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I'm a newbie to breeding and my Mutlies (shelldwellers) have spawned. I didn't even know until today when I saw a fry at the bottom of the tank swimming around. I can only see about 5 of them. They are TINY and transparent. They look like little clear tadpoles. Maybe 1/32 of an inch in length. How long can I keep them in the tank? Also, what should I be feeding them? So far I haven't feed them anything because I didn't know they were there until today. This is soooo cool yet nerve wracking. Please help me and give any advice at all that you can. Thanks in advance!

What else do you have in the tank? Other fish will more than likely try and eat the fry.

Generally multies are pretty good parents, but as with most cichlids, it takes them a few attempts to get it right usually. Don't worry if the fry do disappear, as there will be more along soon.

If the fry are free swimming, and it sounds as though they are, they will need food. Get some fry food or crush flakes into a powder and try and get some in their direction.

You can always get a breeding net if you want to make sure that the fry are raised correctly and not eaten.

Good luck.

the fry will survive in the same tank they were born in if you put more shells in, the best shellie tank IMO is to just cover the bottom of the tank with shells

Daka<<<<

Thanks for the replies. The only fish in the tank are the Multies, it is a species tank. Any other ideas?

Leave them with the parents! Multis are colony fish; raising fry is their raison d'etre.
Agreed with dakafall that for multis (and similis, but NOT most other species of shelldwellers) a carpet of shells, shells, shells is ideal. This'll provide plenty of future homes for the fry, but for now they'll be living with Mom for a month of two.
Whatever you're feeding the parents will get to the fry - ever notice what messy eaters your multis are? There's a reason: fry eat crumbs, and the bacteria that live on those crumbs. Pellets are ideal, over flakes. For direct-to-fry feeding: baby brine shrimp or decapsulated brine shrimp eggs; tiny live foods like vinegar eels or microworms, if you have them; infusoria, if you care to culture it. However, all you absolutely need is a good pellet to feed the adults.

The fry can stay with the parents - well, forever, given the tank size for all of them (and to give you some idea, breeders often report 80 multis of varying ages in a 10 gal, not that I recommend that in terms of water quality). So don't remove them, don't move them to a breeding net, etc. The parents want to raise them and, since they're already out of the shell, they're as much as two weeks old - clearly your parents have figured out their part of the job. You may have had other, failed, spawns, but this one's working; no need whatsoever to remove the fry.

-Molly
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Thanks soooo much for all of the info. I've only had these fish for about 3 weeks now. They are F1's. I have 7 full grown fish and about 5-7 fry, not sure yet on the fry count. I have 2 full grown males that are a little under 2" and 5 females that are all a little over 1". They are in a Eclipse 12 right now with 30 escargot shells covering almost all of the bottom. I'm worried that my tank is too small. Should I upgrade? If so what size? I was thinking a 20 long? Also, right now I'm only feeding Omega One african cichlid flakes and frozen brine shrimp. Is this a problem? You mentioned pellets. However the pellets that I can get at my LFS which are Hikari are all too big. I feed large Hikari pellets to my Dovii and my Midas and I've looked at the so called "mini" pellets before and those look too large for Multies. What pellets do you recommend and do u know where I can order them online? Thanks a lot!

Upgrading would be a GREAT idea. A 20 long is a great size for a small multi colony, and will allow them space to really form a hierarchical group.

Best pellet hands down is New Life Spectrum - sold online all over, I usually get mine from Drs Foster and Smith. The Mini granules are a good size, and so are the Growth ones (those are a little bigger).

-Molly
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I suspect also that shell use is a learned behaviour passed down from the adults.. if the fry are not 'raised' by the parents, they become unaware that using shells is their #1 escape/shelter option!