What a day! Spent most of the afternoon doing water changes for the three tanks, that usually saps most of the energy from me.

But I'm glad I didn't delay it because the ammonia level in the parent cichlid tank has jumped to 2.0 (previously 1.0) I'm putting the cause on the amount of food I've been pumping them with over the past week to get them in the mood for breeding. However, that has really paid off!

On Wednesday I saw the female laying her eggs on the driftwood, the male was also spotted swimming around the nesting area:






*Excuse the crappy images, my digicam is on the fritz and I was using the camera on my phone.*

From Thursday through Friday, the proud parents were taking turns guarding the eggs, especially during meal times, one parent was always with the eggs. Pretty amazing to see their parental instincts, knowing how ruthless fish usually are to their young.. But, glad to say that everything I've read about jewel cichlids being good parents is true.

Last night and today were quite exciting as well, since the eggs are hatching slowly. I didn't get a chance to see the first batch of eggs hatch, but it's great to see the second batch coming along nicely.

Basically, what the parents have done is moved them (I estimate between 30-40 eggs) from the breeding area to a more open space (near to the filter intake, unfortunately) with their mouths. The eggs are on the gravel, and are wriggling (for lack of better description), which I presume is how the fries hatch. I've already started dripping some liquifry, hoping that by the time they run out of egg sac there should be plenty of food particles for them to feed.

Interestingly enough, the fries from the previous batch were in the same area, just below the filter intake, and neither the fries or the current eggs have been sucked in by the intake. So, perhaps the common advice to use a sponge filter might not be necessary. Of course I can see the rationale behind it, but perhaps it's more of a fail-safe precaution rather than necessity.

The really fun part about changing the water was to avoid making the parents panic and definitely to avoid siphoning eggs out with the dirt. Now that's really throwing the baby out with the bathwater! But I think I did a pretty safe job, don't think I saw any eggs being sucked in.

My other concern is when to separate the fries from their parents, the first batch was separated after their first week, but I've been advised that it's a bit too soon. Perhaps I'll leave them in for 2 weeks, but if I feel that water quality is compromised because of the fries, I'll have to ship them out. Hopefully, the current 6-week old batch of fries won't harass the new-comers.

The Aquarist

Labels: breeding cichlids

12:50 AM