Just walked downstairs to plug in the central vacuum, and holy smokes, i've got approx 20 Nanochromis teugelsi fry!!!!

I got these about 4 months ago from Steve (freshwaterfishfan). I'll snap some pics, or try too, soon.

Here are some very poor pics. As soon as the flash started going off, the fry started hiding in the gravel. Both parents are taking responsibility for the fry. The female seems to do most of the moving of fry, and the father watches over the brood, but also comes and picks them up and moves them. Very fun fish to watch. You will have to click on the pics to see the fry. They are hiding in the gravel at this point...

Congrats man. At this rate you will have to expand the fish room just for grow outs.

Congrats!

Congratulations. How about some details on water conditions and the tank.
Walter

Good job! Your starting to crank out some fish.

We were gone for four days during the holidays there, and I'm fairly confident the fry got eaten. Oh well. We know now that they can do what they do...next time I will pull the parents and pencilfish after the fry are free swimming.

Bummer!

Pull the eggs before they hatch. I usually leave the first ones and sometimes the second. Then if I want the babies I pull the eggs and hatch them artificially. While you are raising the fry, maybe the parents will get the hang of it and raise their own.
You can try siphoning the babies after they hatch if you prefer. That way you will leave so fry for the parents. Some folks have good luck doing that.
Walter

slimbolen99 wrote:

The fry could have starved to death. Some fry need a lot of food to survive. I am not sure about yours.
Walter

Problem being, I never saw eggs, nor would I ever. The caves they spawn in are way in the back of the tank behind a lot of plant cover. The fry could have starved, but I doubt it. This tank has several pieces of driftwood, lots of plants, and a nice gravel bed. I think I will take your advice and siphon a few out next time; at least enough to BAP. The parental interaction on this species is really fun to watch. They herd the babies around, but the babies seem to hitch rides on the parents by grabbing onto the parent's flesh with their mouths. The parents also do a lot of moving and cleaning by mouth. I'm going to remove the syno petricolas from the tank and see if they can parent raise again. By the color of the female, they either have eggs again or will soon.

Well, I had eggs laid last week, and today I have about 20 or so free swimming fry! I need to setup a fry tank today. These guys have been giving me fits for the last 9 months...so I'm pretty excited about babies.

Congrats!!

I hope you can save some of them this time round.

Jack

That is very cool Brian! You can keep some the fry alive I have confidence in you man!