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hi everyone,this ones kinda weird,well ive got a pair of convicts that spawned and some green sevrums that spawned aswell,but in 2 different tanks,and as i only use convict babies for feeders,ive put some convict babies into the sevrums tank 20 to be exact and the 2 sevrums wont eat the convict fry they have moved them into the log where they have there own fry,and are careing for them as if they were there own babies,this is the first time ive seen this,im not worried infact i think its kinda cool,but back to my question can they tell there fry from other fishesor do i just have a loving pair of sevrums.they clean them, feed them, bite me when i put my hand near there adopted kids,has this happened to any of you guys.

Generally fish cant tell fry apart. I know of a few people that foster discus fry to other discus who are better parents.
No reason why this wouldnt work with different species with similar requirements.

yeah its just really cool,if u didnt know that they were convict babies you would swear that they are the sevrums babies.does this often happen its never happened to me.

Cichlid 'adoption' of other fry has been known about for some time. One recent publication in the scientific literature is this one (the abstract only is presented on that page but us enough to be informative) which reveals that when large numbers of a given Cichlid species spawn together in the wild, it's possible for them to 'adopt' fry from each other's broods. It's a natural extension for them to adopt similar looking Cichlid fry from other species. Interestingly enough, in the case of the abstract above, it's the Convicts doing the adopting, though the behaviour of Central American Cichlids is sufficiently similar across the commonly available species for this to be observed in your Severums too.

Here's another link containing a more leigble version of the abstract.

You'll also find the topic is the focus of this article at the Cichlid Room website.

Well documented in the aquarium, and recently observed in the wild too.

UPDATE : If you read that Cichlid Room article, you'll find there's a Tanganyikan Cichlid, Lepidolamprologus elongatus, whose broods in the wild have been found to have fry of no less than six other Cichlid species mixed in with their own, spread across a diverse range of Genera!

UPDATE 2 : Another article from the Cichlid Room, this time dealing with adoption of the fry of Amphilophus bussingi in the wild by females of Archocentrus myrni. It's becoming quite a free for all with some wild Cichids, isn't it?


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

wow all i can say is wow,i never new that they adopted other fry like that,i just think that is so cool.those articles are great,also u would never think that a wild fish would let any other fry near there fry let alone look after and care for them.at the moment the convict babies are doing fine,they are just hangin with the sevrum babies,but now that they are getting colour and body shape you can tell that they are not sevrums,especally when they get there dinner,.do you think they will start picking on the sevrum babies,i know what convicts are like even as babies they can be nasty little dudes,and as this batch of sevrum babies is going to my lfs,i just want them in the best condition possible.but its been an experience,thats one of the things i love about fishkeeping,always learning something new.