My EBJD male (6 inches) and my Blue Gene female (4 inches) have laid eggs for the second time in a month and I need some advice... The last time she laid eggs, the eggs were eaten after the first day, so I am considering taking the male out or trying something different with this new batch of eggs that were laid last night... I have considered taking both of them out because it appears the eggs are fertilized... Any ideas are appreciated...
EBJD/Blue Gene Female have laid eggs...
- Thread starter BASSTIAN182
- Start date
with my JD, Jags and Doviis I tend to leave them now till week 3-4. reasons are the pair will look after the eggs until they hatch (generally unless they are not happy) next is i was advised that from this site lol and lastly i have found at that size the fry are a little bit along and can handle difference in flow, parameters etc from adults tank to fry tank. I now leave between 4-6 fry in the tank with the adults, these are sacrificial in a way, i dont expect these to live but it seems to stop the male beating the females into breeding again straight away but the small number means she will feed and recoup while looking after them but the dither fish tend to twiddle these down pretty quick.
I totally agree with the above post and exactly follow the same with my Dovii pair , but in your case , I feel that you can atleast leave the female there as it continually cleans the area around the eggs , fans it with her tail fins.
She could have eaten up the eggs for multiple reasons like , threat from the male or even unsure of what needs to be done as it was the first time.
This happened with my Dovii female too for the first time.
Also keep an eye on her behavior , dont spook her or make sudden movements in front of the tank.
The odd thing that i do is cover the front of the tank with a news paper and occasionally peek in from the sides , just to get a feel of what is happening.
Let us know your progress and good luck.
She could have eaten up the eggs for multiple reasons like , threat from the male or even unsure of what needs to be done as it was the first time.
This happened with my Dovii female too for the first time.
Also keep an eye on her behavior , dont spook her or make sudden movements in front of the tank.
The odd thing that i do is cover the front of the tank with a news paper and occasionally peek in from the sides , just to get a feel of what is happening.
Let us know your progress and good luck.
Hey Basstian -- congrats!!!!
I would recommend that you try to leave the parents alone --- they may just be newbie parents. If they are breeding for you, you've got the right set up and parameters. They'll continue to do so regularly.
The issue with leaving the fry with the parents for an extended period of time is that the BG fry will outcompete the weaker EB fry ... and in the end, you won't get any EB fry.
I've raised dozens of BGxEB combos. This is my process:
1. Eggs hatch - leave with parents. Takes 3 days.
2. Wigglers - leave with parents for 2 days.
3. At the third wiggler day, they are just about to go free swimming ... this is when I strip the fry.
4. I wait until night time, the female will have placed the fry in a cave (best to have supplied caves for her to move fry)
5. 1-2 hours after the lights go out and the fish are asleep, I take the cave out and move the wigglers to a prepped holding tank.
6. The holding tank is usually a 20 gallon with a heater, seasoned sponge filer and one small bristle nose pleco (1.5 inch to 2 inches)
7. The fry will start to become free swimming in the next 24-48 hours--- once this happens , you must have live baby brine shrimp at the ready and feed twice a day.
8. At 3-4 weeks, you will be able to identify the EB from the BG fry, by 1 month you will need to separate the BG from the EB fry.
9. I feed heavily in the first month, at least twice a day. On weekends, I try to feed 3-4 times a day. Water changes are extremely important during this time period.
What else do you have in the tank with the EBxBG pair? If you have a lot of other fish ... and they can't protect the spawn, they'll just eat em.
Hope that helps.
~Yankeejack
I would recommend that you try to leave the parents alone --- they may just be newbie parents. If they are breeding for you, you've got the right set up and parameters. They'll continue to do so regularly.
The issue with leaving the fry with the parents for an extended period of time is that the BG fry will outcompete the weaker EB fry ... and in the end, you won't get any EB fry.
I've raised dozens of BGxEB combos. This is my process:
1. Eggs hatch - leave with parents. Takes 3 days.
2. Wigglers - leave with parents for 2 days.
3. At the third wiggler day, they are just about to go free swimming ... this is when I strip the fry.
4. I wait until night time, the female will have placed the fry in a cave (best to have supplied caves for her to move fry)
5. 1-2 hours after the lights go out and the fish are asleep, I take the cave out and move the wigglers to a prepped holding tank.
6. The holding tank is usually a 20 gallon with a heater, seasoned sponge filer and one small bristle nose pleco (1.5 inch to 2 inches)
7. The fry will start to become free swimming in the next 24-48 hours--- once this happens , you must have live baby brine shrimp at the ready and feed twice a day.
8. At 3-4 weeks, you will be able to identify the EB from the BG fry, by 1 month you will need to separate the BG from the EB fry.
9. I feed heavily in the first month, at least twice a day. On weekends, I try to feed 3-4 times a day. Water changes are extremely important during this time period.
What else do you have in the tank with the EBxBG pair? If you have a lot of other fish ... and they can't protect the spawn, they'll just eat em.
Hope that helps.
~Yankeejack
Congrats basstian, I've been working on breeding ebjd for over two years. The best luck I've had so far is removing the eggs to a separate tank filled with water from the parents tank along with a sponge filter also from parents tank. Position the slate with an air stone so bubbles gently keep a flow over the eggs, same as the female does when fanning them. Use no gravel in the fry tank, makes cleaning much easier. I've never fed mine baby brine shrimp, have always just used crushed flakes with pretty good results. I have 2 breeding pair now but I think 1 of my males is sterile. At the moment I have 7 adults and 3 have birth defects, weird finnage, blind in one eye, ect...be prepared to a lot of kulling. Mine where bought from different places as where the female reg. dempsey I used to get the blue gene fry. Please try to get as much diversity in the blood line as possible, line breeding isn't the way to go with these guys. One last thing, a little fungus medication with the eggs will help also. Good luck!
