Wigglers Again!

[LizStreithorst]

The last time this pair spawned they were in the community tank so I gave their cone of eggs to my younger pair that had spawned at the same time. It was a good thing because the other pair only produced 9 babies while this pair produced about 45.

This time they are in a breeding tank of their own. It is just the second time for the female to lay. The male is about 4 years old. I noticed yesterday evening that the male was paying even more attention to the eggs than he had be. I didn't see any tails but I figured he knew something that I did not. This morning there are about 60 wigglers. She laid low on the cone and I don't think his tallywhacker was able to reach the lowest eggs. 45 and 60 are just is fine for me, though. I have a fish room not a fish farm.

Here are some pics. The male is huge. The female is small for her age but put on a big growth spurt before she spawned. SS's take so long to reach maturity, at least mine do. What I love most about the female is that as she grows the SS pattern is breaking into spots. I hope that when she's fully grown she will be fully spotted except for the face. As far as I'm concerned the fine SS pattern on the face is more attractive than a spotted face. That's why I'm not fond of Eruption's

The first pic best shows the pattern on the female because they are both dark for the kids. The second pic gives you an idea of the size of the male. I should name the girl fish Spot and the man fish Big Boy but I don't name my fish because I hate to become too attached to them.

[famtsberg]

that is awesome Liz. hopefully they have success. :)

[SidJones]

Two beautiful fish!

[Iminit]

Congrats Liz!! Hope all. Goes well!

[Disgirl]

Real beauties Liz!! Love that tall cone.

[CliffsDiscus]

Awesome Liz, any update on the last spawn?

Cliff

[LizStreithorst]

Thanks for asking Cliff. Say the word and I'll send you a group in a couple of weeks. It would be nice working with someone else on this project.

They're doing well. They had to leave their parents when they were still quite young. First surrogate mom was getting annoyed with them then a few days later dad was done with them. The only empty tank I had was a 60 wide. The little guys were lost in there so I dumped in a spawn of Black and God Rams. The Discus babies are starting to round out nicely the Turks are larger than the SS. I can't tell yet which comes from strictly my breeding from the 9 whose mom is from Al's line. In a couple more weeks I'll move the Discus babies to a sterile tank that was cycled with Stability with a bunch of worthless adult Gold Rams thrown in it so I can tell that the tank is fully cycled. When they're in the sparkling tank I'll take pics.

[Nahuel]

Glad to see how tings are going for you, Liz!

[LizStreithorst]

This batch is having a hard time attaching. They were free swimming yesterday morning but the free swimming looked premature as though something had moved them off the cone. There were a couple of clumps of them stuck together floating on the surface. I lowered the water level, turned down the sponge, and turned off the light.

This morning they appeared to be very fond of the upper left hand corner of the tank. Some will take a nibble from dad but then go right back to the corner. I tossed them in some powered fry food that is supposed to be smaller than BBS. Who knows if they ate it. This afternoon they still like that corner but more of them seem to be taking a liking do dad who stays close to them. I started some San Francisco Bay BBS this morning. Nothing to do but wait to see what happens and hope for the best.

[Second Hand Pat]

Crossing fingers for you Liz. Have the fry eaten their yolk sacks?
Pat

[LizStreithorst]

My eyesight isn't the best and the tank is old. I can't tell. I'm quite sure that they hadn't absorbed the yoke sack yesterday.

[mleibowi]

Congrats!

[LizStreithorst]

Last night before bedtime I felt that the kids were doing better. More were on mom than ever but they all stuck close to their corner. This morning there is not a tiny baby to be seen anywhere in the tank. I've never had a spawn that acted like this one and I have no idea what, if anything I did wrong.

[CliffsDiscus]

Liz, this is not the normal spawn. Clusters or clumps at the water lever, usually the egg sacks are fully gone before the fry can swim to the surface that's because the weight of the sacks will keep fry from swimming to the surface. My guess would be that some of the fry with fully gone eggs sacks attached to the clumps dragged some of the undeveloped up to the surface.

Cliff