...or two, or three, or A HUNDRED!!
Our convicts (striped cichlids) surprised us with about 80 wiggly babies (fry) on July first! In the photo you see Buttercup guarding them very closley. Wesley is in the foreground, charging at the camera and puffing up his gills in an attempt to look intimidating. If you look below and behind Buttercup, you can barely see the little fry. They look like blobs with tails!
On the day the fry were born, I was appalled that Wesley appeared to be eating them. As we observed more closely, we learned that a parent will vacuum up a fry that has wandered too far from the group, then spit it back out in a safe area! It was really quite amusing to watch. Convicts are really amazing parents! At night, they sucked them all up and spit them into a hollow "log" for safekeeping. They would let them wander back out after we turned the aquarium light on in the morning. It just so happens, we had a divider in place to keep the big fish away from the convicts because they were newer and smaller -- and getting picked on. We were glad it was there when they started breeding, but I don't think it was really necessary. The parents are SO aggressively protective of their young. Actually, maybe the divider is a good idea to protect the big fish from the protective parents!
Here is a photo at 21 days:
Within a week of birth, the fry started eating crushed up food. Eventually they wandered farther and farther from their parents' protection. The divider had holes, and we were worried about them slipping through and becoming appetizers for Fezzik and K.O. (the large predators in the tank). So, Erich removed the fry from the big aquarium and put them in a small aquarium in Jay's room.They are about 1/4 inch long, and you can see the beginnings of their telltale stripes. They're continuing to grow, but after 3 weeks we're down to less than 20 of the little critters.
No, we don't know what we're going to do with them. They sure are fun, though, so I guess we'll just learn about them and enjoy them.
**This afternoon Jay found Don Ho, our plecostomus, floating at the top of the tank. We've no idea why he died! He appeared to be healthy and growing. Goodbye, Don Ho. We will all miss your tiny bubbles....**