Hemichromis Elongatus/5 Star General fry

[AdamCichlid]

For the past week and a half or so my 5 Star Generals have paired up and today when I got home the female had laid a bunch of eggs on one of my coconuts. This is my first time ever experiencing any fish breeding, but I have done some homework but need a little bit more reassurance and advice from my fellow fish lovers. They are housed in a 20 Gallon high right now by themselves and I have a 10 gallon fully cycled waiting for fry to be put in. As far as food for the fry, I have purchased Hikari first bites and have purchased a baby brine shrimp hatchery with baby brine shrimp eggs, and also have a recipe for egg yolk that I fed to my baby guppies that cycled my 10 Gallon. The advice that I need is when should I transfer the fry from the 20 to the 10, what should I look for with the parents if they need to be seperated, any other additional advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Hurriken]

I've never heard of them called 5 star generals before! Hemichromis elongatus is a Jewel cichlid from Western Africa which unfortuneately I have no experience with. I think what I would do first is stand back and watch. watch the parents behavior towards the eggs and then the fry. See if they care for the fry or run them off...or eat them. Chances are they will breed again. Then adjust your methods to save the fry. Brine shrimp would be great. I feed my Cichlids NLS(New Life Spectrum) which I would feed to the fry by either powdering it in an old coffee grinder or soak some in tank water and then mashing it. I'm pretty sure Jewels are aggressive eaters, but you would know better, so you shouldn't have a problem getting them to eat.Those are very attractive fish that you have there!

[AdamCichlid]

Thank you Hurriken,
As of right now, the female stays real close to the eggs and the male stays at the upper part of the tank. the female will sometimes go swim with the male up top but if the male trys to get close to the eggs the female will chase him away. I've only have had these fish for almost a month, I feed them frozen foods such as blood worms, brine shrimp, beef heart, cichlid delight, krill, and ocean nutrition formula two...I thank you for the advice, I would really like to keep the fry whether they breed again or not, so if I see the parents chasing them or eating them would it be ok for the fry to move them to the 10 gallon or would that be too stressful on them?

[Hurriken]

If they decide to eat the fry it will be fast. You probably won't see it. Some people would say to remove the male because the female is pushing him away but the other side of that coin is if he is gone she might get "bored" and stop caring for them...or eat them herself. Also, it's pretty common for the first egg laying to die off without hatching. You can only hope that the male fertilized them. They have to "learn".

[AdamCichlid]

Ok I wont seperate them and I'm crossing my fingers hoping he fertilized them...Thanks for everything Hurriken

[AdamCichlid]

I now have wigglers but not all of them have hatched yet, I tried taking pictures but they are too small to see on my camera phone...I cant wait till I get back home to see them...

[Hurriken]

LIKE!

[C. Andrew Nelson]

Very cool!

[AdamCichlid]

C Andrew, yea I think its very cool too, I see why they call them wigglers now. It really looks like when you watch tv on a channel you dont get lol

[AdamCichlid]

The parents are taking very good care of them, if any wigglers stray away from the pile the male or female will scoop them up with their mouth and spit them back out on top of the pile...