Laetacara curviceps

[dogmatix]

I've to my deligight got a breeding pair of sheepshead acaras, they have layed about six times in a community and raised the brood twice which have sadly only lived for a week. They are now in there own tank and spawning but not managing to raise any of the fry, i am not sure if the female is eating the larvae or just removing detritus also they are moving the eggs from the egg sacs to a pit before they are free swiming, is this ok ? Anyone out there got any suggestions for me :lol: .

Much appreciated Ben.

[Pegasus]

Hi Ben,

Don't know about the Sheepheads, but the Acara's in general will move their eggs quite often if they feel threatened or the situation is not to their liking.

[cuviceps]

I am assuming that after spawning you are removing the male? If not do so! I do this with all dwarf cichlids and normally the female will be ok with freeswimming fry for atleast 3-4 weeks. Then I pull her out as she may be ready to spawn again and may eat the fry!!! Make sure you feed the mother as per normal as if she gets too hungry say byebye to the fry. Sheephead acara's will move the fry a few times untill the fry are freeswimming. If you don't have plants in the tank I suggest you add quite a few - this will make the female feel more safe with her fry as there are hiding places to retreat to. If after all this the fry still disappear you may wish to consider artificially raising the fry - But thats another story!

[ajbroome]

Dogmatix,

Often young cichlid parents will eat their first few batches of

fry. You can try removing the male or els putting some relatively

harmless, surface dwelling, 'dither fish' in the tank to give the

adults something to guard against. This sometimes brings out their

natural behaviour...

If you aren't all that interested in seeing the parental care aspect

of cichlid breeding then it's relatively easy to either remove both

parents or siphon out the fry. Either way, raising the fry isn't

too tricky if you can supply lots of brineshrimp nauplii and good

water quality.

Once you've got a batch or two 'on the go' you can bet the parents

will look after all their subsequent spawnings and you'll end up

with squillions of little cichlids that hardly anybody wants ;-)

Having said this, these are one fish I want to keep in my new

fishroom so will be on the lookout for some good ones at some

stage.

Good luck,

Andrew.

[dogmatix]

:lol: This time i matched the male with a different female, She got it right first time no problems. I now have 75-100 free swimmers (that no one wants), the parents a doing a great job herding them aswell

[Bruce]

Dont be too worried about selling them

We recently sold 20 at the Napier auction for $3.00 each and could have sold more.

We seperated the eggs after spawning as previous spawnings had been eaten.

Good Luck with them

/Bruce

[bobsvinyl]

Congrats on your successful spawning. I always remove the eggs into a bare tank with an airstone setup near the eggs. I usually put pieces of slate or flower pots in the breeding tank so they can easily be moved after the eggs are laid on them. It is fun to watch the parents raise the fry.

[Aftaburn]

I've not bred sheepshead.

Mainly the species I use the following meathod for are mouth brooders.

For other species of cichlid I use layers of slate which protect the fry.

I've had successful spawnings & raisings to maturity in community cichlid tanks with this meathod. Dont expect more than 50% of the fry to survive if you use this tactic especially if you also have Synodontis (I have).

The stupid get weeded out fairly quickly.

The other way I've had good results is to make a pile of jumble which larger fish cannot penetrate usually I mix the 2 rockstyles which allows appropriate cover regardless of fish size.

One of the benefits of keeping the spawn in with adult fish is feeding then becomes very simple as largely the spawn will make do on leftover fragments which you can suppliment with brine shrimp as required.

If you're able to spawn in the shelf system you can then remove the parents although I prefer not to myself.

I would suggest using silicon blobs for rock seperation as this allows some flexibility and doesnt slide if adult fish knock your rocks about.

Another way is to build breeding modules of slate which are lifted in and out as required. These allow for easy removal of adults then remove the modules (in a clean or sand bottom tank) and you can easily capture the spawn. Plants are great but if you tank is anything like mine you'll not be able to keep them (tank full of digging vandals).

Good luck.