Hi all, I had a young pair of Borellii “pantanal” in my 60 gallon (48” long) and was very sad to lose the male recently (slowly stopped eating, then declined rapidly, no obvious symptoms or issues with the other fish). However, in a twist, the female emerged from a cave a day later with fry, and I’m now attempting to raise them. I’ve put a divider in the tank so they are separated from the community fish (8 rummynose, 40 chili rasbora, 6 Cory - yeah, I know) am doing frequent water changes, and feeding baby brine shrimp 3X daily. The maternal care is amazing to watch!
Two weeks in there are about 10 fry (that number has held steady since I separated), maybe 2 mm long. I know it’s far from certain they make it, but a few questions. First - things seem fine now but how long should I keep them with the mother and how long until I’m in danger of another round of breeding? Second - I’m thinking about viable configurations when they are bigger. Let’s assume I could setup one more 10 or 20 gallon tank, that i could re-home some of them, and that I’m not looking to have more fry immediately / am concerned about inbreeding. If I have enough cover in the 60 would multiple males be possible? I had assumed no, but read apistobob’s guide on dwarfcichlid.com and saw that was a configuration he has been successful with (plus Borellii are relatively peaceful).
Any advice is appreciated-
Best,
Andrew
Two weeks in there are about 10 fry (that number has held steady since I separated), maybe 2 mm long. I know it’s far from certain they make it, but a few questions. First - things seem fine now but how long should I keep them with the mother and how long until I’m in danger of another round of breeding? Second - I’m thinking about viable configurations when they are bigger. Let’s assume I could setup one more 10 or 20 gallon tank, that i could re-home some of them, and that I’m not looking to have more fry immediately / am concerned about inbreeding. If I have enough cover in the 60 would multiple males be possible? I had assumed no, but read apistobob’s guide on dwarfcichlid.com and saw that was a configuration he has been successful with (plus Borellii are relatively peaceful).
Any advice is appreciated-
Best,
Andrew