My Spilurum Have Spawned!

[pirate monkey]

I have just found the eggs!

They have been acting funny for days, but I hadn't noticed any eggs until today, they are attached to the underside of some leaves. It's not the best pic, sorry. They are brown, and the parents are tending to them constantly (and now I realise the eggs must have been there for a few days!) and guarding the area well. The male even stood up to the sev 2 days ago, stopping him from coming out of his cave! Lucky for us the plant they have chosen is right at the front corner of the tank

The pair look absolutely stunning, the male has gone very colourful, while the female's eyes have become very dark, and her throat has gone black.

female:

pair:

So, questions:
1. I'm not entirely sure when they spawned, how long do they take to hatch?

2. The pit they have dug under the plant is filled up with pleco poop, unfortunately the current sweeps everything in that direction and it's all got caught there. I was planning on hoovering it out this morning, but obviously won't do that now. Will that be a problem for them, having all that poop there?

3. What do I do next? Can I leave all the fry in there and let nature take it's course? Would any survive? I don't think I could get them out without disturbing them a great deal.

 

[minxfishy]

Congrats

The poop wont bother them, but maybe you could lift the plant to another area and then vac it up quickly?

Should hatch in 3-4 days approx.

Unless you can move both the fry and the parents, then I would leave them too it, they are obviously guarding them well, either that or divide the tank temporarily with something. If you move them, you have a chance that the parents wont like it and eat them or they may be ok with the move.

 

[pirate monkey]

Thanks

I think I will leave them where they are, I guess the less I disturb them the better. If it's not going to harm them having the plec poop I'll leave that too for now.

I'm so excited this is the first time I've had any fish spawn! I don't know if this their first lot as we only got them last week, but I'm not expecting great results - I understand it can take them a few goes to get it right?

How often should I do water changes if I have little ones, or should I just carry on as normal? I don't want to scare them too much, but our plec's fins are a little tatty (we recently had tiger barbs who took a liking to his fins, but we got rid of them and got more cichlids instead!) so I have been water changes more often.

 

[ChiNA MaN]

well i'd stay normal with water changes but if you want to you could increase the % of water you change.