ziad Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 I have a pair of fire fin comps that have jut laid some eggs. How long till the hatch? will they swim out the shell as soon as they hatch. they are in a community tank so I want to get them before the other fish eat them. How long should I wait before separating them? thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moop Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 Hi Mate, Generally, the fry wont come out for a while. However, Altolamprologus are rather good parents when it comes to protecting fry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parkesg Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 Hi, congrats on the spawn. They hatch about 3-4 days after they are laid, and will have tiny tails. It takes about another 10-12 days before they become free swimming. I don't wait until they are free swimming as they become very hard to remove. At about 6 days after they hatch they are good to remove from the shell (?) or whatever they spawned in, at this stage they are still clumped together in the shell and are "sticky". Place them in a small container/fry saver with circulation, but not too strong. They will get eaten in a community tank and the adults will eat them in my experience if you leave them in there. Start by feeding micro worms or newly hatched brine shrimp. Good luck. HTH Grant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucem Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 Well done on the spawn. With my gold comps, when I've noticed that the female has been sitting in the shell, I wait 10 days, then tip the contents of the shell into a fry saver. I flush the shell with water a couple times to displace the fry. If possible do this on an occasion when the female has momentarily left the shell. The pair may give you some grief as you grab the shell, but I find that in a community tank the fry will get cleaned up quickly. Make sure the fry saver has really fine mesh or is one of the perspex types. The fry are small and I think in the first week or so they could squeeze out of some fry savers that have coarser mesh. They are painfully slow growing, but baby brine shrimp is the way to go. You can raise them yourself or buy them frozen. There are other ultra fine fry foods around, but I've found BBS the best. After 2-3 weeks or so, they are ready for crushed flake. Good luck. Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ziad Posted September 24, 2008 Author Share Posted September 24, 2008 Thank you everyone for your help. The last time they had eggs I was so excited that I took the shell out of the tank and although there was only 5 or so eggs I tried to collect them and quickly made my self and omelet! This time I thought I would asked before I acted. I will keep you guys posted as to what happens. (I will admit that it will be very difficult to wait 10 days) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wild4cichlids Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 Hi mate GOOD things come to those that wait Well done on the spawn cheers Gerard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ziad Posted September 30, 2008 Author Share Posted September 30, 2008 Hi all I though I would update the events so far. today I could take it no longer... the female fire fin has been the the shell (below) for 8 days and has hardly moved. I decided to try and get the eggs. I took the shell out and emptied it into a bucket of tank water and to my disappointment a large amount of gravel dirt and fish poo came out. I redunked the shell and emptied it and again more of the same . I was so upset.... I decided to have a look in the shell under the female to see if I am missing something and saw nothing. I was about to put the shell back and dump the contents down the drain when I saw something in the bucket move. I had a closer look and there was the smallest fry I have ever seen! The more I looked in the bucket the more fry I would find in and under the dirt. they were so small. I flushed the shell a few more times and more fry came out. I spent the next 20 min squinting into the bucket and finally ended up with some 25 fry! I must say that without the help of everyone in this post there is no way I would have gotten to this point. I suppose the next steep is to see if I can raise the fry. ( I now have so much respect for people that can raise these fish to a size that you can sell) I will post some more pics in the future if the fry survive my brutality Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ziad Posted October 7, 2008 Author Share Posted October 7, 2008 The fry no longer have an egg sack on them and i have tried to feed frozen baby brine shrimp but they dont see too interested. I trid NSL grow but again not too interested. (could they be eating the food when the lights are off and i am not aware?) They mainly sit on the bottom of the fry saver not mooving. Is this normal ? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parkesg Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Hi, They do stay still as young fry, I think it is a survival techique, nothing to worry about. I always feed newly hatched brine shrimp, as it is live, and moves and also will stick to the sides of the fry container and acts as fry food on tap for them. You can get small packets of brine shrimps eggs from your aquarium store, or AOA sells large conatiners which works out very ecomomical in the long run. You could also try mirco worms. HTH Grant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antz Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 CONGRATS!! thats awesome.. dont see maybe fire fins around too. took a while to figure where the fry were in your pics.. haha next time if you could circle them that woudl be great? =P raising the fry is the hardest part, all the best with it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ziad Posted October 15, 2008 Author Share Posted October 15, 2008 I thought it would be fun to try and see if others could find fry in a bucket of dirt like i did ! The fry are now eating and they nove around more but they are certainly slow growing. I cant see any diff in size in the 2 weeks. My gold comps also had eggs last week, but the female ate them after a few days... for the second time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gianniz Posted October 19, 2008 Share Posted October 19, 2008 my fry used to eat crushed tetrabits (colorbits) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lacichlid Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Hi, The Comp.or Calvus fry can not survive 100% with the crush food, you need micro worm or baby brine shrimp. i've got some spare micro worm if you want them. Cheers Phong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie Salita Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 I find tht they sometimes take a few days to figure out or get confident enough to go for the frozen baby brine. I have aslo found that they go for cyclop eze much quicker. It is small enough for them at this stage, and big enough for the next month or two or three even. You will also get nearly double the growth rate on the freeze dried cyclop eze. It is expensive, but well worth it in my opinion. When big enough, I combine it with NLS growth for outstanding results. Regards, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ziad Posted October 21, 2008 Author Share Posted October 21, 2008 Thanks for the help guys I started with 28 . About 5 have died in the last month or so and the rest are eating frozen BBS ad some NSL grow. I will post a pic soon as they look quite inetresting (nothing like the parents) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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