p. taeniatus 'moliwe' fry

[joestreich]

About a month and a half ago i purchased 5 wild P. taeniatus 'moliwe' (3 male/2 female). Two immediatly paired up, claimed a coconut shell and all went well. To my surprise one day i went to the tank and there weere about 25 free swimming fry. Mom and dad were very protective of these little guys taking them all over the place and chasing anything away that came close. The fry have been getting a little more adventurous and my 25 went down to abut 10.

My questions is at what point should i be taking these guys out and putting them in their own grow out tank? They are about 12 days at the free swimming point.

Tank mates are 10 neon tetras and a bristle nose pleco.

Thanks for the help

Joel

 

[aquaticclarity]

Congrats Joel! How big of a tank are they in? (40 breeder???) Taking the remaining fry out is the safest way to assure they don't get eaten :wink: That's what I would do if I wanted to grow up some youngsters. If you don't care if you grow some up leave the fry so you can watch the parental care and interaction...it's fairly complex and reall cool to see. Either way feeding bbs (baby brine shrimp) to the fry (and the adults for that matter) will help put on size.

Jeff

 

[joestreich]

thanks Jeff, they are in 75 gal. There was one lonely rummynose tetra in there as well but they did not seem to like having him around at all. He has been moved to the 125 gal where there is about 7 others for him to school with. I have a 10 gal with some java moss waiting ready to go, so i think i will move the fry over. The fry are about 12-15 days old approx.

 

[joestreich]

here are a couple of pics of the fish

male

female with fry

 

[MikeR]

Neat stuff, Joel! Mine spawned, but nothing came of it, so I'll live vicariously through you! Very nice pictures.

Mike

 

[bigbird]

well done indeed. My pairs have not had such luck yet. But it is nice to see that you have had success and the photos are great.
cheers jk:biggrin:

 

[joestreich]

thanks guys, since i removed the fry the other female has been taking over as the dominant female. The two females fight a bit and the male comes over and chase the one he paired with away. Now it looks as if the other female and original male will spawn . I have noticed them go into the coconut shell together, I will keep you updated.

Is this normal for the male to switch females?

Joel

 

[bigbird]

Morning,
yup a male will take on various females if the opportunity arises.
His aim is to get his genes to as many females as possible.
So you will have fun
cheers jk:biggrin:

 

[MikeR]

My two pair have been swapping females (or males, depending on your point of view) as well. This behavior is why I like having larger tanks for smaller fish...you get to see more varied behavior patterns than with single pairs and such.

Mike

 

[Mike D]

Pelvics wife swaping

My P. taeniatus don't seem to swap mates. But, the P. subocellatus trio in my 240 gal have a "human" quality. The male and one female will set up in a cave in one end and start a spawn. The male normally cruises the entire tank courting both females and searching for food. Now when he has one female caring for young and he is helping with "guard" duty, he will often swim slowly to the other end where the other females is. He does NOT do this in the front of the tank...he scoots along behind rocks and logs. My wife was the first to notice and she said "He looks like a typical male, leave the children with the female and off to party!" They have never had two broods going at once. Maybe he doesn't stay long enough? :biggrin:

One spawn last winter was left in the 240 and raised to about 1/2" size with the parents. I use well water run through an RO. Have two pieces of bog wood in the tank. pH hoovers around 7.0 or slightly lower. The 13 fry from the above spawn are all males at 2"+. have another spawn up to 3/4 or 1" and have both females and males. Same tank & same parents. This tanks is in my garage work area and is cooler in the winter and runs above 80 in the heat of summer. Maybe temp has a sex ratio effect too?

Mike D