Keyhole Cichlids

scientist0724

scientist0724

Members
As if this past weekend at AquaMania wasn't exciting enough, I came home on Sunday to check up on my tanks and found that in my 75 gallon community, my Keyhole Cichlids had spawned and I have fry!

I got this pair from Jon Clarke last summer and they have spawned before but I have never noticed any fry. I put up a "night light" for them so that they can protect the fry and so far, so good.

This is my first New World cichlids to spawn fro me, so my question is: should I take out the fry to ensure suruvival or should I just leave them in the tank? The parents seem to be doing a great job in protecting them and the tank is very heavily planted.

I've included a bad picture of the fish and fry. You an see the bottom of the fish and the small silvery dots underneath are some of the fry. Sorry for the really bad pic :(

Arlene

IMG_20130310_223425.jpg
 
jonclark96

jonclark96

Past CCA President
Congrats on the spawn! Are there a lot of other fish in the tank? If there are and you really want to save the spawn, pull the fry. Better yet, only pull a portion of the fry and leave some with the parents. One of the big draws for me on NW cichlids is watching the behaviour of the parents.
 
Avatar

Avatar

Plenipotentiary-at-large
Nice going

Thought I got you one or two of those as well or was that to someone else?Very nice species, would like to trade for a group of juveniles at some point if they make it. One of the first fish I acquired four years ago, mine spawned in a 55 community but as it was rather crowded they always got rattled and ate the eggs. Well done.
 
Tony

Tony

Alligator Snapping Turtle/Past Pres
very awesome, Arlene. I'd definitely be down for some fry when they are transportable size. :)
 
dogofwar

dogofwar

CCA Members
Keyholes were my first and definitely one of my favorite cichlids!

Please post some pics of the parents...

Matt
 
Forester

Forester

Members
Nice fish! If you want to keep their future spawns my advice is to move them to their own tank. But don't take away the babies, let the parents take care of them. Good luck.
 
scientist0724

scientist0724

Members
Ok...here are more crappy pictures of the parents. I cleared out the tank of a lot of plants today, but arranged the remaining plants to help shelter the nest.

The female is on the top guarding the fry in their nest and the male is next to the nest chasing away any fish that he thinks is too close to the nest.

Arlene

IMG_20130312_173411.jpg
 
ErnieG

ErnieG

Members
Nice spawn, I remember when i first bred keyholes along time ago. Its so rewarding when they breed because they are a relatively shy cichlid and dont feel comfortable unless other peaceful fish are swimming around in the same tank with them.
 
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