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Hi Shell,

As Mindy has said, you should remove the fungused eggs. With any luck he will still be sitting on some fertile eggs. It is quite common for the male to "eject" unfertile eggs and deformed fry from the cave. Sometimes the male will even leave the cave if the whole spawn has become fungused.

Generally the males head will be directly over the eggs but he will often move nearer to the entrance of the cave. If disturbed he will soon shoot deep into the cave again to protect his eggs. Even when a male has fry he will remain fairly deep in the cave, the older the fry get the less he will closely guard them. I have 3 week old fry with a male at the moment that really should have left the cave by now. The male doesn't appear to guard them much as he is at the mouth of the cave trying to attract another female. I suspect that the fry are venturing out at night to feed and going back to the cave by day as their bellies are reddish in colour from the tetra prima that they are feeeding on. If he has fry don't expect to see much of him for the next couple of weeks.

Adam

UPDATE:

The " fungus eggs " lol was just a few whiteish bits of gravel lol i feel so silly now but hey!

The male is still deep in the cave. I had to peek, there is no signs of eggs/fry as i said before, but the thing that has got me why is he still so far to the back. He has been there 6/7 days now after the female has left! no signs of any fry being kicked out or now wrigglers or ANYTHING!! are there any other reason to why he is still there

When mine spawned, the male behaved exactly as you are describing... and I couldn't see anything. Be patient... Good things come to those that wait!

I do hope so, how long was your male hiding for? mine is 8 days in hiding now, surely i would see something at the edge of the cave.

:D:D:D the excitement is killing me!!! but still i will be as patient as i can

Hi shell and congrats on the spawn.

If I remember correctly mine was sat deep in the cave for about 7 - 10 days and then he came and sat at the front as usual.

If you have a digital camera you may be able to get a pic as the quick flash doesn't seem to bother them too much.

I have tried that method, but unfortunatly the pic doesn't come out clear enough, but thanks for the input.

UPDATE!!!!!

I HAVE FRY!!!! lol i am so excited i had to peek again and saw little wrigglers how sweet do they look! i cant get them out and to be honest from reading on here i dont really want to, but at leasst i know it is def a spawn!

WHOOOO HOOOOO!!!!!

Good for you, great to hear someone else is having success as well. Let us know how it goes ok (with pics!!!! )

Plastic Mac

I will dont you worry!!! i cant type i am so excited!

Hahahaha!

I think the medical term is 'zeb-drunk'...

Well leave the picture taking till tomorrow at least, they'd probably be all blurred if you took them today

Hi Shell

My appologies for not getting to this sooner but congratulations on this.

Next we need some Photo's!!! How about one of you beside your tank as the new proud Mom with the wrigglers!

rob

Whats the point of that, you wont be able to see the fish lol

I am sure people dont want to see a massive great head in the way of fish to be honest!

One other point how well do fry cope with moving?

I am moving house AGAIN!! in a few weeks and was wondering how i could move them successfully?

Any advice would be great.

what Rob said, pic of you and the wrigglers no excuses or i'll start calling you mark or something...

and as for moving them safely i dont think you can move them safely

Awesome news that you have fry. Sure hope they make the move. If not you know there is a fertile pair in your tank and you will just have to wait for the next one.