Need Help - Eggs Laid!!

andrewcoxon · Post by **andrewcoxon** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 1:23 pm

hi guys,

the eggs have been laid for 3 days now and today after a small water change the male left his cave for the first time in days and that enabled me to look in....

iv never seen any clutch of eggs this big before, way over 20 eggs.... more like 30!!!

they are all fertile too! i can see blood vessels on them!

but the problem is after the water change my male left his cave and as i speak he is violently attacking the female, slapping his tail....

he's been out for about 10 mins...

i was wondering is this is normal.... why is it happening and will he return to tend to the eggs as im worried the other male might claim his cave back and eat them all!

should i leave them????

plz advise

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 5:48 pm

I guess you know the answer as to what the male is up to by now...

It's not usual that the male leave the eggs, but it does happen. According to one of our members another male can take over eggs as well, but I have never witnessed this myself. If you have two equally strong males the other male could sabotage, and if you have an inexperienced male he might not know what to do with the eggs, in which case they need to be rescued.

So as you can see there's a lot of different possible scenarios here.

I would keep a close eye on the development, but I'm thinking that's exactly what you've been doing anyway!

What's happened by now?

andrewcoxon · Post by **andrewcoxon** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 6:22 pm

well he returned back to his cave after another 10 mins and has been in there ever since.... hopefully its panic over.

this is his 4th spawn, all unsuccessful but he seems to be doing a good job with these ones, iv noticed he's always touching the eggs with his mouth.

they should be hatching with a little luck quite soon, i hope the fry survive this time!!

ZebMan · Post by **ZebMan** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 6:39 pm

Good luck! That's a lot of Zebs!

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 7:31 pm

Fingers crossed Andrew! He must learn sooner or later

Post by **John** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 8:46 pm

Good luck Adrew, and 30 would be a new record

Stevie.K · Post by **Stevie.K** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 8:55 pm

Good luck

stang1 · Post by **stang1** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 10:46 pm

Good luck Andrew!

smithrc · Post by **smithrc** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 10:51 pm

Wow - I though 15 fry from one spawn was going some

...

Did you have the camera handy?

Lucy · Post by **Lucy** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 1:42 am

We're all holding our breath & waiting to hear so keep posting Andrew!!!

Lucy <><

andrewcoxon · Post by **andrewcoxon** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 9:49 am

thanks guys,

still going ok i think, they should be starting to hatch soon.

i wanted to take a pic but my camera hasnt got a flash on it!!

Mindy · Post by **Mindy** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 5:51 pm

30?? I've never had more than half a dozen fry from a spawn! Either my females only lay small clutches or my male is a rubbish (or hungry?) dad!

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 6:07 pm

I think the record so far is 20, but I have heard of two females spawning with an over eager dad before. It's probably either a clutch that looks bigger than it is, (over eager human dad

) or there's been two females in there

Just guessing though, as we don't know everything about these darlings yet

andrewcoxon · Post by **andrewcoxon** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 6:43 am

well iv just woke up this morning and he's kicked out another 4 babies!!!

looked in the cave and there is pleanty left.

i just hope the 5 iv rescued survive.

he's not a very good dad still!!!

Post by **John** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 6:51 am

andrewcoxon wrote:he's not a very good dad still!!!

Hey andrew don't be to harsh on um
He is still inexperienced and imo if he brings up 10 the right way this time he is doing A OK
Imagine yourself bringing up 30 baby's with zilch experience