video fish laying eggs

[cope]

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=_41XJuL14MM   well we lost the last batch... today friday we noticed the female acting funny swimming on her side and rubbing the rock.. closer look and we saw eggs.... thousands (maybe) anyway I got video of this .. Not sure how long this has been going on.. but we watched for about an hour   and now 2 hours later, they are still at it.... I have partitioned the tank AGAIN, hopefully these will make it....I think it is pretty cool that this is happening.

So if anyone has the proper way to handle this, please post it... if I need to get another tank, then I will.... how long does it take from egg to wigglers?  what a great way to start the weekend....

[phish]

Re: video fish laying eggs

I had similar situation with a parrot and flowerhorn laying eggs but they never hatch.  Which one is the female?  Good luck.

[cope]

Re: video fish laying eggs

I am doing an experiment... I have taken a turkey baster and sucked about 20 eggs out... I have put them into a hatchery in another tank...I am going to see if these will hatch.. I left about 1000 in the original tank.... I will keep up guys updated..

[Spot86t]

Re: video fish laying eggs

Awesome video!  That's just way too cool!  I hope they make it this time.  

If you find out you need some live fry food, let me know.  I don't know what those kinds of baby fishes eat.  I've got on hand tho:  greenwater; vinegar eels; microworms (these sink fastest); banana worms; walter worms and scuds (which would probably be way to big, and perhaps dangerous to feed teh fry because of their "shell).

[Tiapan]

Re: video fish laying eggs

if the fry take any of their texas cichlid's parents traits then they wont need much help surviving. they can take over just about anywhere they are introduced. and they grow fast. maybe the parrot blood will slow them down.

[Zulaab]

Re: video fish laying eggs

Cope --

1.  If you want more eggs to survive, you want to get a piece of slate in there in the next time before they lay eggs, and move the smaller rocks out.  They will use the larger piece of slate.
2.  Make sure that partition is fine enough that the fry cannot swim though it this time.   Get window screen material if you can from home depot and cut down to size.   Cut a center section out so that the two outer sides put together, being held on with metal can be glued together with silicone.   Now because the batches are as large as they are I would just simply work on letting them handle the work of defending them.  Yes you will lose some, but if 200 survive you will be happy enough.

-- Jesper

[cope]

Re: video fish laying eggs

Frustrated!!!! Ok the first time I noticed babies swimming... tried to capture them and put them in a grow out tank... FAILED they died.... this time I saw them laying eggs... so I partitioned the tank and left mother nature  alone.... I have been monitoring the progress... we had eggs, fish moved the eggs, eggs hatched, we had wigglers, couple days we had bigger wigglers, all the time I am feeding with a turkey baster and getting the food right in the cave.... we had over 100 I would say.... today come in.... only find 6... what the heck.... I thought these cichlids were good parents.... I could only capture 3... No where can I find the proper proceedure..... next time... they are on thier own... I hate the look of my tank with plastic grates....... Not that I wanted 100 plus baby fish.. but it would of been cool to say I raised them....

[Zulaab]

Re: video fish laying eggs

Cope... dont get frustrated....  fish are not like human's they take time to learn what to do... and no-one wrote them a handbook they could pick up their local Barnes and Nobles.
They will spawn again.. I would really suggest dont worry about locking them into their own little area when they breed... you will have stronger parents if they are to fight for their young...  You are basically making life to easy for them and when life gets easy they will not protect very well... and you are seeing the results of what happens then.

Next time don't separate them, put a quarter buried flower pot down in their area, this will give them a big enough cave for her to move them into during the night and they will protect their young more.  By getting them used to protect their young more they will work on making sure they also survive.
Do NOT feed their young until you see them free swimming... they dont eat until they are free swimmers anyways..

The baster, personally for me is the best choice..  For Cichlids that size I would just use finely grounded up flake and spray it over the young.

[Tiapan]

Re: video fish laying eggs

i agree with them learning to guard the young. my multis took 3 or 4 tries before any of the babies survived. my occies are on their second round and i am hoping they do better. because their babies r sooooo small. just keep at it. the babies are gonna look interesting.