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I had spotted my fish had spawned & hatched whilst I had been away as I saw a newly hatched fry @ the entrance to the cave.
Just before bed I had another look & saw 1 fry out of the cave & 2 more @ the entrance & the male flapping his tail like mad, which was kicking the fry out of the cave.
So this was the first time I had ever put zeb fry into a fry trap as I normally leave dad to do it all.
There was 6 fry & 3 eggs still to hatch, in the morning 2 had hatched but 1 was dead & deformed.
So now all 8 fry are doing fine.
On another note in another tank I had a trapping, & I had to remove the male that was still trapping a dead younger female.
Not the first time this has happened to me before & also males killed in trappings also.
The high & lows of fish keeping.

I have found there seems to a connection between having fish die while others spawn to be an all too familiar tank phenomenon. Usually for me its different tanks and species involved in this odd juxtaposition of life and death.

Nice work with the rescue

Nice surprise to come back to a spawn and hope the fry do well Not so good to hear the trapped dead female as you say, the highs and lows of fish keeping/breeding

Fry @ 5 days old & looking good.

They look great Steve

Its nice when a male kicks out some eggs as that way you can see the devlopment

Good luck with them

This is neat to see working. In my last spawn, my male kicked a fry out that I try saving a breeder trap, but it died. seeing this work for someone makes me think the dead fry was just not viable rather than the fry dying since it was put into a breeder trap.

Thanks guys & girls for the comments, yes its great to see the fry developing & healthfully @ the mo.
The male that kicked the fry out has raised 3 lots of fry before full term.
Its a strange carry on as it is in my living room with a boisterous dog, 4 yr old child & wife!
This tank has 2 males which have raised fry in the same cave before & they seem to take it in turns to be Alpha & raise fry every few months, very strange!
After my death of a female in one of my other tanks last week, I have had my first spawn in the same tank with a smaller male, a new group I had bought from Ben on here.
I decided to remove the eggs on Tuesday as the male seemed to be sat on the eggs rather than in front of him & they looked to be going white.
I am still a novice @ this ,& prefer to leave the eggs with dad rather than having all the worry.
Here's a pic I took tonight I have already removed a fungused egg, I am not too sure on 2 eggs time will tell.

mistern2005 wrote:This is neat to see working. In my last spawn, my male kicked a fry out that I try saving a breeder trap, but it died. seeing this work for someone makes me think the dead fry was just not viable rather than the fry dying since it was put into a breeder trap.

I've raised many fry in breeders after males kicked them including L260, L174 and L134 although not been lucky enough to have a zebby spawn yet But mostly they hatched out but yes sometimes its just not meant to be.

big congratulations mate hope all goes well as you said you had not had a spawn for a while all the best with raising them

The fry hatched yesterday, 2 eggs were bad like I thought.
8 hatched but 3 died, 2 looked a bit deformed but I have 5 healthy fry, I even helped a fry hatchout that was stuck to another egg & yolk sacks!
Does anyone have any comments on fry hatching out without the help from dad, if this can result in deaths with fry still being stuck or is this just survival of the fittest?

Hers a pic.

BIG Congrats

Good to hear you've had some hatched safely

When the eggs/fry are in with dad I guess we don't know how many need help or don't make it but I reckon it must happen as I will look and see a large clutch of eggs in the cave and then what comes out in the end is usually less I've had 100% success in traps where all eggs hatched succesfully and all fry made it but still have some hatch out and die or not make it out at all

I have raised Zebra fry in breeding traps as well but always with a few casualties. It is my belief that the fry are better off with dad in his cave. On many a casinos I have used a turkey baster to place wiggles back in the cave with the male. I have also done this with L260 & L333 fry. I have never had a male abandon his fry or cave after me returning the fry to the cave. I have the front of all my caves elevated. This has been a great help for me in solving this problem. I elevate my caves by using flat slate tiles or very thin rocks placed directly under the front of the cave. I no longer use breeding traps. This is what works for me. Congrats! on the fry that you saved.