tiger oscar pair

Question
How do you remove the babies from the main tank safely and what is the proper set up for a baby ciclid tank? How old should they be befor moving them to another tank?
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

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I have had 2 oscars for a couple of years and they are mating we have had 4 times of laying eggs with only 1 set hatching but my overflow system sucked them up. How can I keep them from being killed?
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Hi Melanie,
 The two possible solutions are to turn off the filter (which is probably a very bad idea) or to put some fine mesh over the intake of the filter to stop the babies from getting pulled in.  
This problem is actually why I use sponge filters on my tanks with breeding fish because then the babies can't get sucked up.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>
We moved the babies to a seperate tank and they all died except for 2. Is there a way to seperate them after a while? we used a net.
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Hi Melanie,
  I use nets to move babies around all the time, so using a net per se isn't really a problem.  

  Do you mean: is there a way to keep them in the main tank but separated from the other fish?  If so, the answer is basically "not easily".  Most any kind of net that is fine enough to contain them will also stop the water flow, etc, so you might as well have them in a separate tank.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>


Answer
Hi Melanie,
 I would catch the babies with a fine fish net.  A baby cichlid tank is just like any fish tank except that I would use a sponge filter for filtration (to prevent any chance that the babies will get caught in a filter).  Feed
them frozen baby brine shrimp once or twice a day and they should be fine.

 Personally, I like to leave the kids with the parents as long as possible because I like to see the parental care.  However, you can remove the kids as early as a few days after they are free-swimming.

-- Ron Coleman
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>