Juvenile female with eggs?

[Miss ATV]

Hi all,

I am after a bit of help again. So my (6 that survived) fry which I first saw out swimming are on 10th July are growing slowly in the old 64L tank. Three of them (males) are still very small at around 1cm but the other three are 1.5cm two females and about 2cm one male.

I am waiting for them to grow a little bit bigger so I can give them to the local fish store. All the juveniles I have seen in stores or even online up for sale are about 3cm minimum so this makes me think that mine are simply not ready yet.

However, recently I noticed my little females very round and yellow. If they would not be so small I would think they are ready to breed, they constantly flick their tales with the larger male and they selected a small area of about 10cm floor space each as their territory.
Can this result in actual eggs and further fry at this age? As I really have no desire for them to breed anymore, I am literally just growing them out until I can find new homes for them.
My worry is now their size is too small for them to be put with other fish yet so I cant take them to the store yet. I know they'd be eaten in an instant, but at the same time I dont want them to breed and I can't separate them as I have no spare tank.

My question is, should I take this courtship behaviour serious or it's just play? Have you had such tiny females actually sucessfully spawn at 3 months?
They do this tail flicking all the time throughout the day, I remember their parents did it just a few minutes in the morning so I am inclined to think its nothing serious but honestly I am mortified of having eggs again

Some photos for your reference to see the size I am talking about, even though they look much bigger in the photo compared to how they are when seen live.


Thank you!

 

[Mike Wise]

Behavior traits commonly appear before actual sexual maturity. This might be what you are seeing. If you are truly worried that they will breed at this early age, then the best thing to do is separate the males from the females. Otherwise let Nature take its course. There is no rule that requires you to let any possible fry survive.

 

[yukondog]

I let one of my Cac. pairs breed in a community tank and let the other fish have them, sometimes a few will make it and sometimes not, I pulled them for now because I want to breed them. Like Mike said, let nature take it's course till your ready to breed them.

 

[Miss ATV]

Behavior traits commonly appear before actual sexual maturity. This might be what you are seeing. If you are truly worried that they will breed at this early age, then the best thing to do is separate the males from the females. Otherwise let Nature take its course. There is no rule that requires you to let any possible fry survive.

Thanks Mike, just needed reassurance that they can start courting even before they are ready. Nature will have to take its course if it happens but fingers crossed they are just acting on their instincts but they are too young.

 

[Miss ATV]

I let one of my Cac. pairs breed in a community tank and let the other fish have them, sometimes a few will make it and sometimes not, I pulled them for now because I want to breed them. Like Mike said, let nature take it's course till your ready to breed them.

It's just them and 3 other much smaller fry from the same batch which I dont think they'll be able to eay the new fry if they do spawn. More likely the new parents will attack these late blooming brothers. I still hope they are just adolescents playing as they're super small still.

 

[Sordbodan]

Hi all,

I am after a bit of help again. So my (6 that survived) fry which I first saw out swimming are on 10th July are growing slowly in the old 64L tank. Three of them (males) are still very small at around 1cm but the other three are 1.5cm two females and about 2cm one male.

I am waiting for them to grow a little bit bigger so I can give them to the local fish store. All the juveniles I have seen in stores or even online up for sale are about 3cm minimum so this makes me think that mine are simply not ready yet.

However, recently I noticed my little females very round and yellow. If they would not be so small I would think they are ready to breed, they constantly flick their tales with the larger male and they selected a small area of about 10cm floor space each as their territory.
Can this result in actual eggs and further fry at this age? As I really have no desire for them to breed anymore, I am literally just growing them out until I can find new homes for them.
My worry is now their size is too small for them to be put with other fish yet so I cant take them to the store yet. I know they'd be eaten in an instant, but at the same time I dont want them to breed and I can't separate them as I have no spare tank.

My question is, should I take this courtship behaviour serious or it's just play? Have you had such tiny females actually sucessfully spawn at 3 months?
They do this tail flicking all the time throughout the day, I remember their parents did it just a few minutes in the morning so I am inclined to think its nothing serious but honestly I am mortified of having eggs again

Some photos for your reference to see the size I am talking about, even though they look much bigger in the photo compared to how they are when seen live.


Thank you!

As someone who is trying to get some fry to survive beyond the one week mark, congratulations on getting them this far. They are beautiful.

 

[Miss ATV]

As someone who is trying to get some fry to survive beyond the one week mark, congratulations on getting them this far. They are beautiful.

Thanks! I dont know if it helped but both parents were left with the fry and the father was more involved with looking after them than I expected. I felt like every fry the mother missed when they ventured towards the filter the father caught so really much more of them could have survived if it was down to the parents skills. Unfortunately it was my skills that lacked with feeding new fry and relying on inadequate filtration.