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African Cichlid eating her own fry2007-11-24 23:09:28

I have an african cichlid that's holding fry in her mouth right now. She spit about five of them out yesterday and she was chasing them around and now I can't find them. It looks like she still has even more fry to spit out because her jaw still looks big. I bought a fish tank seperator to keep the pregnant cichlid alone. When she spits all of the fry out, will she eat them all?

What can I do to prevent her from eating them. I'm not a very advanced fish owner so nothing to difficult please. Also, does anyone know how many fry she may be holding, just a range?

Finally, how do I successfully care for the fry after she releases them?

Thanks!

Answers:

African Cichlids do keep their fry in their mouths to protect them, but they also DO have a tendency to eat each other's fry.

Safest thing would be to separate them to make absolutely sure mom doesn't lose her maternal instincts at some point.

If you want to keep them together, I'd just make sure to keep her well fed to avoid her looking for alternative food sources.

Just keep checking the water to make sure you're not building up too much ammonia with the extra food. If you want to separate them, the babies should be fine by themselves. They can get nourishment out of the water and really only need mom for protection from other fish.

Try crushing a bit of the regular fish food to a powder so the little ones can have a go at it.