Hi all, a couple of weeks ago I was doing my weekly water change when I noticed some strange little alien things clinging to the sides of the tank...after realising these funny little things were my grandfish, I syphoned up as many as I could and then sifted through the buckets to save them. I only managed 7 as they're fast swimmers...or fast wrigglers...and hid amongst the plants and gravel as soon as the scary hose was near them (I would too!). I set up a spare tank and rushed out to buy some liquid fry food and instant baby brine shrimp, and two weeks later they've more than doubled in size and actually look like fish now. They seem to be doing well. I change 20% of the water each day, have a sponge filter and the heater is set st 26°C. I also put some anacharis and anubias in from my main tank. Anything else I should be doing?
My main concern is my adult fish...I have 2 females, although one is only about 9 months old and the eldest is around 15 months. I noticed the first breeding activity back in April, and they ate the eggs straight away, and every time I saw them chasing around, I never noticed any eggs attached to plants or anything. The thing is, that my poor female is being chased about every three to four weeks and now that the eggs are hatching and I have fry, I'm a bit worried. Do they usually spawn so regularly? And is it safe for her, she seems happy enough, but looks exhausted at times, and the youngest male (9 months) has just started joining in too, so she has three to deal with.
I don't really have the space for any grandfish...although I can't bear the thought of giving them away to anyone who I wasn't convinced would care for them properly. Is there anything I can do to reduce the 'sexy time' :) As I'm glad they're happy, but I'm too young to have anymore grandfish! They have a heated tank, it's set at 20°C, and obviously rises with room temperature in the hotter months, but my house is generally cold, hence the heater.

The temperature rising a little can cause them to keep spawning. Is the tank temp perhaps fluctuating when you have the house heating on?

If the female is getting exhausted it might be best to separate them until the season is over. Check the males for breeding tubercles, little white dots on gills and pectoral fins - when they go it's over for a while.

If you don't have space for the babies it may be hard to rehome them to decent long-term home so sadly the best thing to do is to not try to save them.

Hi Fishlady, thank you for the advice. You could be right, I keep them at around 20°C, but I put the heating on each evening, which is set at 22°C. Most days my thermostat says around 14°C when I get up and it tends to stay that way all day...so I guess that could also be lowering the temp in the tank during the day, even with the heater on, as it is very cold in this house.
I think I'll have to just leave any new fry...but it'll be hard to do. But yes, better for the other fish in the long run.
Thanks again. Have a good week.