Raising calvus fry

[Betty]

Anyone here been successful raising calvus or comp fry? I could use any tips or personal experience.  

This afternoon I decided to do an extra big water change and cleaning on my calvus tank.  I got the water swirling around from under the rocks to make sure I vacuumed up debris that was hidden under there.  I was siphoning out what I thought was some poop and notice some of it moving in ways poop shouldn't be moving.  They were fry!    I had no idea they had spawned and I feel so bad for getting them all stirred up and even siphoning some of them out into the yard.   

I caught a few that were scattered around the tank and put them in a breeder box because I had read that the parents might eat them after they are free swimming. I saw a few more still in the tank, but the adults don't seem to be interested in them.  

I'll do some more reading to figure out what to do next, but I know that it's difficult to get the fry to survive through the first couple of weeks.  

I feel terrible for not noticing the spawn.

 

[Betty]

Adding some pictures.   

The fry are tiny!

 

[fishyladdy]

omg they are cute i want some!

 

[Betty]

If they spawn again and I don't accidentally kill them all the next time, you can have some fishyladdy. (They are very slow growers though!)

 

[Madness]

I believe Bassettman has bred his a few times hopefully he chimes in

 

[cichlid-gal]

I believe Bassettman has bred his a few times hopefully he chimes in

 lus1: 

 

[bassetman]

best tresults for me have been to siphon off the fry in the wiggler phase. place them in a fry tank and feed with decap brineshimp or freeze dry cyclops. keep the water super clean . i use a Hob filter with an ati sponge filter grafted to the intake. good luck .

 

[Betty]

Thank you bassetman.  I have them in a breeder box for now because every fry tank is full of something else right now.  :  I'll see if I can get some cyclops.  I've got First Bites and frozen bbs on hand, but they don't seem to be interested in that yet.  

This morning I found about 30 of them in the front corner of the tank and went ahead and put them in the breeder box.  I'm curious about whether or not the adults will eat the babies if I leave them in the tank?

 

[bassetman]

Yes they will eat them sometimes. Ken's fish has the cyclops they need really tiny food at first. Try to avoid temp and water change temp swings. In two weeks they are pretty tough but easy to loose the batch in the first weeks.

 

[Betty]

Knocking on wood -- it's still early, but they are alive and some of them are starting to show interest in the bbs and First Bites.  I don't know if I'll order any food for this batch, but will look into it if they spawn again.  

I think I'll do small water changes daily to avoid any drastic changes, but they did survive that very turbulent 80% water change I did when I first discovered them.  :shock: 

Bassetman, did yours spawn in that cichlid stone in the picture?

 

[bassetman]

Yes their favorite spot. When the female disappear and the male guards the door eggs are inside.

 

[Betty]

I think I'll add a cichlid stone to the tank.  I have a couple of shells in there right now and that's what they used to spawn in this time.

An update...
Most of the babies are still alive and still in the breeder box.  I've also seen two others living in the tank.  The adults don't seem to have any interest in them.  It's a good thing they are slow growers because I haven't figured out where I'm going to put them. I added some cherry shrimp and baby plecos to eat left over food in the breeder box.  

Even though they don't move too much, I still have a tough time getting any pictures in focus.  

 

[DMD123]

That is awesome. Congrats on the babies. Calvus are one of my favorite Africans. If they only grew bigger....

 

[Betty]

That is awesome. Congrats on the babies. Calvus are one of my favorite Africans. If they only grew bigger....

Didn't you have a small tank around?   

 

[DMD123]

For now a growout.... future plans, who knows?

It has always amazed me to see pics of calus 'yawning', they remind me of the basket mouthed predatory fishes who suck down prey with no problem. In nature I guess they can get into pretty tight crevices to eat the fry of other fish. Very cool fish!

 

[cichlid-gal]

Great job raising those up Betty...as I understand they are hard to grow out due to slowness and being small. They are looking great!

 

[Madness]

I need to find my some Calvus to replace the 3 that I killed when I tore my sons tank down after the house flooded. Left them in the bucket to long.  :x 

But they grow painfully slow, his were easily almost 3 years old and the largest was his white which was barely 3". Would love to find some that are already around that size.

 

[DMD123]

Wow, I heard they were slow growers but that is real slow. The Wet Spot sells .75" to 1" on line for $11, with that slow a growth rate a 3" one would cost a pretty penny.

 

[DMD123]

And why do I know the cost of Calvus on line you ask? Been looking at all types of things for the future of my 40B.   

 

[Madness]

calvus are KOOOOL. I like them and Fronts, that is it.