To Baby the Fry or Not to Baby the Fry

Perhaps because I am a non-commercial hobbyist, I have always raised fish on the basis of only strongest are meant to survive. My logic is that the environment of a well taken care of tank (meaning good filtration, adequate water changes, availability of food, and if need be removal of the parents) should allow for the strongest fry to survive versus removing the fry into a smaller tank and having a higher rate of filtration and feedings. I also think this inevitably breeds stronger more disease resistant fish.

This is not meant to knock commercial breeding or anything. Just curious what others think on this subject. Granted I suffer in the affect that many of my fry die off before I know whether perhaps they had breeding qualities unlike those before them. But I believe that my fry when grown are much more hardy than those that have had an easier life. I'm posting this in the livebearers section because most of my observations have been made with livebearers (and they are like rabbits as far as breading goes) but I did breed angels and had the same philosophy with them.

I have mostly bred african peacocks, along with other various cichlids and this method would not produce many, if any, offspring in my observations. They are livebearers as well.

Every once in a while a few may survive hiding under structure, but for the most part all will become a snack. If moved to seperate tank, still only the strong survive, the weak or reluctant to eat will parish and the strain continues as it should...

This just my two Lincolns though, and other types of fishes my show different results. If there are fish large enough to fit the fry in their mouth it really doesn't matter how strong or hardy said fry are, IMHO...

African Peacocks / Cichlids , are not live bearers . They are egg laying mouth brooders .And they do become snacks if in a tank with adults. I tend to "Strip" my holding females at 12-14 days . The young fry are stripped into a hanging breeding net in the parent tank.
Just my 2 cents ,, Ray

At a non commercial stand point and for the love of the hobby I see nothing wrong with it. You can agree with both sides here. For money yeah seperate and feed, but for the more natural standpoint leaving them in with the rest of the pack should produce the strongest. In the wild only the smart survive, fighting or running just depends on natural instinct. Predators do exist in the wild and sometimes in our tanks. Also taking into consideration mouth brooders,substrate/shell spawners,and live bearers. Imo substrate spawners produce an abundance of fry which to me means the survival rate is better with higher numbers, and parents don't have to do as much baby sitting. Mouth brooders less fry but more protection from the mother.

Good points. I think what it really boils down to is if you are purposely trying to breed them or not, commerical or otherwise. If you are looking for the "let nature take it's course" thing, then what happens; happens. This is the way of the guppy, platy, etc. They give live birth to tons of free food. There are the select few who find cover and manage to survive.

On the other side of the fence, it will be determined on what you are breeding. In my case, with Oto's, I try to "baby" the fry as much as possible to ensure a better success rate. But methods in doing so shouldn't be so extreme such as moving the fry after they are hatched. There can be overkill with it such as too many water changes, incorrect feeding and such. Things of this sort can actually do more harm than good.