Question for the Gurus

[the don]

My blue damsels mated last night, i saw the male release his sperm and the female her eggs, then the male guarded and took care of them. It was cool to watch, know comes the question, how do i take care of them. I only have 4 fish in the tank and figure if i give a few small feeds a day, they wont get too hungry and eat the fry. When do the eggs hatch? Also will the bottom of my powerhead suck up the fry and kill them? I am a broke student who cannot afford another tank, so any other suggestions would be welcome. Also what do you feed the little babies. thanks everyone.

 

[mr . salty]

Sorry to say,but it is probably already too late. If you ever plan on keeping the babies the mating pair should be in thier own tank. As for feeding the fish so they wont be tempted,Sorry again,They will not be able to resist even on a full stomach.

 

[mithrax]

Hmmmm...do you think it's worth the effort (and expense) to rear those young? Being a student you probably do not want a big chunk of your time there. I would leave them alone and see if any will hatch and survive without much intervention...meantime, feed them newly hatched brine shrimps. Good luck!

 

[bobber]

I second Trey's response. Rotifers and a separate tank and a handful of luck. There are fish that have bread successfully in captivity, but many have not. --Bob

 

[shel]

I don't know anything about raising the fry, but I wanted to say congrads. Your fish must really be happy if they are doing that. I would love to have witnessed that. I know this nothing to do with salt water, but I have a fresh water tank also, I came home late one nite and my rubber Eel had babies. 6 of them, they are now 9 weeks old, everybody survived. She was pregnet like 4 months, I did not even know she was. I figured she was eating to much brime shimp. That was the reason we seperated her from the other Eel (Male). Like I said before she was seperated for 4 months and then we had these babies about 4-5 inches long. It was really cool.
Shel
From what I found on the internet is they do not breed in captivity. (Spelling? )
Very rare I guess. Not that rare. LOL