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This is a topic from one of my previous topics...

My first batch of eggs has been hatched for a few weeks now and the fry have started looking like tiny Jack Dempseys. I'm having no problem keeping them alive and well but when I went up stairs to look at them I noticed more tiny fry. It seems the parents have started making more babies. I don't want anymore fry because soon I wont have any room for them. Should I separate the two Dempsey parents? I don't want anymore baby fish!

Seperating them depends on how well they cope with the breeding effort, incessant breeding can shorten the overall lifespan of a fish, but if your happy to keep them well stocked with top quality foods, theres not that much difference. Rather than split up a happy couple , I have to admit id rather just squash the eggs, or scrape them up and feed them to other fish who will appreciate them. The thing about cichlids is, if you seperate them , theres always a chance they might not get back together again.Besides, breeding seems to be most cichlids number one pastime, and it seems a shame to rob them of the thing that occupies most of their attention and keeps them stimulated above all other things. Better a short rich life than a long dull one in my book. Its what they do given the choice, and its how evolution has made them. So basically only seperate them if they are looking exhausted or are losing condition to let them recuperate.

Wont be long before the parents will want the young out of their tank too, if their getting on with new batches of fry, they may kill youngsters from the previous batch if they go near the eggs. Plus in 3 months the new young will get their first flush of breeding hormones, and it will be punch-up time. Sell some off to the LFS for store credit, or give them to your fishkeeping friends, thats what I do.

I let my acaras breed ad libitum, but simply destroy the batches of eggs I dont want.They usually lay on the glass or the plants, so I just scrape them off and the parents realise the clutch is ruined and just eat them. I know it sounds a bit mean, and it can get you bitten by an angry parent, but its kinder in the long term than having overstock issues, or seperating a happy couple who dont fight.

I would like to sell them more than anything... But I don't think my local fish stores (Petsmart and Petco) will take them. I might be able to find a smaller business that sells fish to sell the fish to.