Finally! My orangeheads got busy!

[DaveB]

I haven't had an orangehead attempted spawn in almost a year. Got home from the gym tonight and saw the dominant pair looking stressed out - his coloration was oddly dark and black splotchy. I immediately started a water change and then I noticed... eggs. Sweet!

It's funny. This is exactly as Ed mentioned a while back. A series of water changes in quick succession (nearly every day) followed by a week of inactivity, and suddenly it's business time.

Last year it was the other pair, and they were never successful. This pair is more mature so we'll see if this spawn is successful. They chose a rock that's not far from where the loaches sleep, so I'm going to bet against it. But it's nice to know they have it in them, can always put them in a breeder tank sometime in the future.

 

[stevenrox]

dont know much about them but why so little eggs lol

 

[Scubarod]

wow congrats. i cannt wait till mine to the same!!!!!

 

[DaveB]

dont know much about them but why so little eggs lol

They're still going. I'd guess they're at about 200 so far.

 

[titansfever83]

Congrats Dave!!! They will keep the loaches away. My 3.5" female keeps a 7" Altifrons away so it shouldn't be a problem until the parents are almost done "mouthbrooding".

I have to net mine out after about 4-5 days after free swimming cause of too many tankmates. Though I have some fish sold to help free up tank space, just waiting on the buyer to come get them.


We need to do a little swapping, I need a few more different sources to breed with my younger batch when they come of age.

 

[peathenster]

Congrats!! Fingers crossed.

How old are the parents?

 

[edburress]

Congrats Dave, keep us updated

 

[DaveB]

Congrats Dave!!! They will keep the loaches away. My 3.5" female keeps a 7" Altifrons away so it shouldn't be a problem until the parents are almost done "mouthbrooding".

We need to do a little swapping, I need a few more different sources to breed with my younger batch when they come of age.

Where in TN do you live? We have family in Clarksville. Could also meet halfway in IN sometime. Would love to swap females or something.

It's not any individual fish that worries me, but I could totally see a loach sneaking in and getting some eggs or fry when they're chasing another loach or different fish away. There are 6 other eartheaters and 6 loaches in total, plus a pleco.

Part of me wants to yank the rock and parents right out and put them in a 5 or 10g tank. But I did that once before last year and the parents still messed it up. I'd rather just watch and see what happens this time. If they're successful in raising them to the wiggler stage, I'll pull them out next time.

90 minutes later, I think they're finally finished with the laying and fertilizing. And now the vigilant defense begins...

 

[titansfever83]

I'm about 1hr 45min South of Clarksville. Next time you go there, PM me in advance and we can swap a few.


Keep us updated!

Wouldn't hurt to go get the little mesh nets with the plastic frame, you know the ones that hang on the edge of the tank. Thats how I'm raising my fry now rather than moving them to a completely different tank. Once they reach 1/2", they will have a 29 gal all to themselves.




I don't see any pits dug around the spawning site, did they dig any? mine go crazy digging pits, like atleast half a dozen or more. Maybe cause my tank is almost maxed out and that gives the fry more hiding places.

 

[DaveB]

You can only see a little because of the angle, but they dug out about a 12" diameter circle.

The only problem with meeting in Clarksville is that we would probably only head there by way of Indy, and that'd make it a multiple day trip. I'm not sure how I'd manage that unless I brought along a tank to set up in Indy. Also I've only been there once, so I don't know when the next trip would be. But I'm sure it'd be sometime this summer, since they just both got back from 15 months in Afghanistan.