- Messages
- 102
- Location
- Saint Paul, MN
Fish just seem to be prone to crummy timing, especially with regards to respecting my need for open tank space. My Dicrossus maculatus have been throwing me some surprises lately, but fortunately of the pleasant kind.
My main breeding group of maculatus have been in a 40 long aquarium for several months and I usually move the non-participants to one of two other 30 breeders I hold my macs in. I was planning on moving everyone out to strip down the tank and try to kill all the black hair algae, but then the dominant female decided to go and have some more babies. So now she's got everyone huddled in a corner and I felt bad for them. The fry were free-swimming as of the 10th, so I was about to move the others out. I stole one of the tanks to move some juvenile Apistogramma eremnopyge, so I really only had the other tank with my F1 babies in it. Well, I'm going over to that tank to get things ready, and I notice something's off. So I look in the tank, and everyone is huddled to one side of the tank. As I look around I find one female in the back left corner, all colored up. Now, I noticed her coloring up over the last couple weeks, but I just figured she was reaching maturity. I don't know how I missed it, but sure enough, she was guarding probably 40+ wigglers. I knew they were somewhere when I saw her, because she was all fired up and colorful.
Here is a pic of one of the females with her wigglers. You can't really make them out, but they're on the back of the anubias leaf she's facing.
So, in trying to figure out what to do, I finally decided today that I would pull the fry from the younger mother and give them to the female in the 40 and let her take care of all of them. I had to leave for work, so it would have to wait till tomorrow probably. Well, just when I think I've got things figured out and my problem solved, they decide to throw me another curve...
I got home tonight and I was going through the tanks putting everyone to bed,and I finally got to the tank with my not-so-babies, and something is different. The female with the fry is now in the middle of the tank with her group. I looked a little closer, and next thing I noticed was that there was one female challenging her territory in the middle of the tank, hanging back in the anubias where she had been. I look closer, and sure enough, the other female is guarding eggs in the back. Probably 60 of them. Dang! So now I really don't have anything solved. I was hoping to settle things back down in the 30 by removing the fry, but now I have to wait for the next batch. I'd just rather let mom do her thing till they swim.
I pulled a little over forty fry from the younger mom tonight and added them to the 70 or so that the female in the 40 had, so now she's leading around over 100 babies happily. I do feel bad for the little mom. She's still running around the tank looking for her fry. They're such good moms...
The F1's were hatched as of 7/28/07, so that makes them a little over 7 months old. They're are probably right around a solid 2" long, so still a ways from full-grown, especially for the male. That didn't seem to stop them though.
Now all I need is for the diplotaenia in the tank to spawn for me and I can really cry!
Edit: forgot to include spawning info. As I expected, the water parameters were similar where it seems to count. In the the 40 gallon, the pH was about 6.5, hardness probably unmeasurable, conductivity 157µS, temp. 77F. In the 30 with my growouts, pH 4.71, no hardness, conductivity 180µS, temp. 79F. The pH seems to be less important to their successful spawning than the hardness and dissolved solids. Normally the conductivity would be lower, but I was slacking on water changes a little bit. Both sets were getting fed mostly NLS pellets along with some frozen brine shrimp and chopped red wigglers.
My main breeding group of maculatus have been in a 40 long aquarium for several months and I usually move the non-participants to one of two other 30 breeders I hold my macs in. I was planning on moving everyone out to strip down the tank and try to kill all the black hair algae, but then the dominant female decided to go and have some more babies. So now she's got everyone huddled in a corner and I felt bad for them. The fry were free-swimming as of the 10th, so I was about to move the others out. I stole one of the tanks to move some juvenile Apistogramma eremnopyge, so I really only had the other tank with my F1 babies in it. Well, I'm going over to that tank to get things ready, and I notice something's off. So I look in the tank, and everyone is huddled to one side of the tank. As I look around I find one female in the back left corner, all colored up. Now, I noticed her coloring up over the last couple weeks, but I just figured she was reaching maturity. I don't know how I missed it, but sure enough, she was guarding probably 40+ wigglers. I knew they were somewhere when I saw her, because she was all fired up and colorful.
Here is a pic of one of the females with her wigglers. You can't really make them out, but they're on the back of the anubias leaf she's facing.
So, in trying to figure out what to do, I finally decided today that I would pull the fry from the younger mother and give them to the female in the 40 and let her take care of all of them. I had to leave for work, so it would have to wait till tomorrow probably. Well, just when I think I've got things figured out and my problem solved, they decide to throw me another curve...
I got home tonight and I was going through the tanks putting everyone to bed,and I finally got to the tank with my not-so-babies, and something is different. The female with the fry is now in the middle of the tank with her group. I looked a little closer, and next thing I noticed was that there was one female challenging her territory in the middle of the tank, hanging back in the anubias where she had been. I look closer, and sure enough, the other female is guarding eggs in the back. Probably 60 of them. Dang! So now I really don't have anything solved. I was hoping to settle things back down in the 30 by removing the fry, but now I have to wait for the next batch. I'd just rather let mom do her thing till they swim.
I pulled a little over forty fry from the younger mom tonight and added them to the 70 or so that the female in the 40 had, so now she's leading around over 100 babies happily. I do feel bad for the little mom. She's still running around the tank looking for her fry. They're such good moms...
The F1's were hatched as of 7/28/07, so that makes them a little over 7 months old. They're are probably right around a solid 2" long, so still a ways from full-grown, especially for the male. That didn't seem to stop them though.
Now all I need is for the diplotaenia in the tank to spawn for me and I can really cry!
Edit: forgot to include spawning info. As I expected, the water parameters were similar where it seems to count. In the the 40 gallon, the pH was about 6.5, hardness probably unmeasurable, conductivity 157µS, temp. 77F. In the 30 with my growouts, pH 4.71, no hardness, conductivity 180µS, temp. 79F. The pH seems to be less important to their successful spawning than the hardness and dissolved solids. Normally the conductivity would be lower, but I was slacking on water changes a little bit. Both sets were getting fed mostly NLS pellets along with some frozen brine shrimp and chopped red wigglers.
