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I just got home from a 2 week vacation. The night before I left, I noticed a male L46 was trapping. Got home last night and looked with a light, sure enough my first L46 spawn was at the back of the cave with big white yolk sacks. Tank had a feeder that fed once a day while I was gone.

Now the problem is before I left I had shut down a Bolivian Ram grow-out and already had several breeding projects consolidated to that tank. The weeks before vacation were very busy. Tank is 75 gallons, and now has groups of L46, A. cirrhosus, S. panamense, and a school of green neon tetra (all of which aren't really that problematic).
Now the problems: breeding pair of M. altispinosus, roughly 50-100 0.5" juveniles, 5 discus, 4 Dicrossus gladicauda.

I need to save the L46 fry before they become a snack for any of the c-words in the tank. I could set up a breeder box; I have a spare Ziss one I could use. I recently lost an entire Ancistrus spawn in one that was shared with ram fry and am hesitant to try it for L46. But if they had the box to themselves, would it make the most sense to do that? Could I improve their chances by changing any details within the box (flow, cover, additional aeration)?

Finally, a picture to show what the tank looked like last night with 2 weeks of neglect. Lots of cyanobacteria; I have some stinky water changes ahead of me. Goes to show that tank mates and cleaning routine matter a lot less than the L46 making up their mind to breed.

It's amazing how often fish spawn when the owner is on vacation!

If it were me, I'd let this one take its course. The water changes and return to normal will encourage the fish to spawn again. I never like disturbing a new pair's first go at it. I'd then plan to remove the cichlids (except the discus, not sure if they are a fry threat).

If you're set on removing the eggs, then it's a in-tank breeding box but maybe the one you had is too small. The key is lots of flow and ensuring it's kept really clean while offering food pretty much 24/7.

Hope that helps,

Jools

Thank you, I appreciate that feedback very much. Can you tell me more about how you find the adults fare after being left with the first spawn as opposed to removing the first spawn?

So despite this tank still being a catch-all for downsizing other tanks due to life changes, these zebras are still breeding. Thanks Jools for the advice on leaving everyone through the first spawn. There are now new wrigglers and a few more this time. I'll do the in-tank breeder box in the canister outflow and offer food as continuously as I can. Working on getting the rams a little bit bigger before shipping them out, sooner the better.

Congratulations!