Hey im kinda new to fish having babies, but would hate to see all of them die. They hatched and they are all wiggling in an area they dug up. Should i do anything, scoop them up put them in a nursery? any advice would be great, till then back to googling
any other fish in the tank with them? usually cichlids r excellent parents… even if they decide to eat the first spawn, they wont wait long to lay another. sometimes the other fish may eat the babies when they start swimming about. but im sure the dempseys will keep them at bay for quite awhile… i would say let em go, see how they manage. its normally a pretty hands off deal for the keeper.
there are blood cichlids in it, cat fish etc… they are moving the fry every hour to a new spot. i guess ill leavem this time, ive read as you stated they do lay em alot
well there are alot of swimmers now. i got about 1/4 of them out into a breeder tank. and left the rest with the parents. anxious to see how this turns out
Cool…any pics? I’m not into freshwater, but I’ve seen some cool freshwater fish lately…making me rethink it.
HERES A VID!!!
if anyone wants one when they grow up a little like an inch and eating flake foods let me know
Thanks for uploading the vid! My connection seems to be sucking here now or my macbook is sucking, so it doesn’t seem to want to play, but I’ll check it out tomorrow morning!
Very nice - that is a crap load of baby fish!!!
I’d offer to take some but I have a BIG oscar and a big JD already that would make anything less then 3" a food item.
[quote=“Cdangel0, post:9, topic:1956”]
Very nice - that is a crap load of baby fish!!![/quote]
+1 looks like there are a ton of 'em!
Yea there are like 200 lol the tank is full of them!!!
Pretty cool. A Dempsey was one of the first fish I ever got. I loved that guy. Pretty sure I lost it to a disease brought in by a feeder fish. 
We have a pair in a tank we take care of at my work. Have never understood why the full grown couple has never laid eggs. The only other fish in the tank is a pleco and there are two receptionists that sit next to the tank that have never seen any eggs. Thought it would have been a sure thing.
well the unfortunate tank mates have consumed a lot of them… the ones i took out and put in a seperate tank i bought are doing great!! they are actually eating flake food thats crushed into a powder and when it hits the floor they go to town!! pretty entertaining. well i read if they breed once they willl breed a 1000 times, so you try and you learn. next time it will be better
Cat fish will eat what ever fits in their mouth and other cichlids can be brutal with the young. Rough odds, so I am glad you got some separated. Just curious How big of a tank did you put them in?
a very inadequte tank of 10 gallons, i have no room no funds no money to invest in breeding them . but i did wanna try. i am asking local friends to take the tank mates i have so i can move the babies back in. i know then require like 55-75 g tanks, but that is just not feasable in the leats bit.