You guys wanna see something cool?

[davidtcb1]

Love the look of the tank Fuzzy. Great find on the stump.

[jgentry]

That is a little rare. Generally the males do not go into breeding coloration until the fry are free swimming.

[fuzzylogic]

This male has been colored up this way for days. I wonder if he is getting a head start since he isn't the dominant fish in the tank and they had to run him out of his spot.

[jgentry]

Who knows. Most of the herichthys males do not color up until the fry are free swimming though.

[jgentry]

Forgot to ask what all else is in that tank? Looks like I see a firemouth, JD, and salvini?

[fuzzylogic]

Those are all correct. I also have an ebjd in this tank as well as a common pleco, a tiretrack eel, and a ropefish. Im off to Lowes this morning to get some egg crate or light diffuser I can use as a tank divider unless you guys have some better advice. I'm pretty much a novice when it come to New World cichlids so any tips or tricks will be highly appreciated.

[jgentry]

Unless you want to raise the fry I would just leave them. They are nice fish but do not generally sell well unless they are certain collection location varients. Plus putting up a divider is going to lock the male and female into a smaller area and the male is likely to kill the female in a week when he wants to breed again. If they are good parents they will protect them for a week or so after they are swimming and you can siphon or net out some fry to raise if you want to keep some of them.

[plecoman]

Nice looking fish and tank! I really love the wood also!

[ree123]

I totally agree with what JD said above. Raise some by siphoning out some of the fry, and leave the rest and take pictures of the natural events as they occur. I'll bet in the end you will have 1 or 2 or 3 that will survive in the tank and the ones you pull you can play with in another tank, or sell/trade, or whatever.

Fuzzy, you never said why you choose aquarium salt instead of an alternate salt for soaking and rubbing the wood. I would like to know why you chose the salt you did please.

[fuzzylogic]

Rick I didn't see anything online that said to use aquarium salt it was merely a personal choice. I had a big amount of it so I went ahead and used what I had. I did find a driftwood selection and prep article I found on AC that covers most of the bases. I will put in in a new thread so everyone can have a look

[fuzzylogic]

***UPDATE*****
I took a few shots tonight since the eggs are now changing color. They aren't the best because the tank and glass are a bit dirty. I will wait to clean when I have some fry.


















I will post more when I see some wigglers. Thanks again for looking

[fuzzylogic]

Jan 8, 2012 8:34:05 GMT -6 @stoneyredneck said:

Jan 7, 2012 10:48:21 GMT -6 jgentry said:

Unless you want to raise the fry I would just leave them. They are nice fish but do not generally sell well unless they are certain collection location varients. Plus putting up a divider is going to lock the male and female into a smaller area and the male is likely to kill the female in a week when he wants to breed again. If they are good parents they will protect them for a week or so after they are swimming and you can siphon or net out some fry to raise if you want to keep some of them.

I don't think the divider was to save the fry as much as is was to make sure they didn't double team any other fish in the tank and kill them. I was in agreement with him for this reason. I don't know much about this fish though and they did manage to put the eggs in a good spot.

He could always put that EBJD in my tank though and the others would fend fine I am sure

HAHAHAHA I can see it now 10 years from now my ebjd will die and Stoney will still be saying "see, you should have put her in my tank!"

[fuzzylogic]

***UPDATE DAY 3***
I think about 95% of the eggs have turned to wigglers and have dropped off the stump. I would post video or pics but it looks like they have been herded to the back of the stump or underneath based on the females behavior. I'm pretty sure even if they were out in the open I wouldn't be able to see them against the natural tones in my substrate.

[ree123]

You can expect the pair to keep them hidden and attended to (protected) for several days. Prob. your next opportunity to photograph them will be either if they move them again to a more open location, or waiting until the fry grow from the wiggler stage to the swarm stage. When they swarm is when you want to siphion out a few of them for raising seperately. Prob. in 5 to 7 days from now.

[fuzzylogic]

***UPDATE***

Its been a couple of days since I've updated because I have yet to see any fry, My Gf swears she has seen them at the base of a plant but I have not. It just looks like they are guarding nothing at this point behind my stump.