Julidochromis Transcriptus Bemba fry...yayy!!i love these dwarf african cichlids

aunt kymmie

Oh, that's awful to hear. I'm so sorry. Losing the partner of a mated pair sucks!
I have no idea what you should to now, hopefully someone comes along soon who knows the answer. Such a bummer.

cmc29

Thanks for your support, hopefully the fry will continue to do well and i get another mated pair out of them, we'll see how it all plays out.

LasColinasCichlids

SOOO Sorry to hear about you fish loss. I wish I had an idea of what to tell you, but I have no experiance with this.

Like you said, hopefully things just continue to grow and be safe.

Any clue to the cause of death? Obviously nothing to due with your tank as the fry and other parent is still okay.

Again, sorry to hear this.

cmc29

I only saw 2 fry today swimming, and it's the first time i've seen them in a day or two. I estimate that there are at most 3-4 left. The 2 fry i did see looked great colors were terrific and they were growing well.

LasColinasCichlids

Well, that is good news. Any idea what happened to the other fry?

cmc29

I'd say they are most likely dead, eaten by the kuhli loaches or remaing parent. Either that or they hide so good i can't see them even though i stare at the tank for 10-15 minutes at a time.

LasColinasCichlids

Here's to hoping they are just hiding!

cmc29

It's been a couple of weeks now with only 1 fry left. He's looking like a fish i can see his top fin and spot him much more easily even though he blends in with the black substrate. The remaining parent is dead also. After testing and retesting the water parameters i have come to 2 theories about the failure.
#1. the p.h. is a little on the low side for the fish(7.4-7.6 currently)
#2 the nitrates were a touch too high at 15-20 ppm. Doing water changes with fry has to be done carefully and with this species in very small amounts.

On my next attempt I"m going to remove the kuhlis, buffer the p.h. with sandstone and add lots of Java Fern from my other tank in an attempt to help water quality. I'm also going to start with a small group of the species and let them pair off. I'm also going to add some small pots and make more caves to increase the sense of security for the fish. Hopefully with these changes i'll see better results.

LasColinasCichlids

Sorry to hear the results thus far. Good luck on the next batch. Keep us posted!