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After a few months of not spawning since the great zebra fry hunt, I am thrilled to report that Fatty, my #2 male, is on eggs. The alpha male is tending his last batch of fry which are now free swimming and should be evicted from the cave in the near future.

I even had what I think was my #3 male in a cave with a young fm last week. The meeting didnt last long and there was no spawn- but it was amazing to see the Alpha male on wigglers, Fatty with a lady and the 3rd male all active at the same time.

Looks like it is time for the Great Fry Hunt ver 2 in the very near future as the breeding tank is once again getting overcrowded. Since the first one in early november I have had 4 more spawns, 5 if I count the fry that were in the cave with dad at the time of the hunt. My guess is the count in there is back up over 50 fry.

The only thing I think I am doing that is any different from what most here do is the breeding tank is pretty warm. It is an inwall tank so there is some heat build up despite the ventilation and it tends to keep the tank temp in the 86-87F range. I tend to grow the fry at 83-84F.

The one other thing that comes to mind is the tank layput. It is designed to provide the maximum hiding places possible. This makes it a royal PITA to clean and means to catch fish I have to break it down completely- no fun for me. But this seems to make the fish a lot "happier" and gives the fry I leave in there a lot of shelter.

can you post pictures of your tank? filtration setup?

whatever you are doing it seems to be working really well!!! congrats on the new spawns

eli- i think you can find all that info on Barbie et al's Fishaholics Forum
http://www.fishaholics.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2288

The intersting thing is my last two posts on that thread which I would like to add to this thread here.

The adventures continue. This morning's cave check revealed one of the eggs in fatty's cave was 2/3 of the way from the rest at the back. he must have twitched his tail and blown it out. I spotted it this evening right before dinner and it sure looked to these old eyes as if a tiny wiggler was on it.

So I set up the breeder trap- hung it on the front and got ye olde turkey baster. It took me 3 tries- I learned a zebra egg is heavier than water and will slide right back out of a tube as soon as the suction stops. the third time I put a finger over the end- and dropped the egg into the trap.

This is something totally new for me and i am hoping all goes well and I can get to see the whole thing up close and personal.

This morning I discovered another egg with a wiggler outside the cave and repeated the process. There are now two in the trap.

Upon closer inspection it looks like that dad may not be Fatty but instead a 3rd male. If I am correct, this might explain the eggs coming out of the cave as this would be his first time.

At tonights cave check I noticed yet another egg with a wiggler at about the midpoint of the cave. I have never ever seen a single egg outside the cave in any of the prior 14-15 spawns to date. I can think of only two possibilities- either the fry are deformed in some way and kicked out on purpose, or else this is not an experienced dad.