When to "rehome" fry?

[rage29]

We have a tank set up with some africans and noticed that one of our Afra Cobues had a mouth full of eggs... We have ended up with 11 fry that are about 4 weeks old and are about 2cm... we don't particularly want to add another 11 fish to the tank so are wondering when is an appropriate time to rehome them and what the best options are?

Thanks :-)

[fryparty]

i would just setup a 2nd tank, part tank water, part fresh.. cutting out any ammonia levels. i would seperate them once they can swim freely *by now* and you can see they eat at their own will.

keeping a close eye on water parameters.

[rage29]

Thats where they are at now... they eat as soon as the food goes in (which is good to see)... Don't really have the space to set up a second tank to be honest, we have a 6ft display tank and didn't expect anything to breed (the afra cobues were apparently male/male when we brought them)

They are in a breeding net inside the tank for now, which the have plenty of space in but obviously we can't keep them there forever :-)

[Citypainter]

If you are certain that they are definatly Afra Cobue fry.

I am sure that you could give them away, sell them or swap them for food with your local fish shop.

[GlennC]

I'm pretty much in the same situation as you are, but I do keep pairs in my tank rather than trying for all males, and consequently I now have three pairs of different breeds breeding. I now allow my Brevis spawns to survive on their own, with my bristlenose spawns I gather the eggs and feed them to my Calvus and cuckoo catfish, but with my Calvus spawns I collect the fry and try and raise them.

Your fish have bred once and will breed again and so you will have to decide whether you will retrieve the fry and grow them up or allow the released fry to take their chances in your tank. If you want to grow them, but can't set up a separate tank to do so, then I'd suggest you buy one of the custom made fry savers advertised on this site, or otherwise make your own. These fry savers sit inside your main tank, as do the fry saver you already have, but these are bigger and so you could grow the fry up to a size suitable for sale.

I'd say you'll need to grow them to say 4cm, but others on this site are in a better position to comment on this.

If you are not one to muck about raising the fry then I'd suggest you let to fend for themselves in the tank. You'd be surprised to one day find a handful of half grown fish you never knew existed in your tank.

You may benefit from the NSWCS meetings, in that you could sell the fry, and end up buying a new speciment or two to add to your display tank.

Cheers

Glenn

[fryparty]

my system atm is putting a pair in a QT to get comfortable to release their fry. after a week i remove the parents back to community tank