Chromidotilapia Guntheri Guntheri Spawn

[dfea]

Hello Everyone,

I'm new to both this forum and Dwarfs (any Cichlid for that matter) so I have many questions. I have been reading the threads for the answers but this one is time critical for me.

A little background, I inherited a pair of tanks (one 65 gal community and one 75 gal Discus) from a buddy who had to give them up for health reasons. I'll save the long story but want to share the short as it amazed me. I brought the occupants of the community tank home in a large storage bin with approx 20 gallons of their tank water. This trip was an hour long so I used a heater running from a DC/AC inverter and a sponge filter/air pump. Once home I used a drip line for acclimation to my tank over a 8 hour period and then put them into their new home.
This was on a Sunday and when I stopped home for lunch on Friday I found a pair of the Guntheri Spawning right on the tank glass. I was both amazed and delighted.

So my question is; we are on day 13 and the male has yet to release the fry. Based on an older thread I found on the forum; Xanathos had a similar question mentioning 12 days while Randall stated 10-16 days. Xanathos then followed up with that his finally released but didn't mention on what day. My tank is filthy (at least as I am concerned) but I don't want to stress the parents so how long do I wait before considering the spawn a failure? Don't worry I have not missed water changes. And as I am so new to this I have not acquired a copy of Dr. Lamboj's book yet, but planning to.

Thanks for any help - Dan

 

[tjudy]

C. guentheri guentheri take care of their fry for a long time. Even if the fry are very capable of living away from their parents, they will still go into their mouth several times a day. This species is also shy with their fry, so any type of disturbance will drive the fry into the parent's mouth. At twelve days I suspect the fry are free swimming, but you have just not seen them out yet.

Do not worry about a dirty tank. Detritus is what these fish like, especially the fry.

 

[dfea]

Great, thanks for the reply, I'll be more patient.

- Dan

 

[dfea]

Well, Day 17 and no fry. I assume at this point it wasn't a viable spawn.

What would the typical time between spawns be?

- Dan

 

[dfea]

They just spawned again yesterday (Sat) so hopefully this time will produce some fry.

Don't know if this means anything but the male dug a serious breeding pit and has rarely left it (since spawning). The female on the other hand is more aggressive this time around. She doesn't let any fish near the male.

Time to wait...


- Dan

 

[dfea]

Successful Spawn

The fry were released..:biggrin:..My wife caught a glimpse of a cloud of fry as she entered the room. They were then consequently ushered into the mothers mouth.

- Dan