Gymnogeophagus balzanii

[PaulineMi]

I was reading about the mouth brooding cichlid species Gymnogeophagus balzanii.  Thought I'd share what the author wrote that he experienced with his:

Here is an interesting tid-bit that I found interesting about the female after she finally released her fry that did not survive. I had another net hanging across the top of the tank with some two day old Corydoras paleatus fry. As I had finished cleaning out the bodies of her unfortunate fry, I accidently bumped the net containing the cory fry. Into the tank went seventy percent of the cory fry! My first instinct was to try and get all the fry out before the pair devoured them. To my surprise, the female began picking the little cory babies up in her mouth and after what appeared to be a 'swooshing' motion to 'clean' her babies, she would then release the fry. She did this for several days and the cory fry did not seem to be too upset with the whole idea. The third day the cory fry were large enough for me to remove them from the tank and place them in a tank of their own to finish growing out. This female definitely had a maternal instinct.

[Mugwump]

I was reading about the mouth brooding cichlid species Gymnogeophagus balzanii.  Thought I'd share what the author wrote that he experienced with his:

Here is an interesting tid-bit that I found interesting about the female after she finally released her fry that did not survive. I had another net hanging across the top of the tank with some two day old Corydoras paleatus fry. As I had finished cleaning out the bodies of her unfortunate fry, I accidently bumped the net containing the cory fry. Into the tank went seventy percent of the cory fry! My first instinct was to try and get all the fry out before the pair devoured them. To my surprise, the female began picking the little cory babies up in her mouth and after what appeared to be a 'swooshing' motion to 'clean' her babies, she would then release the fry. She did this for several days and the cory fry did not seem to be too upset with the whole idea. The third day the cory fry were large enough for me to remove them from the tank and place them in a tank of their own to finish growing out. This female definitely had a maternal instinct.

..interesting....you know 'fostering' angel spawns can work very,very well too...

[LizStreithorst]

Brewmaster on Simply fostered a spawn of Angel fry with a spawn of Discus.  He posted about it.  The little Angels actually ate from the sides of the Discus pair.  The Discus pair were as devoted to the baby Angels as much as they would be to their own kids.  It blew me away!

[Mugwump]

...I saw that....thanks for reminding me about it.....and yep, crazy.....

[LizStreithorst]

It blew me away.  The parenting instinct can be very strong. I once had a Toy Poodle who would mother my baby goats.