lose a few more this way, but i think this is the best way to increase your fry's survival rate.

[joopsg]

if your cardinals are greedy fishes, can try to catch them during feeding time as the female will not swim up for food.
If not, during the night time.

[huhengyi1986]

mom just took baby fries out for a walk haha. no other fishes dare come close. hope the pictures are clear enough. Enjoy


A question. Do i remove the fries now? do they need special attention from the mom? They good on BBS diet? thanks am thinking of removing them from the mom and putting the fries in a nursery.

[joopsg]

I would prefer to keep them with the mom.
Its a way of survival for them too.

Taking out the fries will let the female goinginto breed mood again.
Quite stressful for the female.
I usually keep the pair together until they are so used to each other that they only spawn every 2 months.

[huhengyi1986]

Thanks for advice joopsg always can depend on you for knowledge

[huhengyi1986]

hey 1 more question. is it ok to leave ottos, wood shrimps and lower xingu plecos in the tank? fries are free swimming and covering a huge area of the tank

[joopsg]

Otos and pleco should be ok.
Wood shrimps do they have pincers?
if yes, consider remove them.

[huhengyi1986]

thanks. they do not have pincers just some webby fins to catch debries