Raising paracyprichromis nigripinnis fry

[aurix]

Been waiting for what feels like ages, but this morning I finally spotted three little fry swimming around the tank, and one of them's got me a bit worried - it was swimming upside down at the surface. Dropped in some cyclops and it chomped 'em down, then swam down the glass and vanished under some rocks, so fingers crossed it's gonna be alright. Now they're on their own, hopefully they'll grow up strong.

[flinta]

Nice to see some progress after all that waiting.

[aurix]

Guess I've created a pretty welcoming environment for them, lol. Still got all three this morning, fingers crossed they'll thrive. That huge Juli's still a concern though, hope he doesn't see them as a snack.

[aurix]

3 fry still going strong, largest female has spawned tonight so now she's holding too.

[aurix]

Fry are thriving, just devouring those cyclops like there's no tomorrow. Largest female's finally dropped her eggs, a bit sad but it's all good, means I can start making plans for the new setup. Got an empty rio 300 waiting in the wings, just biding my time till the fry are big enough to make the move, fingers crossed. Trouble is, I never seem to keep a tank empty for long, always something new coming along.

[aurix]

Update on the fry - I've lost one, not sure what's happened, only change I've made is cleaning the filter but I did add a plastic floating plant so fingers crossed it's just hiding. They're still feeding well and have grown loads already.

The new blue light seems to be doing the trick, the mum of the fry has got a mouthful again and another female is holding eggs. Largest female had eggs but it looks like she's spat them again, no idea why she's not holding them.

[aurix]

Mum's having a tough time keeping the babies in her mouth now, any day I'm expecting to see more little ones. I'm getting really excited, keep checking on her, asking her to let the babies out so she can get a decent feed. She's lost some condition, belly's concave again, bless her. Fed her up well last time though, so fingers crossed for her this time around.

[aurix]

Finally she's spat them out this morning, we had 4 but one was struggling to swim and now it's vanished, I'm pretty sure the Juli got to it, but the remaining 3 seem to be doing alright so far. The other female should be due to release hers soon, she's bigger than the new mum but doesn't look as full in the pouch.

Aww, babies, I'm so excited, can't wait till they're big enough for some proper photos, at the moment they're just tiny blobs lol

[aurix]

The second female finally spat last night, 5 tiny ones this time, they're all huddled together at the surface in the corner of the tank. Much smaller than the others, but they seem to be doing alright so far, fingers crossed they'll grow quickly.

[aurix]

Blimey, they're really getting the hang of this spawning malarkey now, latest batch was around 9 or 10 little blighters (counting them is like trying to count sheep, lol) and so far I've still got 8 of them zipping about the tank - they've all teamed up with the older 4 fry.