Think I killed my jacks eggs

spazgettio

I have a breeding pair of jack dempsies in a 110 gallon tank with a few catfish. They reciently laid eggs but I hadent cleaned the tank forever. I figured the water was too dirty for baby fish so I went to do a small water change from the oppisit side of the tank. In doing so I scared the catfish and they darted over on top of the eggs with a gravel and tankage cloud behind them.. I hurried up and took the catfish out and put them in a 30 gal.I decided the damage was done and started to clean some of the gravel where i had started. Now that it is all done the female has been picking at the eggs and swimming to another part of the tank like as if she might be moving them. Can Jack Dempseys move their eggs or is she eating them or what. odd enough they layed their eggs right on the bottom of the tank not insided a tube or even on a flat rock. They are a young pair so I know that if she eats the eggs there will be another shot but I want to know if there is any chance of even a small fry this time.
Derek Cook


Sorry for my bad spelling, spell check on this computer is messed up, and im just not good with grammer.

bgkfish lady30

oh no i hoe u have some left

1077

[quote=spazgettio;423894]I have a breeding pair of jack dempsies in a 110 gallon tank with a few catfish. They reciently laid eggs but I hadent cleaned the tank forever. I figured the water was too dirty for baby fish so I went to do a small water change from the oppisit side of the tank. In doing so I scared the catfish and they darted over on top of the eggs with a gravel and tankage cloud behind them.. I hurried up and took the catfish out and put them in a 30 gal.I decided the damage was done and started to clean some of the gravel where i had started. Now that it is all done the female has been picking at the eggs and swimming to another part of the tank like as if she might be moving them. Can Jack Dempseys move their eggs or is she eating them or what. odd enough they layed their eggs right on the bottom of the tank not insided a tube or even on a flat rock. They are a young pair so I know that if she eats the eggs there will be another shot but I want to know if there is any chance of even a small fry this time.
Derek Cook

Many cichlids ,including the Jack Dempsey will lay eggs in pits that they escavate and will then fan the eggs to prevent silt,or detritus from gathering on the eggs.
As they don't have hands,, they will gather eggs in their mouths and move them if the nest is disturbed, or if for some other reason the spot chosen is no longer to their liking.
Water should not be allowed to get too awfully dirty, and if weekly water changes and gravel vaccuming are taking place,, dirty water can be prevented.
Many species of catfish will eat eggs of other fishes, and the Dempsey's may kill the catfishes as they grow to adult size ,or even at young age, if catfish begin to show interest in the nest that the Dempsey's are gaurding. Even large catfish,, may be subjected to vicious attacks from a breeding pair of Dempsy's.
Would try and vaccum one third to one half the bottom of the tank with each weekly water change,and a different area each week taking care to avoid the area that Dempsey's have selected to deposit eggs.
Dempsey's will fiercely protect young fry and I would expect them to inflict serious damage even in large tank to the catfish no matter the catfishes size, if they should find themselves near the nest or fry.
Keep your water clean, and leave the Dempsey's alone and they are quite capable of rearing the young without intervention.

iamntbatman

It is also possible that the parents ate the eggs. Cichlids will do this when they feel that conditions aren't optimal for raising eggs and fry. The changing water parameters from the water change, the movement from the catfish or something else that disturbed them might have caused them to eat the eggs (if indeed they ate them rather than moved them). Also, oftentimes a new cichlid pair will take a couple of tries before they get it right when it comes to breeding, so I wouldn't worry too much. They can be quite prolific once they get the hang of things.

spazgettio

Thank you atleast I know their is some possibility of a fry . I must have forgotton to mention that they stoped eating a several weeks back when I wasnt home. They were hanging out in a piece of pvc pipe. My mom shook the pipe to get them out and see if they were alright she didnt know any better. Upon comming home we found a baby jack about an inch long in the tank aside from the baby I hadnt been home in weeks so the water was verry dirty the next day they had layed eggs before I had a chance to do a water change. This is the only reason I got involved. I guess this is a wait in the shadows and see what happens deal. I have an african cat and some kind of spoted blind cat that is like 30 years old but I moved them immediatly to my 30 gallon tank. Now the jacks have the whole 110 to themselves. Ive had a breading pair of oscars before but they would always eat their eggs. I tried incubation but never got past the darting stage. I never have seen any cichled raise their young so this whole thing is very exciting to me.

spazgettio

I did the best thing I could I left them alone and tried not to disturb them. It payed off there are at least a hundred baby fish swimming around the tank with their parents. Id say they are just past darting stage.

doughnut

Thats wonderful! congrats! Any chance of pictures?

Michael