re: please help - cacatoides

[Doug Dunlop <ddunlop@quortech.com>]

Rosie,
It is not unusual for dwarf cichlids to eat their first couple of clutches of 
eggs.  Often this happens when an innexperienced male fails to fertilise them 
properly - or from bad water quality - or some other non-obvious reason.  
Your apistos should settle down and become good parents within a couple of 
months.  In the meantime, I would let them alone.  
I have generally found that if the parents get to take care of the eggs 
untill the fry are free swimming, I get better quality fry as well as more of 
them.  Once the fry are free swimming, I suck them out with a turkey baster 
and put them in the grow-out tamk.
The crab will need to live elswhere if there are eggs or fry in the tank. 
Removing the fantails would help to improve the water quality which will also 
improve the quality of the fry and reduce the chances of the parents eating 
eggs/fry.
In my experience, removing eggs sometimes triggers violence between the 
parents, so be extra watchful if you do.
Doug


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