Jag with a swollen papilla?

[rhetor]

Hey guys,

My jag has been acting very strange lately. If you have read my other posts involving his aggression, I think i might know why.

In the last day the Jag has developed a big red swollen papilla. Usually it was actually quite large, but he's always been healthy so i never worried about it. Today its huge! It is much larger and red/pink.

Is he a she? About to drop some eggs? He's been spending hours building his fort on the end of the tank, moving gravel, dragging the slate around, etc.

 

[stotty]

How big is she? and what is she in with? Jaguar cichlids are highly aggressive during the breeding period, the problem is a breeding couple will not hesitate to attack fish that is much larger than them. Even if she is not with another jag if she is with another Cichlid that could do I had a JD and a Dovii pair up in one of my tanks a year ago.

 

[rhetor]

I will get a pic when i can.

The jag is in a 125g with a JD and a juvie GT.

It looked like the JD and Jag were doing a crazy mating dance for a while, then they started fighting and lip locking. Then the Jag evicted the JD from the cave and they hate eachother now.

The Jag has been going crazy with the digging. She's constantly moving stuff about, and when the JD comes over she shakes her head at him violently, then scoops up rocks and spits the rocks at the JD, or just spits them across the tank. It will then grab one of the huge pieces of slate and try to drag out of the ground. Its nuts!

 

[rhetor]

Alright, i took pics with my sisters camera but she doesn't have the cable for it. Doh!

Anywho, the jag is about 10" long. Now he has picked out a nice flat piece of slate. He/she is rubbing his/her belly against the slate, clearing out any pebbles near it, and rubbing her papilla against the slate. The JD has moved from across the tank and is quite curious as to what is going on with the Jag. The Jag still shakes its head violently at the JD though. I hope i can the correct cable so you guys can see this whole thing. its pretty funny.

 

[rhetor]

Eggs!

Eggs everywhere!

How do i tell if the JD fertilized them or not? I think he's a male due to the pointy fins..?

They definitely have not paired up. The Jag of course hates everyone in the tank and guards the eggs ferociously. JD is at the other end of the tank, but he sees the eggs, and sometimes slowly makes his way over to um... i dunno.. check the specs.

 

[stotty]

Eggs!

Eggs everywhere!

How do i tell if the JD fertilized them or not? I think he's a male due to the pointy fins..?

They definitely have not paired up. The Jag of course hates everyone in the tank and guards the eggs ferociously. JD is at the other end of the tank, but he sees the eggs, and sometimes slowly makes his way over to um... i dunno.. check the specs.

They will go white if not fertile you will soon know normally first spawning get eaten I think you have a girl

 

[rhetor]

Here's some pics for ya!

The shot with the eggs shows a group of 3 that have turned white. I counted and there are about 11 white ones, which i noticed about 10 hours ago. Since i noticed the 11 white eggs, none of the other ones have turned white so i guess that is a good thing.

I never saw the JD go over and fertilize the eggs. I wouldn't have guessed that the Jag would let him do that because she won't let him get near them anymore. I shot a pic of him also. He has turned his lighter colors, i guess he's just anxious or something?

Oh and um, i couldn't put the camera too close to the glass!

The pic doesn't show it very well but the eggs are pink in color.

 

[stotty]

That is certainly going to be an interesting combo.Let us know how it’s going. And get some liquid fry food in just incase.

 

[rhetor]

It is now day 2 and the Jag is still guarding the eggs. She still comes up for food too and quickly rushes back, so hopefully she'll have the energy to keep guarding them by herself.

Is there a way to tell if they are fertile or not though? They are two days old and still don't look like there's anything in them. I was going to take a few and put them into a seperate place, but she won't let me anywhere near them.

When she laid them they were all a clear slightly yellow color. When i came back in the morning they had turned a pinkish color. I assumed that they were fertilized by the JD, but she will not let him any where close so i don't know. The JD is still quite interested in them though.

The eggs still look the same as when i took that picture.

What do you think? Fertile?

 

[stotty]

The white ones are bad you have to be careful as they can get fungus on them and this can spread.
The young hatch around 4-5 day's after being laid. They then become wrigglers feeding on their yolk sacs. About 6-9 day's later they are free swimming and can be fed, micro worms, baby brine and crushed flake or the good old liquid fry food. I will say this though breeding jags can become very aggressive.