Well, when she had her first batch of fry, I removed her to a 10 gallon tank before she spit them out, so I could raise the babies. She had 15 that time. Shortly after she had them, I moved her back to the main tank, and in no time, she was pregnant again.
The second time, I moved her back to the ten gallon (which still contained the first batch of fry) When she spit them out that time, she had around 15 agin. Excitement was quickly curtailed though, when the first batch of fry had sushi for lunch. Screaming at large fry while they munch on small fry does absolutely no good in curtailing the carnage.....
So the third and fourth times, removed the larger fry to the main tank before the fry were born. Larger fry were better able to hide themselves amoung the rockwork, so more survived. As they got big enough, I sold them back to my LFS. Usually they will buy them at 1 to 1 and 1/2 inches. Usually not for a lot, but enough to keep me in fish food. I would still have the fish if my 55 hadn't sprung a leak. Since I only have room for one tank right now (and three kids, so letting the fish take over my life isn't really an option...but kids grow fast, LOL) I got a smaller tank so I could try my hand at planted aquaria. Cichlids from Lake Malawi and plants don't mix well.
Hope that answers some questions for you, TwistNiN. If you don't want fry to take over your tanks, your best bet is to just house the males of different species. This helps in a couple of ways, less chance of cross breeding amoung species, and less agression during breeding. You just have to make sure you provide lots of different caves and hiding places, so that everyone has thier own territory and places to escape to if (when) things get rough. Moderate overcrowding will also help, as long as you have sufficent filtration, as there is less chance of just one of the fish getting picked on. The aggression is spread out more evenly.
Jan
