Hey all,

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on a predatory fish that could keep my cichlid fry under control.

Currently have a 55g Mumba tank with 12 Cichlids, 3 flying foxes and 2 Syndidontis Petracola.

As it stands, I have 3 3/4" or larger fry swimming in my tank, and several 1/2" fry keeping themselves around the pumps & filters. I really dont want my population going crazy, and short of seperating the males and females, I do not know what else to do other then introducing a preditor of some kind. The hard part is what type. I have tried a starry night spiney eel, but he never bothered himself with the fry and ended up dying as I could not feed him individually in the cichlid tank.

I could try a tire track or fiery eel....but both of those species can out grow the tank, and could pose a threat to the adult mumba's when it gets bigger.

so yah.....any advise?

If you want to get rid of the fry take them down to your LFS and see if they will trade you some fish food or something. Sometimes they will trade you for items in their store even for some other fish that you would want. If you do not like for your fish to breed, take your male or female breeder to the LFS and trade him/her in also for a different specie and problem soved. Hope that helps

Gary's suggestion of trading them to your local pet store is a great idea. I did that with baby hamsters once, although I admit I was a bit annoyed when he sold all 9 babies for $4.95 each within a week and I only got a $1 store credit. You could also try to give them away through Craiglist. As for predators, I found out African Clawed Frogs (often confused with African Dwarf Frogs - make sure you get the right one) will do a pretty effective job of killing small-medium sized fish. My African Clawed Frogs are now living in their own tank because I did NOT need my fish population thinned out. :-(

What if you can't catch them because they hide between the rocks and you dont want to destroy your aquarium every 4 - 6 weeks?