It had to happen sometime

I've been keeping these fun fish for awhile now with minimal breeding success. I now realize that part of my problem was my apathy, I was just waiting for them to breed and expecting that they'd pick up the ball on their own. I also assumed that RO & tap water alone would ensure success after egg-laying. In the last month I've taken a more proactive approach and finally this morning I was rewarded.

Here's the female

Here's the male

And here's what it's all about... There were about 250 eggs laid

That was on Saturday. This morning they hatched. It looks like a pretty good hatch rate. I'm just guessing but it looks like around 60-70% hatch. There were maybe 20 white eggs but I doubt that all of the rest hatched. The cone is turned with the eggs facing away from me and the last time I turned it to see the eggs the pair promptly ate them so this is the best shot I can get.

Dave

[EthanCote.com]

Hey Dave,

Great looking fish. Congrats on getting them to spawn. :thumbsup:


Cheers,

Chi.

[OEG]

Awesome Dave,
What kind are they, they look almost like a pigeon based snake skin, just a guess. I have a pair that look alot like those two.
Oscar

[BLUEKNIGHT]

Hey Nice going dave. i really like that male. how about keeping us posted as the fry develop.

Hey Dave,
Did You use the secret potion we talked about?


Don't tell no One! ;D hee.hee.hee

[April]

you better tell your ma.....!!!! LOL.
congrats Dave...hope they dont taste good. my guys said theirs were delicious. ::)

Thanks a lot April. And of course I'll keep the potion a secret Cary. I plan to steal that and all of the rest of your secrets along with whatever fish I can con you out of this coming weekend. These are just plain old snakeskins as far as I'm concerned. No pigeon that I can see. They've had small batches of fry before and allowed them to side feed but there were so few they lost interest. They're pretty attentive right now, that's for sure.

Dave

You said you used to be apathetic and became more attentive. What is it that you did this time that you didn't do before that caused your success?

Don't Tell Dave,

We can sell it to all and get Rich $ ;D

We can call it super hatch out juice! LOL!

[fcdiscus]

I would bet it is just some Peat! ;) Frank

Cary.... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-X :-X

Be nice.... You are like the rest of us now. :P

Just a hobbiest... Focus..... Breath.... Say it slowly.... Just a Hobbiest with the flu....

Quick Dave... :P Please ....(while he is focusing) we all want to know...... Secret??????????????

Great Pics BTW.....

good to hear Dave :thumbsup:

Happy for you, betcha can't wait to learn some new tatics, and head home after the weekend!

Jason

[Per]

Very, very, very nice!!!!

Best pictures I have ever seen. And the fish, absolutely fantastic!!! Best in Show if you ask me. (Tell us!!! Ok, just share it with me then. I won't tell anybody. Promise! Please...)

They're nice fish. No showstoppers, just nice. The male has a bit of a bump on his forehead and they're pretty small but hopefully that was environmental and the fry will grow big & strong.

My first two pairs spawned in tap water with other fish. I left them in there until the eggs hatched to ensure I had a pair. So I've just continued using that method with all pairs & potential pairs. I ended up with a bunch of adults just milling around doing nothing. This pair was purchased from Mike Wells (thanks Mike) as a pair. They spawned within 10 days of arrival (1 fry), 10 days later (12 fry), 10 days later (no fry, they ate the eggs cus I moved the cone to get a better look, doh) and then they stopped spawning for the last month. This has always happened with my pairs, they just stop. So I decided to actually try to induce them to spawn. Nothing magic, no big secret. I just started using cold RO/tap water for 50% water changes. It was about 75º and the tank was 84º so the effect was about a 4º drop. I'd do that and get the conductivity down to about 80ms. Then I'd hit them with straight tap water changes and knock it up to 180ms for 3 days or so. Then I'd start lowering the conductivity again. When it hit 80ms they spawned.

That was the first part and had been the easy part with this pair. But their hatch rate was so pathetic that egglaying was not much to celebrate. I had a pair of Angels that did the same thing, nearly no eggs hatched. I got pi$$ed off and sold them to David Kozak. He did a bit of research and immediately had a large spawn. All he did differently then me was to add Maroxy to his tank right after the eggs were laid (1/2 tsp per 10g) and each day thereafter. It worked for him and now it has worked for me. I guess that as clean as I think I've kept this tank the bacterial count is high. The eggs always looked viable for the 60 hours but never hatched. This time they did. The next time they spawn I'm going to skip the Maroxy and see if a UV sterilizer has the same effect. I've got one kicking around that I can try out.

So live & learn. Apathy doesn't always work. No real magic here, just common sense that has been posted time & time again. I figure my adults were just too comfortable and didn't feel like spawning. Start changing their environment and they get a kick start and the adrenalin gets flowing. I've got 2 sets of 3 adults in 30g tanks right now and I'm adjusting their water the same way. One group has a female cleaning the cone while the other 2 fish are deciding if either is interested. Hope it works.

Dave

[Per]

Thanks for sharing, Dave!

Good luck with the batch, and please let us know when the treatment induce spawning in the other two setups!

Per

[paulmat]

Beautiful Dave
Those are going to be some nice looking fish :fish:

Good luck and post more pics!

Paul :guitarist: :guitarist:

[DREW]

good job dave,
Keep us posted on the little ones ;D

[Jeffery_Doty]

Dave,

I think they are a gorgeous pair, and I would be proud to own them! Congratulations on the spawn, and your skill at bringing it about. I also appreciate the information that you shared with us.

Thanks and good luck with all the fry!

Jeff
Oregon

[DarkDiscus]

Dave,

Thanks and good luck with the little guys. They seem like a very attractive pair and should have nice kids, too!

John

[Pick]

Congrats Dave. Nice payoff on the extra work. Sweet looking pair too!

TC

[Barb Newell]

Congratulations Dave, nice looking pair! :)

Barb

Congratulations Dave!!!! I am so excited for you!!!!! Your fish are beautiful!!!! Keep us posted.... I will keep my fingers crossed for you!!!!

Weezy ;D

[April]

Dave...exactly what happened to my eggs last night. just before hatching they fungused. and they were dark and had dark spots. just ready first there were 50 then 30 and now one wiggler.
so i will try the maroxy.
i add quick cure to the other two pairs.so we will see.
if not i try the maroxy next time around. hopefully i get some.
i do the water change and drop the temp and they start spawning right after.

[arvind]

congrats Dave..awesome...u're really lucky and must be proud too...

regards
arvind

The fry are still going strong. I got the live bbs going today and they're living life large. I figure there are about 75-100 babies alive at this point. The male is pathetic, he can tolerate the babies on his sides for about 10 seconds and then he bolts and the female is stuck with them.

Dave

Nice job on the photography dave, but it just doesn't compare to actually seeing the fry swarming over the parents in person....that was great...

[Dennis_Hardenburge]

Dave
Good job
I particularly like the female, very nice.
Yep won't be long before you have fry every where and wonder what you are going to be doing with them all.
Good luck
Dennis
ps in the winter I just throw a shovel or two of snow in the tank, a spawn every time
Dennis

[April]

great Dave.
i too have about 100 little wigglers right now. ;D
tomorrow is the big day. their very protective....so hopefully.
this batch i used quick cure the first day on the eggs and no fungus at all. not even on the dead ones. 8)

Good Job Dave,


Glad to see there working out.



Mike

I removed the male. He barely allowed the fry to feed and then he began attacking them. He'd take them into his mouth and spit them out so it was bye-bye Dad. He's in a Child & Family Services rehabilitation program now. The female is doing fine and the fry are feeding on live bbs as well as side-feeding. There seems to be good uniform growth so far. The eggs were laid on Nov 23, hatched on Nov 26, free-swimming on Nov 28 and these pics are from Dec 8.

Dave

Another

[Carol_Roberts]

:thumbsup: Do you have any room left for grow outs?
Carol :heart1:

Yeah, I've chosen the Gold Pigeon S/S & Red Melons from the fish I bought a couple of months ago and have sold all but 6 of what's left. I'm growing out some fry that I got from Cary and then I have these fry. I could move some of my larger adolescents to my 180g tank which currently only has 10 adults in it. If necessary I could free up a 65g, 55g and a 30g tank for growout. I had another pair spawn in my 180g tank on Friday but the eggs were eaten so they've been moved to a 30g. And my Red Melon / Tangerine pair just laid eggs today but the male munched on them. I guess if all potential pairs became successful I could be in trouble but I'm not holding my breath for that one.

Dave

[paulmat]

Looking good Dave
You may have to postpone that trip to grandma's house this Christmas, cause it could be a Merry lil' Christmas at your house :santa: :antlers: :santa:
Good Luck

Paul :guitarist:

[daninthesand]

Dave.

Very nice pix. Those fry are huge! I just saw them,... what two days ago?! Significant growth for sure. Nice going.

Daniel