Finally, JDs have laid Eggs again!

Dragonis95

Plecostomus
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Sep 3, 2017
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He wanted to breed yesterday. They were almost at spawning... but something had him dying... I guess the parasites were just too strong and have weakened him before so he was only able to live a few more weeks. With a water temperature of 29°C it was no problem for the gill worms to take over the command...
Within few hours he jumped out of the water to gasp for oxygen and then fell on his side when sinking on the ground again.
My fault, I did not check him for gill worms. I thought he was okay again...
At least I have big strong and beautiful youngsters to get a new pair.
Maybe there is one who gets even bigger than him. He was 22cm long at his dying day... lived two joyful years with a great female and enjoyed that time obviously. His coloration was fantastic as you all have seen...
But I am sad. Very sad. He was great...
I hope he is in the biggest river of heaven now with endless food and nice other fish...
 

Dragonis95

Plecostomus
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Sep 3, 2017
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A silly question...
Now, that the ripe female, with all her eggs inside, is alone, and has fry, would it make sense to look for a strong and big male to mate her with again or should I grow out a few of my little ones and massage her eggs out if she doesn't lay them in the next days?
Then I would have a closely related pair...
With these good genes, how big is the risk of inbreeding with fish of the same batch?
 

Dragonis95

Plecostomus
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Sep 3, 2017
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Right now the scene has been very sad, but she seems to get along with the situation...
She swam through the whole tank, looked at every favourite hiding spot of the male and tried to find him, shaking her head... then she swam to the front and looked directly into my eyes, as if she wanted to say "Why is my male gone? Help me...".
Seeing things like these breaks my heart...
But now she lays her eggs on the rock the male cleaned yesterday, in the believe he would have another batch of fry with her :-(
The youngsters don´t seem to miss the male. Some turned darker, I guess now that the dominant male is gone, they start to develop their ranking.
And when I stand in front of them, they beg for food, so sweet :)
The most aggressive one seems to be male. He chases everyone else around like crazy.
This is him and maybe the other dominant one... eye markings say female, but behaviour is very male. We will see.
2018-07-30 (2).JPG 2018-07-30 (3).JPG 2018-07-30 (4).JPG 2018-07-30.JPG
 

Deadliestviper7

The Necromancer
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Aug 6, 2016
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A silly question...
Now, that the ripe female, with all her eggs inside, is alone, and has fry, would it make sense to look for a strong and big male to mate her with again or should I grow out a few of my little ones and massage her eggs out if she doesn't lay them in the next days?
Then I would have a closely related pair...
With these good genes, how big is the risk of inbreeding with fish of the same batch?
Sorry for your loss, I would buy a nice healthy looking male, they'll likely spawn eventually
 
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Dragonis95

Plecostomus
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Sep 3, 2017
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I have good news:

I think I have found the dominant males of the batch, there are two dark coloured fish who chase everyone else around when some food is available.
Here you have some pictures. The darker one is the "male"... The clear aggressive behaviour and the light coloration of the fish near this one, is, for me, a sign of being male.
On the picture before the last one you see a lighter coloured one, that could maybe become female, but I am not sure yet.
They have grown very well and the development is really fast, so I guess it doesn´t take very much longer for them to show their real gender... don´t you think?
Just to remember: They hatched on 23rd of May! They are only 9 weeks old!
2018-07-31 (2).JPG 2018-07-31 (4).JPG 2018-07-31 (5).JPG 2018-07-31 (6).JPG 2018-07-31 (7).JPG 2018-07-31 (8).JPG 2018-07-31 (9).JPG 2018-07-31.JPG
 

Dragonis95

Plecostomus
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Sep 3, 2017
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The biggest ones fight like crazy,
The smallest ones keep out of the way and take the food that no one else sees or wants.
Here some nice pics, this time I caught both of the biggest ones.
I still think they could be males due to their behaviour and coloration.

The first dominant one:
2018-08-01 (2).JPG
The two biggest in combat:2018-08-01 (5).JPG the other dominant showing his power:
2018-08-01 (6).JPG
2018-08-01 (7).JPG 2018-08-01.JPG
 

YankeeJack

Blue Tier VIP
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Mar 3, 2013
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GREAT Pics! Love how close you can get! Looking great! Ya, the one that grows the fastest and is the largest tends to be male. Almost 100% of the time in my spawns.
 

Dragonis95

Plecostomus
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Sep 3, 2017
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It is not easy to get them stay on one spot for a second, believe me haha :D

I wonder what characteristics the females show at that age, because the males are almost sure... are they lighter in body colour or do they behave different?

My last spawn was a year ago, and I gave them away way before they showed their gender. And before that spawn the spawn was another year back.
So I don't remember how to determine the sex that early.
But I know that my big male was looking like it was becoming a female for a long time, but then the spots on the jaw disappeared and it started to grow like crazy...
I must admit that I never grew up female JDs until now... are the smallest ones females? Because I sort out the very tiny ones that don't grow like the rest.
 
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