A little bit of dumb luck and I must be doing something right.

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MarineMike

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 31, 2014
243
1
0
Southern California
For the past few days I'd noticed that the smaller of my 2 Jags which I suspected was a female, has had a fat belly. Last night I noticed that both jags were spending a lot of time around a clay pot in one corner of the tank and they'd dug a pit both in front of and behind it. So today I watched them cleaning the pot up even more and since it was almost time for a water change I went ahead and did it a few days early. Less than an hour after the water change 40-50% and some canister maintenance, I noticed them staying around the pot and as I got closer I began to see many eggs attached to the interior side of the pot. The larger Jag that has been starting to show more spotting is also making passes over the eggs and chasing off any of the other fish in the tank if they get too close.

I had no idea when I bought them that they'd turn out to be a pair. I was hoping that would be the case but they were too small for me or the shopkeeper to tell sex at the time and they were the only jags I could find within a 2 hour driving distance of my house.

Since I'd like to try and raise the fry, if they do hatch how long should I wait before moving them to a grow out tank? Will the parents be able to fend off the other fish in the tank and protect the eggs/fry or do I need to try and set up a divider to keep them away? All my other fish( Featherfin catfish, common pleco, peacock bass and sun catfish seem to know to stay away. My 6.5" tiger oscar on the other hand, seems to either have a death wish or is just too stupid to stay away even though the male jag has chased it off dozens of times and even taken a few nips at the oscar. I saw a few scales fly one of the times it got bit.

Do I need to put some kind of sponge or fine netting over the intakes for the power heads and canister filter or will the parents be able to keep the fry away from them?
 
If the eggs hatch you might want to relocate all of the other fish in the tank for their safety, breeding jags can be nasty. You can feed the fry crushed flakes or hikari first bites, which is what I use and recommend if this is your first time. You should get a sponge for the filter intake so no fry get sucked up. Keep an eye on the parents aggression towards each other, when my jags first bred my male killed the female spontaneously within two weeks of the eggs hatching. If there is aggression, move the aggressor to a different tank or divide them until the fry are moved. I usually wait a month and a half before moving 1/3 of the fry to a smaller tank. The reason I only take 1/3 is because sometimes the parents freak out and hurt each other or themselves when all the fry are removed. Good luck! Keep me posted, i'm interested to see how they come out! Hope I could help.
 
that's funny I did a 30% wc yesterday and cleaned out the canisters. sweet, congrats and goodluck hope all goes well
 
agreed with nbarb, keep an eye on the male, they can be psychotic, after 5 to 6 weeks you want to pull the fry as said as they may go back into breading mode and eat the fry to remove the competition, I would watch any other fish in the tank also for DMG done by the jags.
 
Pictures or it didnt happen...:popcorn:

Something very similar has just happened to me.

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Month and a half in my tank and they started to breed!!... Damn, this fish are like rabbits!!.

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badahz Jags. wish i had a lot of space
 
Day two no stickers yet but only 20 or so white eggs and its been 30 hours or so since first noticed the eggs.

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Other fish in tank are fine. I had to remove the oscar because it wouldnt stay away from the jags territory. The others know to stay away and or get the point when they stray to close and the male jag comes out and flares at them.
 
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