Question on leaving the Male with the fry?

[indjo]

Originally Posted by Option

Now the only question is (and I'm also very curious)....how many days can the father be safely left with the fry after hatching???

Good fathers can be left with fry until they're adults. Often a female offspring will breed with father. I avoid this by using water pumps, giving them currents and or over stocking.

Leaving male with fry really depends on your goals. If you want to breed him again, it's best to take him out after a month or two so he can be reconditioned. Or maybe you want to maintain his fin form - need to exercise him. It's best to immediately remove him after fry are free swimming. . . . and so on

[GhostFeather]

I will probably only leave him with them for about a month,then take him out.
I have plenty of other males to breed,I like this guys fins,so I will breed him again after awhile and try to improve them in future spawns.
Bill

[GhostFeather]

2 more days have gone by and he is still doing a great job!
When I did my water change today,I noticed that he had built a new nest-it was on the heater cord where it enters the water.
Funny thing-it was bigger than his original nest.
I think I could leave him in untill they are adults,he just keeps swimming all over checking them out,
When I fed him today,ther were 4 fry swimming all around him.
I am not sure at this time how many fry are in the tank,I know at least 2 dozen,I found out that there are always more then what you first think.
I do know it was a small breeding,the females first time at 4 months.
Bill

[BettAsha]

Originally Posted by LadyVictorian

Wow that is an amazing experiment. I would LOVE to know how your fry turn out after leaving them with dad. I wonder if sisters raised like this once removed from all males would coexist better in a sorority vs's females raised together without a father. That might be an interesting experiment later on though it seems dad is the one keeping the peace with his spawn.

It makes sense to me though, in the wild I can't imagine a male would ditch his kids right after they start free swimming. Survival wise most of them would be killed and maybe if lucky one or two would possibly make it. Seems more likely a male would protect them until they were large enough to hopefully protect themselves and go off in the scary world.

I am also curious about leaving the male with the fry. It always seemed to strange to me to remove the father once the fry were free swimming. I think I might try this myself. This might be beneficial because the father might do some culling himself because I'm sure they can since problems earlier than we can. These are all just my thought and theories in no way am I experienced with this sort of thing.

[Sena Hansler]

Finding a good father can be difficult... Once you find him, use him to his full potential!! Ares could be left in with his fry, if I were to spawn him one more time.

[GhostFeather]

I checked yesterday eveing and today,I can't find any fry.
Not positive,but I think he ate them.
On a side note,he seemed to be doing good as long as he was building bubble nests,when he quit making them(yesterday),it seems like he started eating them.
Don't know if there is a corilation there or not.
I will keep looking,but I doubt if there are any left,not giving up!
I moved him back into his tank today.
Bill

[Maddybelle]

Did he look bloated, like he ate too much at the Fry Buffet? Did you have any cover in the spawn tank (plants, spawn mop, etc?) I stuffed my tub full of every plant, real and fake, that I had lying around, and it definitely helped, IMO. Maybe you can try again. =(

[MrVampire181]

I left a father with his fry for a week. They grew faster, and I only had two runts. I think the father can cull and take care of them during that time better than we humans can. I just made sure to gently change a few quarts of water that week before I started my regular 50% water changes.

[GhostFeather]

He did not seem bloated,it as a small spawn(her first) might of had a couple dozen to begin with,
I cleaned the tank today,pulled the plants and swished the plants gently in a clear plastic shoebox-no fry.
Checked the breeding tank,no fry.
The first 4 days he kept building bubble nest and he was very good with the fry,when he stopped building the nests is when he must have started eating them.
It as a cool experience,just sad I lost the fry,I might try again sometime.
My breeding tanks are 10 gallon tanks with java moss,the usual set up.
This time though,I kept the Java Moss in 2 Cherry Tomatoe containers(the plastic type)to make cleaning the bottom of the tank easier.
Bill

[Option]

Sorry to hear you lost the fry. But this thread has been very educational for me. I definitely want to try leaving-father-in on my upcoming spawn. So as a recap: after the eggs hatched how many days total did you leave the father in before you noticed he had eaten the fry?