My Young Jd's Have Paired And Laid Eggs

[leecasey]

Hi I have a couple of JD's which I suspected had paired. They are around 3-4" and I wasn't aware they were sexually mature at that size but it appears they are. I was just cleaning my tank and lifting some pebbles I have in there when I noticed loads of eggs all over them. When I put the pebbles down, both parents were guarding them and tending to them. There were a few whites ones which I suspect are dead ones? I dont really see any black dots in them? does that mean they are not fertilized? Both parents are guarding them. How long do they take to hatch if they are all good?

Thanks
Lee

 

[Verminator89]

Fantastic! Lets hope they have a good natural instinct, unlike mine.

The eggs will develop little dots in them if they are fertile and growing. Unfertile/dead eggs will turn white and gradually go fluffy. You may find the female eats the bad ones anyway.

3-4 days the eggs should hatch, it was toward the end of the 4th day for me that the fry emerged and the female gathered them up in her mouth and spat them into holes. She may dig lots of holes and repeatedly move the fry around between the various ones for a week or so. Then you get to the free swimming stage, inwhich the female will try to sheppard them within an areas, sucking up and spitting out the fry that try to escape back in the safe area.

IME it's taken my Jacks untill the 5th time spawning to get to free swimming stage, and i still havn't had wrigglers past the week stage to date. I hope your successfull, they are a joy and make brilliant parent fish.

 

[leecasey]

woke up this morning to find no eggs left, and my firemouth eating the last one or two. I'm not quite sure what happened. The JD's had no problem fending the FM away. Hmm, I've removed the FM and the JD's now have a tank to their self so we will see how that goes. They are still really young and I was really surprised they were even mature enough to breed. Hopefully they will have another go in the future, they are still paired at least

Thanks for the info James!

Lee

 

[Verminator89]

Ahhh, never mind. Sounds very similar to mine when they first bred. One morning woke up to see my clown loach finishing off the clutch on a rock and the parents had long given up defending them.

Its a learning curve, better luck next time

 

[leecasey]

Ahhh, never mind. Sounds very similar to mine when they first bred. One morning woke up to see my clown loach finishing off the clutch on a rock and the parents had long given up defending them.

Its a learning curve, better luck next time

I have another batch of eggs only 6 days later! a lot sooner than I expected! Parents are guarding them very well and taking turns to guard, a cute little relay system lol. Got a video of them and the eggs, albeit not that great. Not going to win any awards with this one lol.

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9H1c4KJ0Ng

 

[Verminator89]

Fantastic! As before, keep us updated, fingers crossed for you once again...