Attack Discus!

[bikhu]

Okay,,, so there I am doing my daily water change when to my surprise my big red turq comes flying from one side of the tank and charges at my hand. Forcefully no less. :o
Then he attacked the Python... This fish must be losing his mind I thought... then it dawned on me....

[bikhu]

Yep... These two had paired off and spawned.

[bikhu]

These 2 share a 55 gal with 4 Red SS but they are holding everyone at bay and protecting the eggs. My water is naturally very very soft so in order to hold pH i keep cruched coral in the filter. I took the coral out during the wc but chances are the water was still too hard for the eggs to be viable

[bikhu]

Nonetheless I am pretty pleased to see these two pairing off and showing such good parental instinct. I will leave the coral out and see where it leads in the future. Looks like a pretty big clutch for their first go at it. I'll let you know what happens down the road...
Last pic and sorry about the quality... clicked 'em quick...
Thanks for looking
Peace,
peter

[oodi]

Congrats, Peter!!! Keep us posted on how this batch does.

Judi
:)

[Tad]

Awesome Peter!,

I really like the pair of Turqs, incredible amount of eggs for first spawn...wishing you the best of luck,
Tad

[Glenn]

Put the coral back in now the fry will need stable water.

[April]

yeppers. i agree with Glenn. once they hatch you can start hardening it up gradually to keep your ph stable..or..it will start sliding and every water change you do..you will get unstable parameters..and fry cant take ph swings.
they may surprise you yet and raise them or they may hatch.
let us know how it goes.

Guess what??? I too had that very same experience just a week ago! It was from the Wilds that I have. I can assure you they are very protective of their litter. ;D

Unfortunately, as I again have a habit of keeping the tank clean as is suggested by the majority, I lost the eggs in cleaning and siphoning the barebottom tank! I'll try again at another time. :o

*Angie*

[henryD]

That is great news peter. Nice looking fish...

Keep us posted on their development. You must be so so excited.

Henry

[bikhu]

Well as I expected the eggs were not viable and most of them turned white just prior to being eaten by the parents. I believe this is due to the fact that the water, having been stabilized with the coral, was too hard and the eggs could not be fertilized. I will leave the coral out for now and be ever vigilant about wc in order to keep the H2O consistent as possible and see if they want to give it another go at it. TO be honest.. breeding it not one of my goals. I don't have the time or space to raise up a batch of wigglres. I bet I know a guy in Ct. that might take them off my hands if they do come to fruitition.... ;) But let's not count the fry till they hatch!
Thanks for the encouragement and interest...
Peace,
peter

[bikhu]

Well....
since my last post a funny thing happened. Evidently the above fish had some other eggs that I didn't see because... They have wigglers! ;D
On the other side of the drift wood above there is a small batch of little guys hanging out ... I have had had several batches of eggs on many occasions but this is the first for wigglers in any of my tanks. What now?

[Carol_Roberts]

Congratulations Peter :thumbsup:

You may want to remove the other tank mates. Let them "practice" with this batch. If they survive past day 4 or 5 freeswimming you hatch bbs. Next timemove them to their own bb tank. Mostly your job is to watch this time. ;D

[bikhu]

Thanks Carol,
I did remove the tankmates last night. The parents are very very defensive which I am happy to see. As of today the wigglers are still hanging on. As for watching.. I find it difficult to do much else! I am quite captivated by the process as are my family. PRior to this my wife and son have always been supportive and like the aesthetic quality of the fish but that is about it. With these occurences I see that they are both much more curious and excited.
I noticed this morning that another pair that I have in a 29 look like they are getting ready for action. The female, a red turk from the same batch as the two in the post and a Cobalt (proven male from Cary) are doing a lot of shimmying and shaking. I also noticed the female 's ovipositor extended. This tank is also barebottom and I took the coral out when I did the water change today. Very exciting stuff to me.
I will update as things evolve. Thanks again
Peace,
peter

[oodi]

Peter,

It sounds like you better get more tanks ready!!! :thumbsup:

Judi
:)

[brewmaster15]

:) way to Go Peter. I would do as April and Glenn advised. and get ready to hatch some Brine. Might be a good time to be sure that you have some good BBS eggs and that you have the hatching down pat.

-al

[bikhu]

Well... so far so good. I have a little batch of wigglers that are hanging on and look to be getting stronger and stronger. They have somehow gotten themselves all into one little huddle and are experimenting with their ability to swim just a little bit. What comes next?

[bikhu]

Update....
About 6 of the fry have survived so far. They are feeding off mom and dad and seem to grow more everytime I look at them but then ... last night I found anopther batch of eggs This looks like a big one. Easily 150 but I lost count at around 50 at the very top of the bunch. This batch is very uniform in size and color and very neatly lined up on the dritwood. Mom and Dad are very focused fanning them and meanwhile the fry are hanging on... what next you guys?
peter

[Carol_Roberts]

Parents may well eat the six remaining fry and concentrate on the new batch . . . . I'd let nature take it's course