Channa Andrao fry!

[TomH]

Hello,

I've been on holiday for three weeks, with my flatmate feeding my tank of 4 channa andrao in my absence. As expected i returned to a slightly overgrown tank, but otherwise very healthy look fish.

However I noticed today when feeding them, two have become quite shy, although both are still eating. On closer inspection I noticed two small fry hiding next to one of them! I'm guessing there must have been more that may have been eaten? They look reasonably developed, no egg sack, and somewhere in the region of 3mm long, with a noticeable dark stripe down the side so i'm guessing they must have hatched a little while ago, while I was away.

The question is, how do I care for them? Both fry that I can see are sticking close to the parents, who seem to have claimed half the tank. I haven't seen the other two channa bothering them yet. If I want to maximise the chance of their survival am I best removing the fry? Or are they safer with the parents? Tank options are limited, only other tank I have at the moment is a 45cm tank with a few ghost shrimp in... Would be interested to hear anyones thoughts or experiences with channa fry!

Thanks

Tom

 

[-DC-]

Congrats !

I recommend you leave the fry with the parents , they will care for them .channa display amazing parental care but I would recommend removing the others if you can . Try to do so without disrupting the pair .

The parents will not eat their young and while they are small they'll keep them rounded up and protect them from the others . But as the fry grow and become more adventurous the others won't hesitate to eat them . There is also a good chance that the pair decide to kill off the others to eliminate the threat to their fry .

As for care the parents will do most of it , your fry are large enough now to be feeding frozen blood worms , you'll be amazed how much they can eat , they are not picky feeders and will eat whatever they can fit , I started them on bloodworms and once they started recognizing me opening the tank as feeding time I switched to 1mm NLS & small meal worms. They switched with ease . they were greedy feeders just like adults so once they recognized feeding time they simply devoured whatever I dropped in.

Hope that helps

 

[TomH]

Hi Devon, thanks for the reply, I was hoping you would see this!

I've dropped a divider in the tank for the time being to separate the pair. Will see how it goes. They do seem to be good parents, the female is quite well hidden amongst the plant at the back, but whenever i peer in to get a look the male comes out in a rather defensive posture to block the view! Fry have ventured out a couple of times, have seen them breathing air from the surface. Hopefully with the divider in they can be a bit more adventurous.

I'll try them on some bloodworm tomorrow, thanks for the tip. Roughly how long should I keep them with the parents? Is there a chance the parents will get over possessive and aggressive towards eachother?

Thanks again for your help!

 

[-DC-]

I'd leave them with the parents until they find new homes or tank gets over crowded.

Andrao's breeding habits are the same as the other subtropicals from that region . The male is the mouth brooder and keeps care of the young while the female tends to linger near by also protecting him and his brood when necessary . Females are also egg feeders which is why it's important to keep the fry with the pair.

I doubt agression between the pair will really be an issue with andrao . If they behave like other species from that region then you may see some fighting when the fry get start to break away from the "nest" and explore more , the males seem to become frustrated when constantly hearding fry and might start showing agression but it's typically short lived as long as they have hides and some space to avoid each other it should be fine .

 

[TomH]

You were right when you said they were greedy. Seem to be getting bigger each day, eating a lot of bloodworm. Largest is around 1cm, can see the distinctive 'snake head' now.

Saw the male suck some of them into his mouth today when they ventured too far. I'm unsure exactly how many there are in total, have seen six now in total roaming about, but I don't know how many he's hiding.

Anyway, managed to take some pics just after feeding them today. Not great photos but you get the idea.

Some of the fry:

Female guarding:

The male has picked a very illusive hiding place, barely see him now.

 

[chronick]

I'm a little late but i wanted to mention that Andrao are egg feeders. The female will release unfertilized eggs for the fry to eat. So if your pair decides to spawn for you again in the future, make sure to leave the fry with the parents.

I have a group of 6 andrao that im hoping to breed, your post makes me very optimistic. How large is your tank? Any tips on getting them to pair?

Best of luck!

 

[Brucki]

HI chronick,

just let the fish find out ;-)

mine bonded and started breedings after the end of Hibernation, when temps rised slowly.
Less Food and a drop in temperature for a few weeks up to months is surely a spawning / mating Trigger