Help! I think I have Bichir Eggs! Not sure what to do! *pics*

[dmhollis]

Your female looks like a male to me. Do you have other pics?

I have this horrible pic of my male (he won't come out of hiding for some reason, really weird for him as he's been uber social). And based on what it says here (assuming they're correct), this guy really is a male. Also, he's the one doing all the "cupping" with his anal fin, which has been described on other sites as being male behavior.

Here's a couple of different looks at my female...and btw, I have now witnessed her actually depositing eggs...unless males do this too, I'm pretty sure, she's a female.

 

[dmhollis]

Awesome thanks man!

No prob!!!

 

[is300zx]

Ok those were better pics thanks. Yeah it is female. It looked like a male on the first pic cause the actual fin was hidden. Take a video if you can that would be awesome. Those eggs may not be fertilized if the male isn't doing anything but hide.

 

[Infblue]

yeah from the new pics, that'd be the female
good luck! would be cool if they're breeding.

 

[dmhollis]

Ok those were better pics thanks. Yeah it is female. It looked like a male on the first pic cause the actual fin was hidden. Take a video if you can that would be awesome. Those eggs may not be fertilized if the male isn't doing anything but hide.

Video would be awesome!!! I'll try it. Also, I think you're right about the male not fertilizing properly. I read somewhere that the female usually deposits the eggs in his "cup", then he fertilizes and sends the eggs off. He's not doing any of that and she's just laying eggs everywhere. Don't know what that means, but, it looks like they like each other enough to get into a breeding cycle sort of way.

I'll just keep my eyes open and see what happens. On the off chance that those eggs ARE fertilized, I want to have a rearing tank available.

 

[SmokinCoCo]

ya i spose its possible she is ready and he is a teenager that has no idea what he is supposed to be doing! ahahah busting shots in the cave by himself instead of over her eggs...lol too funny...well hopefully he figures it out! ill cross my fingers...

 

[Jakob]

I thought it was impossible to breed bichirs in hometanks!!!
You are so lucky!!!!!

 

[Infblue]

I thought it was impossible to breed bichirs in hometanks!!!

i wouldn't say its impossible, just that there are basically two challenges.

1) get them to breed, with both the male and female ready and know what they're doing.
2) get the eggs to hatch and raise the frys

both are challenges in their own right, with 2 often more challenging than 1. i know someone who works at zoo/aquarium who told me getting their breeding pair to breed was the easy part, but they never had success in raising the frys.

 

[dmhollis]

i wouldn't say its impossible, just that there are basically two challenges.

1) get them to breed, with both the male and female ready and know what they're doing.
2) get the eggs to hatch and raise the frys

both are challenges in their own right, with 2 often more challenging than 1. i know someone who works at zoo/aquarium who told me getting their breeding pair to breed was the easy part, but they never had success in raising the frys.

Did they give any hypotheses on why the fry didn't make it.

 

[beblondie]

Did they give any hypotheses on why the fry didn't make it.Getting them to eat seems to be a major problem-Anne