Oh yeah, forgot about this part. Wait a month or two, in the meantime
feeding the splendens a mix of meaty and veggie items. While the red tailed
goodieds (unless really well fed with frozen or live foods) are notorious
cannibals, the splendens are very tolerant of their fry - which are too
large to be swallowed when dropped. You will be surprised by their large
size and small number.
The only time I ever saw splendens attack fry was the time a female dropped
her first batch (in our tanks). Two of the three were malformed. The parents
left the whole fry alone but attacked the malformed ones. I left the normal
fry unmolested with mom and dad.
Out of curiosity, the spinally malformed ones were raised up by themselves.
At about an inch long they both died within a week of each other, of causes
unknown.
Some fishing lures imitate a wounded small fish. Do brood protecting
natives cull their crippled off spring?
Thanks and all the best,
Scott
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