I guess I should point out first up, that this is not a 'how to', it's more a "woo-hoo, they've done it again!" Post. Took this pic just an hour ago, as soon as I discovered them.



They've laid on the smooth concave slope of a wood stump. This is where they laid late last year, and where the Rams laid a couple of years back. I don't have a good Cichlid cave, so I guess the thick over-hanging Sword Plants do the trick!

The eggs would have already been placed before this mornings water change. The only thing I've done recently, is prune back my plants (immensely), and unclog the Filter Inlet (Fishpaw!). The latter is probably the trick, lot's of good water flow.

I never saw any result from the last brood, so I may siphon out a few eggs to rear in an enclosure. You can see a few white eggs. I am very open to any tips here folk's...

cool.

advice wise i cant say much more than i've said in other posts or that u know already. to recap tho and maybe remind u ...

add meth blue to the rearing tank to keep eggs fungus free. add clumps of moss to the 'bare' tank. keep the filtration good and do lots of water changes, perhaps 10% per day. syphon off the water change water with an airstone to stop sucking up fry or eggs. have plenty of fry food available. suggestions - baby brine shrimp, shelled brine shrimp eggs, tiny amounts of powdered flake, tiny amounts of liquid infusora to promote micro roganisms and perhaps micro worms if u can get a live culture.

also as a suggestion ... alot of people use a airpowered sponge or filter box which is good in that it stops fry being sucked up, but i dont like them as they provide poor filtration i recon. what i have done is either use a internal box filter with sponges strapped over the holes to save the fry, or even better, i recently attached a sponge that came from a simple sponge filter to the inlet pipe of a eheim 2213 external filter. this gives way better filtration than any box or airpowered filter but wont suck the fry up.

looking at the date of the post i may be a bit late in offering reminders/advice, but i wish u much luck and would love to know if u have had any eggs or fry survive.

Bad news! They're were all gone by the next morning! Next time, they get siphoned, the minute I see them...

I like some of those idea's for filtering. I've often wondered how good the air-powered ones are, having only ever used Pump Filters. I've a better idea for siphoning water changes tho'.

You know those fine mesh Fry Enclosures? Plop one of those in the Fry Tank, and siphon from within the enclosure! Another way, buy some of that same mesh (we have it here in Fabric shops), and fit it over the end of a larger diameter pipe, with a rubber band (much the same as you used to make your home made Condoms Nick, with Glad-Wrap!).

Glad-Wrap is that plastic film food wrap, I don't know what's it's called over there, and having to explain it, has probably ruined the joke...Wait a minute - there are Children present aren't there?

i laughed out loud, even with the explanation. i did wonder wtf glad-wrap was. i suppose u know that durex in the UK is not the same as durex in Au. a mistake a few brits have made when visiting 'down under' i'm sure and thought 'sticky tape, how does that work as a contraceptive?'

i try to keep the chat reasoably clean in here. otherwise i'd feel like a dirty old man with the likes of Layne and Bettinacharlotta about, although i bet they hate the thought of being considered younsters. anyho ...

the fry trap is a good idea, although with the neon fry, initialy, the mesh would have to be very fine, otherwise some of the TINY fry might still be sucked up.

to give u a better idea of what i did with my filter here is a pic of the sponge filter i used (the single one on the left) ...



... the double one would work too im sure, possibly better. basicaly i took away the clear plasctic tube and the airline, from the grey bit at the bottom and found that 9x12mm hose, e.g. the inlet from my eheim attached to it nicely. i still get a good flow rate as the long sponge barely restricts the flow at all. plus using an eheim canister with lots of good media in it gives me MUCH better biological filtration than a simple sponge or air driven box filter ever would.

I knew exactly where you were going here. The 'pre-filter' is essentially a Fry Guard. I have a Fluval 2 in my Breeding Tank. It doesn't do too bad, for a pump that's been running non-stop for 14 years. But filter-wise, it has one those sponges as in your pic, and raising Fry is just a bit much for it. I may just give Mr Eheim a visit...

I have four 'grades' of mesh. I'd imagine the finest would be adequate. The next finer grade, would be Sheet Plastic!

Yeah, sticky tape does the job, but you've got to wrap it 'round a few times. I go through a roll in no time. And watch those edges, they can be as bad as a 'paper-cut'!

Were the fry eaten? I do everything a little backwards when it comes to keeping fry. I keep the light on all night and turn it off when I wake up and turn it back on when I get home. This way the parents can keep an eye on the eggs/fry all the time and still be able to relax like its night, but with a full moon (during the day with the light off).

I don't think they even got to the Fry stage. I sort of suspect the new Clown Loaches, but they weren't around for the previous batch. I can't imagine the Angels got to them. They're towy with the other fish, but I don't think they'd take on two Keyhole brooders, just for a convenient snack.

If the Parents did doze off, the likely candidates would be the Cory's or Bristlenose. If the eggs did hatch, who knows... They'd be fair game. Next time I'll do what I did with the Rams, fight off the Parents, and suck a few up the pipe. Perhaps I could give the fish one of the Kid's Night Lights!

Discovered another brood of eggs today. The two Keyholes getting very irrate with a few fish. This time they've laid right up near the front of the tank, not really undercover at all.

I've siphoned off 80% of the eggs into a mesh Fry Enclosure. One of the Keyholes gave me a couple of decent bites. They've got a hell of a good grip! I'm glad they don't have teeth. I left the rest of the eggs, so that they could carry on naturally.

I'm trying out your idea Funky, of leaving the lights on for guard duty. I'll put up some pics shortly.

Here is another great way to illuminate at night-

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That's a decent idea with the Blue LEDs, but buggered if I'd ever pay US $83 for it! This is what I warned Mel & Tony about with the book prices. It really pisses me off that Aquariums (LFS) can slap the word 'Aquarium' on the box, and triple the price.

You can buy a pair of 12v Blue LED lights here for your car. They come in a water proof casing, with mounting and cabling, and they're only $10 pair. Another $10 for a power supply, if you don't use them on the car.

I could build one of these LED Light rigs in less than an hour, and spend only Aus $15. A lot less if I use one of a myrid of 12v power supplies I have in the cupboard. Blue LEDs are only $3 each for the large size. But you've got me thinking...I may pop out and get one, just to see what it looks like.

* * * * *

Anyway - Cichlids. First pic shows the eggs on the side of the stump. This is the same location I was talking about in another Topic, where they change their pigmentation. It was a good thing I did siphon some eggs, as the remainder were gone this morning, even with the Lounge lights left on.



This next pic is slightly blurred, as I took it through the wash from the spray bar. If I had half a brain, I'd have turned it off for a bit. You can see here that this is up in the front corner of the tank, so it's not really secluded. But I took this one to show how they've 'cleaned-up' that little area around the eggs, including the gravel. Because of the water movement, a lot of waste material ends up in this corner.



I will ask for some advice here. I know that when Cichlids have laid on, say, a rock, some people will take the rock, and the parents, to another tank, and everything continues normally. That stump there, is far too big too much trouble to move for this sort of excercise. The eggs I've siphoned off are, of course, not grouped, but 'loose'.

If the eggs were put 'loose' and say, 'pushed' into a pile, in another tank with the parents, what's the chance they'd recognise what they were, and care for them, rather than sit down for breakfast?

Slim to no chance that the parents would pick up where they left off. Especially if they didn't have the same stump that they had spawned on. They would tuck their napkins in and pick up the fork and knife.

That's what I suspected. I'll get me finger out, and finish off those bit's of pipe. Perhaps if I can get them to lay in one, I can scoop them all up, like I did with the Bristlenose.

That would be the way to go.

Well, as luck would have it, last night I plucked out a few eggs that'd turned white, all looked fine. This morning, most of the eggs are white! Maybe they are eating their own eggs, once they've figured they have a dud batch.

They may be too immature at this time.

Is this their first spawn?