unusual spawning behaviors?

[scott]

i have 2 female and 1 male cac. in a 10 gal. both females have laid egss a number of times. only the most recent spawn hatched, about 10 days ago. there are 15-20 free swimming fry in the tank. they all still mostly stay around the cave they were born in and the adjacent java moss. this morning there mother laid eggs again in the same cave. she is diligently fanning and tending them. the fry swim in and out of the cave paying no attention to their unborn siblings or mother. strangely enough the mother doesn't seem to mind either although she doesn't let the male or other female anywhere near the cave. is this normal behavior? should i move the fry to a new tank at such a young age? will the mom eat the older fry to protect the others when they hatch or will the older ones eat the younger ones? what is the best intervention?...nothing...?

 

[cdawson]

If they only hatched 10 days ago then she's probably not tending eggs yet. It takes 3-6 weeks after spawning to recover and allow eggs to grow.
It's possible there were a few late bloomers and she's tending to wrigglers instead. With my last spawn there were 20 the first day and 15 more the 3rd day after.

A 10g is too small to spawn and rear fry with two females. a 20 gallon would be best. UNLESS the 10 gallon is heavily planted. It's possible the other female is eating the fry and spooking the mother too much and she has just abandoned the fry. The fry won't leave the mother, until they're eaten or she has a new brood and forces them away.

 

[scott]

she is definetly tending a new batch of eggs. there are over 50 red eggs on the inside of a 1 inch flower pot that i removed the bottom and laid on its side for easy viewing of the inside. she was still taking care of the 10 day old fry until this morning, now she just ignores them and lets them come and go as they please. the tank is heavily planted with java moss and has 7 small flower pot caves. the male has set up his girls on opposite sides of the "city" :wink: . i haven't seen any problems with agression at all apart from a sporatic quick chase. there are enough hiding places that if one of the fish doesn't want to be found by the others it won't be. this is the only 10 gal that i house breeding fish in, my others are 20 longs or bigger. actually i see more problems with agression in a 20 with a. baenschi. i guess it depends on the personality of the individual fish just as much as tank size and species whether or not there will be agression problems. at least that's my personal experience.

 

[fishgeek]

my aggies often spawn in close timing , one mother will generally look after all the fry , she seems to hijack them and be capable of looking after most of them

as long as their is no predation , adults fry
fry fry because of size discrepancy then i would leave them to it

andrew