New to tropical

[kissy]

Had tropical fish since jan 04. At the mo have a choc.gourami, honey gourami, 2 catfishand 3 rosy tetras. I did have a 2nd honey gourami, unfortunately I found it dead in the tank today. On Mon. I found a load of eggs attached to the sides of the tank and to the filter and to the tank toys too. Then today the dead fish. I bought the honey gourami as a pair from a reputable company, when asked about breeding the assisant said they only breed if they have too.
I'm totally confused by this remark.
Can anyone give me some advice on this matter? plz

 

[SirMinion]

The assistant's remark was a bit daft- "they only breed if they have to" as the purpose of every living thing on the planet is to breed.

However, what they most likely mean is the observation made of many species of animals and plant that they will sometimes breed if under poor or adverse conditions.

The thinking behind this goes like this..

If the parents are threatened, they 'write themselves off' and put all their remaining energy into passing their genes on to another generation. Nothing is more importatnt to them that passing on their genes and they will even kill themselves in the process.

Salmon do this all the time. They die just after spawning having spent all thier energy getting to the spawning grounds.

You can get spider plants to produce 'spiderlings' by keeping them in a pot that's too small. The plant produces babies so that it's genes 'escape' the adverse condition in the pot.

This behaviour is known as 'The Selfish Gene' If it interests you, you can read all about it in a book of the same name by Richard Dawkins.
__________________

If you've checked your water and it's fine, then I doubt they bred 'because they had to'.

I would suspect they bred because they were happy and wanted to, and one died from a congenital defect which the stress of breeding triggered.

Sorry for your loss, and welcome to the forum.

 

[Sasha]

Hi kissy and to the forum!

 

[kissy]

Thanks for the reply you've been really helpful.
As I haven't had fish very long I was wondering how long it takes for the eggs to hatch? Sorry! I mean how long will it take for the fry to swim free?

 

[Vip]

takes about 2 days for them to hatch then another 2-3days before they start to swim, if you wish for them to live put them in a breeder net so no other fish can eat them.

 

[SirMinion]

takes about 2 days for them to hatch

...assuming that they're fertile of course.

... and no one eats them.

 

[canarsie11]

 

[clutterydrawer]

we don't know whose eggs they are yet, do we? if tehy're gourami eggs they're gonna be a pain to raise...if you decide to raise them. and whoever's eggs they are, they need to be protected from other fish, and raised in tehir own tank, and they need a home to go to at the end of it....

 

[canarsie11]

Dont be afraid to ask questions!