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African Black Convict and there fry

23 11:55:40

Question
My question is, why are the babies nipping at their parents? Is it because there hungry, they don't do this all the time. But I did see them do it. They are about 2months old and about half inch long. Their is about 2 dozen of them in a 10 gallon tank. We plan on donating the fry.

Answer
Hi Shannon,
  They get nutrition from the mucous growing on the parents.  They do it more if the kids are hungry.  If you feed them frozen baby brine shrimp, they will likely do it less.   A little of this "grazing" is okay but they can actually seriously harm the parents if they do it alot.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
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