Hi there!
I have been in love with a new fish for a few months already, a very small one, roughly 2-2.5 inches long. I got this T. Ocellicauda from a LFS at a whooping 15$. I knew what I was going to buy when I walked in that store that day, I knew what this fish ate, I knew what it looked like and knew how to sex them. Therefore, I got one male and one female.
Here is a picture of the fish:
It didn't take long until they became my favorite fish. They are very curious and colorful.
Two weeks later, I saw that my male Gudgeon started showing breeding colors, and displayed at the female, chasing her around. I knew I had to get him another female because they tend to harrass them A LOT. Some people are reporting that their females die from this.
Another 15$ later, I come home with another female. I didn't pay attention to breeding and didn't really care, thinking that if they wanted to do it, they could. That's until the day I had to get rid of my very aggressive Pearl Gourami and replaced it with a bunch of Class N endlers (directly linked to wild collected ones).
People are often saying the Peacock Gudgeon is really peacefull and shy, but I found that it's not at all true.
My male gudgeon will often nip the tail fin of other fish, and is VERY VERY curious. Every time I come near the aquarium, they come to the front glass and stare at me.
The females will dispaly at each other and often bump into each other. Sometimes, males and females will "flash" on the plant leaves or objects but it is not due to any disease; I think it's just play.
My male decided to tear the fins of my newly arrived endlers to the point that one gravid female died because she had no more tail. Unfortunately for her, I did not spot this sooner. At least, she died in a very peaceful place.
I decided to move the 3 fish rather than move a whole Endler colony. I put them in my 20 gallon Neon Tetra and Shrimp tank. This is when things started to get even more interesting.
After a few days, not even a week, the male Gudgeon disapeared with one of the females.
At first, I was very worried they had died or jumped or something. They probably didn't like it in there I told myself..
That couldn't be further from the truth.
The next day, I spotted the two females and no male..
This is when I realized the male might be hidding somewhere, fanning some eggs.
Two days later, I couldn't wait anymore, still worried, and looked everywhere for an hour or so.
The male was indeed hiding in a very small crevice in a driftwood. He was tending to the eggs!
I was very excited and managed to get a 5 gallon tank and mature air driven sponge filter.
Getting the driftwood out of there proved to be very hard, the dad didn't want to move out of the cave. I knew I had to remove him as he was going to eat the babies as soon as they hatch!
I eventually removed the wood and put it in the 5 gallon tank, next day, the male was out, I removed him from the tank waiting to see fry popping up. That never happened.
I decided to leave the wood there and set up 3 PVC tube caves of 1/4 and 1/2 inch diameter.
Two days later, the male chose one of the caves and in went the female. They are very fun to watch during courtship.
The fishes stayed in the tube for a day and half and the female went out.
After 5 days I decided to remove the tube and put it in the 5 gallon tank.
While doing that, I realized that my tank water was much colder in the 5 gallon tank than the 20, so I aborted and put him back in the 20 waiting for the temperature to set.
A few hours later, the male was out of his cave, temperature was correct in the 5 gallon tank but unfortunately, the cave was empty!
My guess is the male ate all of them because he got too scared.
A few days and bloodworms later, the male was at it again.
The same courtship dance and cave seclusion happened.
2 days later, I was feeding the fish and the male came out of it's hiding place.
I immediately reached for the PVC cave and grabbed it by putting my fingers on top of the two holes, and stuck it under the driftwood to make sure it didn't float. I then stuck an airline in the tube to allow one bubble every 3 seconds to mimmic the male fanning its eggs.
This is day 3, we can already see some wigglers.
http
/www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtByV4fxiwM
Day 6: First fry spotted at the bottom of the tank. It is very very very tiny.
Day 7: I spot at least 12 other fry, swimming at the bottom and sinking slowly. I start feeding golden pearl (Krill Fines)
Day 8: I can't count how many fry there is. I estimate at least 30. I still feed golden pearls about 4-5 times a day.
Day 9: The fry all seem bigger now, they congregate in one corner of the tank at the top of it.
More to come!
----
I have been in love with a new fish for a few months already, a very small one, roughly 2-2.5 inches long. I got this T. Ocellicauda from a LFS at a whooping 15$. I knew what I was going to buy when I walked in that store that day, I knew what this fish ate, I knew what it looked like and knew how to sex them. Therefore, I got one male and one female.
Here is a picture of the fish:
It didn't take long until they became my favorite fish. They are very curious and colorful.
Two weeks later, I saw that my male Gudgeon started showing breeding colors, and displayed at the female, chasing her around. I knew I had to get him another female because they tend to harrass them A LOT. Some people are reporting that their females die from this.
Another 15$ later, I come home with another female. I didn't pay attention to breeding and didn't really care, thinking that if they wanted to do it, they could. That's until the day I had to get rid of my very aggressive Pearl Gourami and replaced it with a bunch of Class N endlers (directly linked to wild collected ones).
People are often saying the Peacock Gudgeon is really peacefull and shy, but I found that it's not at all true.
My male gudgeon will often nip the tail fin of other fish, and is VERY VERY curious. Every time I come near the aquarium, they come to the front glass and stare at me.
The females will dispaly at each other and often bump into each other. Sometimes, males and females will "flash" on the plant leaves or objects but it is not due to any disease; I think it's just play.
My male decided to tear the fins of my newly arrived endlers to the point that one gravid female died because she had no more tail. Unfortunately for her, I did not spot this sooner. At least, she died in a very peaceful place.
I decided to move the 3 fish rather than move a whole Endler colony. I put them in my 20 gallon Neon Tetra and Shrimp tank. This is when things started to get even more interesting.
After a few days, not even a week, the male Gudgeon disapeared with one of the females.
At first, I was very worried they had died or jumped or something. They probably didn't like it in there I told myself..
That couldn't be further from the truth.
The next day, I spotted the two females and no male..
This is when I realized the male might be hidding somewhere, fanning some eggs.
Two days later, I couldn't wait anymore, still worried, and looked everywhere for an hour or so.
The male was indeed hiding in a very small crevice in a driftwood. He was tending to the eggs!
I was very excited and managed to get a 5 gallon tank and mature air driven sponge filter.
Getting the driftwood out of there proved to be very hard, the dad didn't want to move out of the cave. I knew I had to remove him as he was going to eat the babies as soon as they hatch!
I eventually removed the wood and put it in the 5 gallon tank, next day, the male was out, I removed him from the tank waiting to see fry popping up. That never happened.
I decided to leave the wood there and set up 3 PVC tube caves of 1/4 and 1/2 inch diameter.
Two days later, the male chose one of the caves and in went the female. They are very fun to watch during courtship.
The fishes stayed in the tube for a day and half and the female went out.
After 5 days I decided to remove the tube and put it in the 5 gallon tank.
While doing that, I realized that my tank water was much colder in the 5 gallon tank than the 20, so I aborted and put him back in the 20 waiting for the temperature to set.
A few hours later, the male was out of his cave, temperature was correct in the 5 gallon tank but unfortunately, the cave was empty!
My guess is the male ate all of them because he got too scared.
A few days and bloodworms later, the male was at it again.
The same courtship dance and cave seclusion happened.
2 days later, I was feeding the fish and the male came out of it's hiding place.
I immediately reached for the PVC cave and grabbed it by putting my fingers on top of the two holes, and stuck it under the driftwood to make sure it didn't float. I then stuck an airline in the tube to allow one bubble every 3 seconds to mimmic the male fanning its eggs.
This is day 3, we can already see some wigglers.
http
/www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtByV4fxiwMDay 6: First fry spotted at the bottom of the tank. It is very very very tiny.
Day 7: I spot at least 12 other fry, swimming at the bottom and sinking slowly. I start feeding golden pearl (Krill Fines)
Day 8: I can't count how many fry there is. I estimate at least 30. I still feed golden pearls about 4-5 times a day.
Day 9: The fry all seem bigger now, they congregate in one corner of the tank at the top of it.
More to come!
----
