My first pair

[Zephaniah]

So my Red Marlboro (male) and Red Turquoise (female) have been spawning pretty regularly in the community tank on a flower pot.

I've seen at least 5 occassions with eggs and for 3 of them, I saw wigglers. Never saw any free swimming fry after that stage.
Don't know what happened to them, but I'm guessing they either got sucked up the two filters I'm running or they were eaten by the parents or other fish.

So I have setup a 29 gallon barebottom tank with just a sponge filter, 150W heater, and an air stone running. Bought a spawning cone but haven't put it in yet.

My question is, should I wait the four weeks for the tank to cycle or should I move the spawning pair into the 29g tank since it appears I'd be doing a lot of water changes anyway on that tank?

[Hollowman]

You need a seeded sponge, otherwise you will get ammonia spikes and dead fish. You can help the seeding process by squeezing out some of your existing filter media to the BB tank and hoping it starts off the colony in the new sponge. Other than that, run the sponge for a few weeks in your existing tank to colonise it. You fish will still be there, so no rush, they will lay again in the new tank for you.

hth

H :)