What to do with fry

[slava2929]

Thought i had two male rainbow cichlids but the much smaller fish (about 1/3 the size of my adult rainbow) ended up being female and now I have about 100 fry and they're growing.

Have been in the hobby off and on for years, but only got hardcore a year ago and I have never bred fish. In about 2-3 months I'm going to have far too many fish on my hands and I was wondering what others do with their fry.

I have two relatively large LFS near me and one sells rainbow cichlids but they don't sell very well. The other one has never sold them. I seriously doubt I'm going to be able to re-home all of them right away. Since a lot of people breed fish, what do you do with them? Do you cull the fish? Do you remove the eggs when fish breed to keep numbers in check or are most local fish stores willing to pay a buck a two per fish. I'm going to be stuck about 60 days from now and any advice would be appreciated.

 

[twentyleagues]

Well most fish I have had breed were wanted by hobbyists or lfs. I did have a rather large African cichlid factory for a while that over saturated my lfses and I was only getting like .30 per fish. Sounds bad but I started using them as feeders for my oscar. And then I just started leaving them in there and adults would keep alot of the population in check. Then I found a really cool fish at an lfs I didnt go to alot and spent the $100 they wanted and I put it in the African tank as it was african and they said itd be fine. That fish ate all my cichlids. So you could introduce a predator to the tank. Just dont go with the one I did or something like it. Oh what was it you ask? Well it was a super cute awesomely cool 5" ( full size...lol) enderlicheri. Yeah lfs was very wrong about compatibility and "full size". This was before the age of internet.

 

[MrsE88]

I sell mine privately, then once I no longer have interested buyers or I’m just ready to be done with the hassle. I’ll sell to stores. Stores pay the least amount so selling privately by far is more profitable, if you can call it that. Haha
I’ve culled by feeding very small fry to other fish or older fry.

As for prevention;
You can take out eggs.
If your tank isn’t too stocked already, adding a bottom feeder or fast schoolers can keep fry numbers down.
I’ve found keeping just a couple older fry will keep any new ones from making it past wiggler stage. Since the adults refuse to eat the fry but siblings are very canibalistic.

The next thing I think I’ll try is joining a local fish club. I keep hearing from others here that it’s a good way to offload fry and find good deals too. So it sounds worth a shot

 

[tlindsey]

Welcome aboard

Agree with twentyleagues also some members will ask for store credit . I personally would cull out the bad fry and give them to the lfs. You could join your local fish association(Club) and trade or sale fry to fellow club members.

 

[duanes]

I also(like Tom does) cull any sub par fish, but the take the best fish to my local club meetings.
Most clubs have a BAP (breeder award program) where you donate fry, get points, and they are auctioned off at regular meetings
You may be able to trade with other members of the club for fish you, or they, have not kept or bred, which leads to spreading species out, and members acquiring more points.
Many clubs also have public auctions, and swap meets where you get a percent of the fish sold.
When I'd have a glut of fry, I might put 10 in a bag, and bring 5 bags to the auction, or to the swap meet.
You'd be amazed at the deals you get at some auctions.
Your multispinnossa may sell 10 for $2 but, at least they go somewhere wanted.
I have picked up
10 dovii or 8 pike cichlid fry for $2, or 40 Guianacara fry for $8 at Chicago or Milwaukee auctions. This has allowed me to experiment with many species I would not have tried otherwise.

 

[Jexnell]

Check Petco's, the ones near me will buy fry for in-store credit.

 

[slava2929]

This is really great feedback. I never thought of private sales, but that's something I"m going to look into. Feeding them to other fish isn't something I"m emotionally capable of doing but I have three Denison's barbs who I think have culled a few fry.

Thanks for the help everyone. It's greatly appreciated.

 

[Jexnell]

This is really great feedback. I never thought of private sales, but that's something I"m going to look into. Feeding them to other fish isn't something I"m emotionally capable of doing but I have three Denison's barbs who I think have culled a few fry.

Thanks for the help everyone. It's greatly appreciated.

I have a 55gal with a breeding pair of Honduran Red Points. There are also three Roseline sharks in there. They do a great job of fry control. I have three growouts from I am guessing eight batches of fry they have laid.

Edit: I recently pulled the sharks out so I can actually get a batch of fry.

 

[twentyleagues]

I

This is really great feedback. I never thought of private sales, but that's something I"m going to look into. Feeding them to other fish isn't something I"m emotionally capable of doing but I have three Denison's barbs who I think have culled a few fry.

Thanks for the help everyone. It's greatly appreciated.

I thought so too at first but then you have to cull a few that are deformed and really the best way I felt was to let something else eat them. I would put the deformed ones in with the Oscar and it really wasnt a big deal. But ive fed feeders before so I guess I was primed. The first mouse I had to bonk to get a snake to eat frozen was tough. But fish and insects I dont really have an issue with. If you plan on breeding you will probably have to learn to handle it unfortunately. Not every batch of babies will be pristine, and its better then a slow death from starvation or being stuck on an intake or overflow because it cant swim properly.