Tweet
I recently acquired a pair of these cool little fish from a friend. Not as commonly seen as some of their larger cousins these fish are as colorful without the sometimes overly aggressive tendencies of the larger species.
While my friend had them they spawned on a regular basis however the male always ate the eggs within a few days. Removing the eggs always resulted in all eggs fungusing, something which is a real problem with these fish. If the eggs are removed it needs to be done just before they hatch. Fortunately this is easy to determine as the fry are quite visible as they develop. However for me the male has been a model parent and so far in the two months since i have acquired them has given me two good clutches of fry. Approximately two days after hatching i do remove the fry as the parents, esp the female may eat them if given the chance. Hatching takes 12-14 days, although in my tanks due to the lower temps take closer to 20 days.
Male
Female
Male and fry
While my friend had them they spawned on a regular basis however the male always ate the eggs within a few days. Removing the eggs always resulted in all eggs fungusing, something which is a real problem with these fish. If the eggs are removed it needs to be done just before they hatch. Fortunately this is easy to determine as the fry are quite visible as they develop. However for me the male has been a model parent and so far in the two months since i have acquired them has given me two good clutches of fry. Approximately two days after hatching i do remove the fry as the parents, esp the female may eat them if given the chance. Hatching takes 12-14 days, although in my tanks due to the lower temps take closer to 20 days.
Male
Female
Male and fry
Comment