Green Chromide / Etroplus suratensis in Full Breeding Dress

Of the ten Green chromide fry I obtained about 11 months ago, one pair has formed so far and they have spawned for the second time. Here they are just finishing up, their pink eggs hanging from tiny threads. This time, the parents chose exactly the same place on an artificial tree stump to deposit them, apparently sensing it to be the safest, most easily defended site in this rather crowded 55G tank.
[video=youtube_share;hw1e5MHQCe4]http://youtu.be/hw1e5MHQCe4[/video]

I decided to remove the eggs which were laid on the resin fake tree trunk. So last evening I set up a 10G with brackish water (SG ~ 1.005). I was lifting the piece from the parents' tank by one of its 'branches' to move it to the receiving 10G on the shelf below, when the unthinkable happened ... the branch broke. The trunk with eggs attached fell from about 7', first hitting the ladder, and then the floor, where upon it (the trunk, not the floor) shattered into bits. Although the resin tree trunk is a nice looking decoration (if it doesn't break first) it is extremely brittle ( as I found out) . As I frantically searched for the piece that had the eggs on it, I imagined that the impact would most likely have dislodged the eggs, and that I'd be picking up eggs, one at a time ... and this at
2 am . Much to my surprise, I found the piece with the eggs (at least most of them) and quickly put it in the awaiting 10G. Initially I wondered if the tree trunk would fit into the receiving tank. Now I didn't have to worry about that. Question is, am I going to get a hatch? They should be hatching later tonight or tomorrow some time. Keeping my fingers crossed. I'll let you know.

duanes said:

I wondered how you were going to handle the community setting, great to see the mishap didn't blow it.
Those breeding colors are fabulous.

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Yes, what a strange turn of events last night. I'm planning on moving the 10 suratensis and 15 maculatus to a 90G, up from the 55G where they won't be so crowded. A bunch of rocks, overturned flower pots and some driftwood should do the trick. Amazingly, the maculatus continue to breed regularly in the crowded tank. They've learned to be 'inconspicuous', although the suratensis pay little attention to them anyways. I'm still looking for the "cleaner" behaviors of maculatus alluded to in the literature ... haven't seen it yet.

tlindsey said:

Chromide's look awesome in breeding dress, also you inspire me as well as others with your wisdom of various species of Cichla, can't wait for update on the Green Chromide fry!

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Thanks for your kind words. If there's a hatch, I'll report it

brackishdude said:

I keep e. maculatus, and, if the parenting skills are the same, the parents dig a pit and deposit the fry who wriggle at the bottom for several days before free swimming. The parents constantly suck them in and spit them out, and defend them vigorously. I have read that the parents also excrete a mucus that he fry initially feed on, though I never saw that myself.

How are you going to feed them?

Keep us posted!!

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I'm planning to feed them on newly hatched brine shrimp. The eggs look pretty small, smaller in fact than maculatus eggs. I have successfully raised E. maculatus fry both with the parents and away from them so I'm expecting the suratensis to be pretty similar. If they hatch, you'll hear about it!!

douglas ingram said:

Jim, I've often wondered, what do you do with all of the fry?! You keep so many types of fish and they always seem to be breeding.

I've got one pair of breeding Jewels and I have two batches of fry and they need homes.

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Hey Doug. There was a time when I raised a lot of fry of different species. Rarely would a spawn occur and me not keep some of it. But I was punishing myself, not only by having to provide room and food for all those mouths to feed, but ultimately trying to move them on. It was stressful on the breeder (i.e. me) to not be able to distribute the young, not to mention the work involved! Fortunately I have had a local wholesaler (Spencer Jack at aFISHionados here in Winnipeg) who had taken my fish on a regular basis. Lately (the last year or so) I've become much more selective about what I'll raise, both in species and numbers kept. I try to have the young fish pretty much cleared out by summer, when my family and I like to travel. So now, I tend to let nature take its course, and the spawns gradually "disappear".

The eggs are finally hatching. Most online references indicate they take 48 to 72 hour to begin hatching, much like CAs and SAs. This has not been the case with mine, these starting to hatch this morning, five full days after they were laid. Also, I have read that they don't hatch out all at once but over an extended period of a couple of days. That seems to be true, as the number of fry that appear has been slowly increasing as the day progresses. The temperature is at ~78F. Not surprisingly, they are much more like Madagascan Paretroplus in that regard. My maculatus, menarambo and kieneri all take ~ 7 days to hatch, and that's at a temperature of ~84F. With the extended hatching time, fungus and its prevention can be a real problem.