What the h... is happening

Tom Kvitnes · Post by **Tom Kvitnes** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 6:08 pm

My zebraes spawn about 14 days ago, i got four/five fry.

Tried to take the fry from the male but did not have any luck.
So i decided to leave them in the cave with the male, him looking to be a god father.

Today i was determined to try again, but what the h..., the female was back in, and another spawn was on the go

Anyone else experienced this ?
And what about the week old fry in there, will they survive ?

A bit worried now

Regards

Tom

Post by **Barbie** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 7:54 pm

I've always taken the fry, so I"m not sure exactly what you can expect to happen. In Ancistrus, the fry would just be ignored, but zebras might see the fry as a threat to the eggs potentially. It will basically depend on how she perceives it. She may work to kick it out before she'll lay. I don't think I'd want to disturb them to save him, to be honest. You might want to disturb them both to give them a cave you can get the fry out of though!

Barbie

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 8:00 pm

I heard about this happen before - in Tønsberg, Tom. I don't remember him saying it was a problem, he just mentioned it had happpened in his group.

Tom Kvitnes · Post by **Tom Kvitnes** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 8:30 pm

McEve wrote:I heard about this happen before - in Tønsberg, Tom. I don't remember him saying it was a problem, he just mentioned it had happpened in his group.

Took a quick call to paul and asked him, he ment this would not be a problem, this had happened several times in his setups.

And if the fry should be killed

it was more important to leave the spawning pair alone and let them figure things out.

I am nearly going nuts

One year of wathing and nothing happens, and when finaly things gets going, its to mutch

Regards

Tom

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 9:43 pm

Too much ... for them or for you...?

Des · Post by **Des** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 9:55 pm

Congratulations Tom with your breeding success. Hope all goes well with your first clutch of babies.
Regards,
Des

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 10:02 pm

Well done Tom

,

I hope that it all works out and that the first clutch makes it.

Keep us posted.

KenW · Post by **KenW** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 10:20 pm

Congrats Tom,

You maybe lucky and get two sets of fry. Must...... think...... positive.....

Tom Kvitnes · Post by **Tom Kvitnes** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 11:00 pm

Thank you all

Mceve, its definatly too mutch for me

But at least i got confirmed that i have 2 females, the female i am 100% sure is a female, is not involved in this latest spawn.

So now my hope is that the cave will be full of both eggs and fry tommorow

Regards

Tom

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 12:04 am

Tom Kvitnes wrote: Mceve, its definatly too mutch for me

Take a deep breath and stop pacing

You'll be right, and will have lots of babies to show in no time.

Congrats and good luck!

Tom Kvitnes · Post by **Tom Kvitnes** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 9:47 am

The female has left the building, no new eggs.

But the fry still alive

Regards

Tom

Tom Kvitnes · Post by **Tom Kvitnes** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 11:58 am

I give up, my zebras are playing me big time

When i looked in the cave this morning the male was alone with the week old fry, but no eggs.
When i looked in now, the male had left.
i quickly removed the cave into the fry container.

I took a quick view in the tank to see where the male had gone, and found him in the next cave with a new eggclutch

What is happening ?

He looks like he is confused, going in and out of the cave, and leaving the eggs ungarded.

What should i do ?

Regards

Tom

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 12:29 pm

This is you subdominant male? he's probalby feeling insecure and inexperienced... Maybe the alpha has been showing him some muscles during the night?

I think you'll just have to leave it, and if it doesn't get any better when the new eggs are hatched, then swipe them too.

You'll probably get better advice from those more experienced than me though.

Tom Kvitnes · Post by **Tom Kvitnes** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 1:00 pm

He left for good so i tok the eggs.

By the look of the eggs i dont think this is getting anywear.
Some white, some yellow, and som blank with just a white dot inside, and some empty shells.

But i have put them in a hatcher just to see what happens.

Regards

Tom

Post by **Barbie** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 6:21 pm

Why give up? He's just getting started and figuring things out. You checking for where that fry went so often could have made him feel insecure in the other cave, so he switched. They'll do that. My big male has 2 caves he has trouble deciding over at times, and he'll beat the poor subdominant male out of his when he's in an especially ornery mood. Usually this is right after I've swiped his young fry. I think he thinks the fry somehow got in there and he has to check on it. Who the heck knows though.

I personally wouldn't have taken those eggs, especially if they didn't all look fertile. It's hard enough to get them hatched without him to help chew them out of the shells, but removing the fungused ones is a true and utter pain in the keester, IME. Hopefully you won't have the same problems!

Barbie