I came home a bit ago an noticed two things about our tropical tank (see Joy's thread: New Tank!): first, one of the rocks had tipped over (no big deal, it was unstable), and second, one of the convict cichlids had covered a portion of it with eggs. It's a flat rock, and it's out in the open... so it's essentially a dining table for the plecos. It's guarded, but it's exposed.

I'm not too excited about taking care of the cichlid offspring (assuming any survive the enormous filter/current and plecos), expecially since I'm trying to sell the fish so there's space for more goldies. In addition, the LFS's have more than enough convicts for now because everybody else in the area has been dumping convicts at the stores.

Sooo... what to do? Does anybody want some cichlid eggs? And is the female going to harm the other fish in defense of the eggs? I don't want to raise more fry, but I don't want to just let them die.

whats up penguin. the mother will normally stay by the eggs, or fry. it is the father that will attack anything that comes by the nest. if you are too close is when the mother defends. try putting you hand like directly in front of the nest and the dad will start trying to attack you lol. if the pleco is big and fast enough, it will take care of the problem. if you really dont want them, try to contain the parents and let the pleco feast. or else you end up like a friend of mine with about 150 fry in a 10 gal tank, wondering what to do with them all. if they do hatch, check with a local aquarium society and they might take them off your hands.

Putting your hand in the tank like that can stress the fish, ya know...

Putting your hand in ANY tank can stress the fish.

It is NECESSARY to stick your hands in a tank every once in a while, regardless of type of fish. Just because goldfish are (mostly) docile and grow used to our hands poking around everywhere does not mean it doesn't stress them out. I have fish that are still not used to me that freak out and dart to the other side of the tank whenever I need to stick my hand in there. Technically, you should attempt to disturb your fish as little as possible.



ANYWAYS as for the cichlid babies: I've informed Thomas that cichlids take care of their own young and through simple, direct observation we've figured out their modus operandi. The female keeps moving the eggs around-- from the rock, to the back left corner, to the front left corner... let's see, I think she's just finished moving them back to the back left corner. Thomas said the big male attacked his fingers when trying to retrieve a veggie clip... needless to say, the veggie clip is still on the bottom of the tank in big-male-little-female territory. He said it didn't really hurt, but it felt like really rough sandpaper.

I've pretty much decided to let nature take its course with these guys. If the plecos don't eat them and they survive the insane filtration we have in the tank then... well... yeah. I just saw an add for a local aquarium society (I didn't even know we HAD one in our small little town!) and will hopefully be able to offload some of them.

keep us updated for sure !!!! oh and we want footage of thomas harassing the nest!!!

well, i didnt mean in the tank as per se, i meant againt the glass in front of the nest area, not inside like what was assumed lol. i do know a lil about fishkeeping, been doing it for a long time with a variety of species. but yes they will take great care of the eggs. once they hatch, she will continue to move them around the tank, either by herding them, or in her mouth. i havent seen it make a difference in filtration as she will likely move them to a calmer area. my friends fry are about a 1/2 inch now and the parents are sill protective, and she still herds them to a location in the tank to sleep at night. during the day the mother stays in the center of the swarm while the father patrols. they are great parenting fish and that is one of the joys of having convicts. one of the drawbacks that ive experienced is the constant mating, and huge amounts of young, causing what you and my friend are experiencing now, an overflow at local fish stores. which is why i no longer raise them. i have found one store locally that is willing to trade $0.50 per fish towards store credit. ask if they are willing to give store credit, its not much but every lil bit helps. just throwing out another option for you guys.

Argh! They'll just keep on having babies?! And little-male-big-female territory seems to have turned into a nest as well....