New Severum babies

[fishfriend]

We have a 55 gallon tank. With two green, two gold severums (each severum about 4 in) , a chocolate cichlid, two kribs, and 4 small convicts...
Our two Kribs are usually prolific breeders, we have a small baby tank next to our main tank for the babies...
anyways to our surprise the last few weeks our two green severums have been kissing like crazy... our children found that amusing!
A couple days ago we noticed, tails (hatching) The two severums becoming very protective of their side of the tank. We now have what seems to be at least 50 babies!!! Wow what a surprise to us for sure.
It is fun to watch the parents protect the babies. If they stray too far, they collect them in their mouths, then put them through what looks like a rinse cycle, and spit them back out with the group. What great little parents they are.
We plan to move the babies to the baby tank in the next couple days.
Comments and suggestions appreciated.
Excited new fish grandparents ;)

[cichgirl]

Welcome! It may be easier to wait to move them until they look like they're interested in eating food - they'll still be small enough to syphon out. Before that they just feed off the substrate. If you move them sooner you can feed them fry food, it's just a bit messier.

[baytherman]

Congrats on the babies. I would do as Cichgirl has suggested. At this time I would also consider some much larger quarters if you want to continue keeping all these fish together in the near future pertaining to the quality of life issues for your fish. Your Severums and Chocolate are capable of getting well over 6 inches if properly taken care of. Again, Congrats and hopefully many family experiences will be coming your way.

[fishfriend]

In regards to the above, we are keeping an eye on the biologic load on the tank. In my early days of aquarium keeping, I recall the old rule of thumb of one inch of fish for every gallon of water. I keep this in mind but try to stay below this - especially with cichlids. We also try to be good stewards and change the water regularly.

When the tank was first established, we had a community tank of tetra, barbs, angels, etc. Over time, I got my wife (who wrote the first post of the thread) to consider cichlids and we have the mix that we do now and are very pleased. I didn't have an aquarium for a number of years after I first got started with a 29 gal tank back when I was in high school. Despite having a history with cichlids (used to have Keyholes and Firemouths), these fish in the tank are the first I have owned to have bred.

We are looking forward to observing the proud parents - they seem very diligent despite their reletive small size.

[cichgirl]

One thing - forget the one inch of fish per gallon thing with cichlids. It doesn't at all apply to them.