Finally have a pair of Jags!

[Aquafreak]

Last week I finally found a female Jag and she laid eggs today! I wasn't around when it happened so I'm hoping my male fertilized the eggs. I guess I'll find out soon enough. I really worked hard on sexing these fish and searching for a female. These fish aren't as common as they once were (in my experience with searching anyway). Good looking females are almost impossible to come by, and fortunately my lfs brought in a few for me and one happened to be a female.

I'm hoping to learn a lot here and raise at least a few healthy ones from the batch. My male has some great blues on his fins and the female is also pretty nice. Here are some pics, and any insight would be greatly appreciated!

 

[FormulatedFire]

Great looking pair, and congratulations on the eggs!

 

[virgil2090]

they look good,i always find it fascinating to watch the parents/fry behavior of cichlids.if you don't get wigglers on this 1st time,don't worry,many cichlids take a few times to get it right.i had a jag female mate with a texas male,not planned.she was such a good parent,rammed the glass,in protection mode.watch out jags can give you 1-2 thousand fry!

 

[m1ste2tea]

you have a great looking pair there. good luck with the eggs.

 

[Aquafreak]

Thanks. Any input on water changes during this process?

 

[smitty03281964]

Great looking jag. Hopefully the male did his part.

 

[virgil2090]

Thanks. Any input on water changes during this process?

i usually don't like to disturb the tank much until free swimmers,if you have done changes regularly then the extra time between changes won't matter.if you get free swimmers and you plan to raise some,don't take them all out.leave some for the parents to raise,helps keep them bonded,they are learning also.

 

[Aquafreak]

Male did his part - wigglers are abound! What's the next step for me. I will definitely take the advice on water changes and leaving some fry behind for the parents to raise. How long until I should remove the fry? When do I begin feeding them and what?

 

[Aquafreak]

Update time. Free swimmers are everywhere, and unfortunately a few got sucked into the filter. I'm still looking for some answers as to when I should pull some fry out to raise in a seperate tank. I also noticed a lot of blue in my male jag and talked to the guy I purchased him from. Apparently he's from a Honduran variant and from my research on here they have much more blue on them than the Mexican variant. Not sure on the female, but she also has some blue on her fins. For what its worth anyway...

An update pic...

 

[Newbie Breeder]

WOW,congrats. Nice looking fish.