A few weeks ago I noticed a female brachybranchus in my community tank with her tube down. I netted her, the male she was flirting with, and a third male and put them all in a 55 gallon together. After getting settled, they decided to spawn after a large water change last night.
The problem is that the male and female seemed to have a disagreement about something, and she spent most of her time laying eggs by herself on the roof of a pleco cave while the male stayed on the opposite end of the tank. She would chase him over to the cave every few minutes, but instead of cooperating he'd just attack her and then retreat back to his end of the tank. This all took place while I was in the fish room doing water changes. Everything was over in about half an hour. The female covered the eggs with sand and then went on her way. I figured it was a disaster of a first spawn.
Tonight, only 24 hours after the spawn, I can see either black eyes or tails in the eggs. About half of them went white, but the rest appear to actually be fertile. This is my first time spawning a larvophilous mouthbrooder geo (my parnaibae, despite what the articles say, are immediate mouthbrooders and pick up the eggs as soon as they spawn) so I have no idea what to expect. I assumed the eggs would stay on the site for 2 - 3 days until they hatched, but after only 24 hours the female appears to be picking them up?
Anyway, sorry for the crap pictures... they're in a beat up old 55 gallon full of scratches. The female looks a bit rough thanks to the rough "courting" that went on yesterday.
The problem is that the male and female seemed to have a disagreement about something, and she spent most of her time laying eggs by herself on the roof of a pleco cave while the male stayed on the opposite end of the tank. She would chase him over to the cave every few minutes, but instead of cooperating he'd just attack her and then retreat back to his end of the tank. This all took place while I was in the fish room doing water changes. Everything was over in about half an hour. The female covered the eggs with sand and then went on her way. I figured it was a disaster of a first spawn.
Tonight, only 24 hours after the spawn, I can see either black eyes or tails in the eggs. About half of them went white, but the rest appear to actually be fertile. This is my first time spawning a larvophilous mouthbrooder geo (my parnaibae, despite what the articles say, are immediate mouthbrooders and pick up the eggs as soon as they spawn) so I have no idea what to expect. I assumed the eggs would stay on the site for 2 - 3 days until they hatched, but after only 24 hours the female appears to be picking them up?
Anyway, sorry for the crap pictures... they're in a beat up old 55 gallon full of scratches. The female looks a bit rough thanks to the rough "courting" that went on yesterday.
I just feed and do water changes and let the fish do the rest. Honestly, with my Heros pairs, fungus is never a problem. I routinely get giant spawns from my notatus, Atabapo, and severus. These three pairs of Krobia guianensis are the same way. If the eggs are fertile they don't usually fungus.