Yesterday i witnessed that a wildcaught A. psammophila which was a mother 2 years ago is a father now.
I received a trio (1m, 2f) of wild caught A. psammophila in 2023. Both females were once rasing their fry simultaniously (3 weeks apart in age), so there can't be a mix up, they both were functional females.
Since about 1 year ago, i have only one of the wild caughts left, a female. Plus one small female from the offspring, which i decided to keep because it had damaged fins and was quite small. I've been keeping these two in a 250L community tank with 55 Paracheirodon simulans since then.
The large wild caught female turned more and more masculine over time and started flirting with the small female. They sometimes even spawned together. It caused them to fight hard over who is allowed to watch over the eggs after spawning. The first times i removed the eggs because i thought they can't be fertile anyway and i wanted to end the fighting.
Anyway, yesterday after not seeing the small female for some days i found it guarding some very small babies. The larger female (which now officially turned male) accepted it's role of protecting the outer area. Which is a tough job with all those neons.
I didn't expect that the former female mother was able to fertilize the eggs. But it did. Some will probably think i must have confused a fish with another, but i'm 100% sure i didn't.
I made this little video showing the smaller female to prove that there is fry. I'll try to make photos of the larger female that turned male soon (i switched off the light now to protect the fry).
I received a trio (1m, 2f) of wild caught A. psammophila in 2023. Both females were once rasing their fry simultaniously (3 weeks apart in age), so there can't be a mix up, they both were functional females.
Since about 1 year ago, i have only one of the wild caughts left, a female. Plus one small female from the offspring, which i decided to keep because it had damaged fins and was quite small. I've been keeping these two in a 250L community tank with 55 Paracheirodon simulans since then.
The large wild caught female turned more and more masculine over time and started flirting with the small female. They sometimes even spawned together. It caused them to fight hard over who is allowed to watch over the eggs after spawning. The first times i removed the eggs because i thought they can't be fertile anyway and i wanted to end the fighting.
Anyway, yesterday after not seeing the small female for some days i found it guarding some very small babies. The larger female (which now officially turned male) accepted it's role of protecting the outer area. Which is a tough job with all those neons.
I didn't expect that the former female mother was able to fertilize the eggs. But it did. Some will probably think i must have confused a fish with another, but i'm 100% sure i didn't.
I made this little video showing the smaller female to prove that there is fry. I'll try to make photos of the larger female that turned male soon (i switched off the light now to protect the fry).
