Fish guys - no, not sushi. Help!

[slodave]

Fish tanks can be a nightmare! what happened to the good old days of tossing a goldfish into a bowl?

Four African Cichlids, two male, two female. One Plecos. My Cichlids get it on almost everyday. I'm not in the habit of breeding fish, nor am I setup for it, so the little fry usually become appetizers for the big male. Anyway, this time around, it looks like I have a few baby fish. At last count, I had about 8. My tank is a tall 30 gallon tank, so I have a hard time reaching the bottom. Earlier today, I put a broken piece of pottery in the tank, so the little ones could have a better chance. I figure that if they get big enough - survive, I'll setup my 10 gallon tank and see if I can give these guys a new, good home. <- No, I do no plan on keeping them in the 10 gal, only temporary until they are big enough to give away or sell.

This evening, checking in on the little ones, I noticed loads of little white, what I think are mites at the top of the tank. These things are not really in the water (except those that seemed to have fallen in). I looked a little on the Internet, but could not find anything on this. I would take a pic, but they are too small.

Any ideas what they are and what to do? There are no live plants in the tank, thought I did have an algae problem, but my Plecos is on the job and doing a good job.

Thanks!!!

Dave

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

Dave,

These could have come from the pottery. How well did you clean it? Did you use a non-iodized salt solution?

The pleco will likely eat the fry as well. Sooner you can move them... can you safely move water to the ten? then catch the fry with a brine shrimp net?

Seems there should be some local demand for the babies on the local market. Cichlids are such fun fish!!

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

Dave,

These could have come from the pottery. How well did you clean it? Did you use a non-iodized salt solution?

The pleco will likely eat the fry as well. Sooner you can move them... can you safely move water to the ten? then catch the fry with a brine shrimp net?

Seems there should be some local demand for the babies on the local market. Cichlids are such fun fish!!

[slodave]

Good point on the pottery. I actually did not think about cleaning it. Doh! It had been sitting around without a plant for years. Well, if they are from the piece of pottery, there were thousands of them living on it. I broke the pot and only put a small piece of it in. I ran a damp paper towel across the top and picked up about half. I wonder if the rest will will fall into the water and perish?

Thanks for the quick answer. I think Ill check the rest of the pot before I throw it away.

Dave

P.S. I just checked the box where I broke the pottry and there does not seem to be anything crawling around. Maybe I'll take a piece, soak it in an old butter container and see if anything appears.

[the]

That's pretty cool! I had tanks when I was a kid, including African chiclids (and oscars, and salt, etc. etc. over the years), but never had them breed.

It would be hard for me to sit back and let them get eaten! Can you use an aquarium siphon to pull them out?

[slodave]

First I really need to clean and setup the small tank. Looks like this is tomorrows project. A net is out of the question, the 30 gal. is just too tall and the space at the bottom, where they hide is too small/narrow. The siphon is a good idea.

These Cichlids came out of an established tank a number of years ago. That tank eventually caused the owners to setup up at least four more tanks that I knew of. At the time, the Rusty's were breading a lot. Later, some of the more colorful Cichlids in the tank started as well, but I couldn't find the room for any and did not really want to start another tank. This is the first time that I have had so many fry at one time and last so long.

[the]

Originally Posted by slodave

These Chiclids came out of an established tank a number of years ago. That tank eventually caused the owners to setup up at least four more tanks that I knew of.

LOL, he probably did what I would do.

See the fry. Try to catch same. Can't.

Set up another 30, move the adults to that!

And so on, until you have 4 tanks.

[slodave]

No! I wish I could get these little fuchers spayed and neutered!

[Tobra]

do a partial water change to get rid of some of the white whatever it is

Try keeping the tank a few degrees cooler, they won't be quite so randy

[slodave]

Originally Posted by Tobra

do a partial water change to get rid of some of the white whatever it is

Try keeping the tank a few degrees cooler, they won't be quite so randy

Thanks, but they are not in the water, but right above the water line. Water is clean is as clean as water can be with fish.

[Tobra]

use clean coffe filter to skim from surface an wipe off sides perhaps

[slodave]

Seems like all I can really do at the moment. As long as I don't start itching....

[Tobra]

probably had some oily material on pottery, maybe some fertilizer residue. I would suspect it emuslified in the tank and floated to the surface. Partial water change could not hurt, liable to be dissolved material that is not so visible.

[slodave]

The tank is due for a water change anyway. Looks like I'll be having a fishy day tomorrow.

[Dave L]

I had africans that had babies a number of times. I let nature take its course and a few did survive and grow. My tank is small for African Cichlids at 18x18x48 but I have it stacked with lava rock so there are lots of hiding places. At just 30 gallons you might have a tough time giving enough room for each fish to establish a territory.

[vash]

the pleco, depending on the type, will need food supplements. either tablets food or a strip of zuchini rubber banded to a log. if it is a bristle nose pleco, it will not eat algae, but munch on your driftwood. i learned this the hardway. poor algea pleco..starved.

my buddy had africans that were very..hot to trot. lots of young ones. he did some searching and found a native (to them) catfish that would control the egg nest. it worked. i dont know the species.

[Rusty Heap]

Don't start whining about hassles of a freshwater tank, wait till you getting into a salt water reef tank and several of your $60-100 corals start dieing and melting overnight because the water temp got over 85-86F, normal is 80-81.

reef crashes ain't no fun, a healthy reef is awesome to watch, but about 10X more expensive and harder to care for that fresh water cichlids (I did jack demseys and tiger oscars before I got into reefs 15 years ago)

One night I lost $400 in fish overnight due to toxins getting release from a dieing Sea Apple.

sigh.

[Dave L]

thats the main reason why I wont go salt water. I lost one of my Cichlids the other day, He was a nice bright orange "red red" and was the dominant fish in my tank. Im not sure what happened but he was purchased when I moved into my new house 4 years ago and grew to be about 5 inches long. The tank has been in a bit of chaos lately as the other fish seem to want to become the dominant fish

[slodave]

And that's why I don't have a salt tank. I usually wouldn't "whine", but everything was fine in this tank for years and all of a sudden. it's one thing after another.

I cleaned out the 10 gallon tank and will go to the store for some new gravel in a little bit. I think a few of the fry have become fish appetizers, but still enough to go through the hassle of setting up a new tank.

[Tobra]

When my Texas cichlid had babies I put a partition in the tank and an extra filter so it would have one at both ends. Gave them away to patients, they took a great interest in them. The Jaguar Cichlid ate a lot of them too, then got huge, 18" long and perhaps 2.5" thick from head on, maybe 6" top to bottom, had him 7 years probably close to 2 lb when he died