As some may know, I recently purchased a pair of the Parachromis species from La Ceiba, Honduras (probably friedrichsthallii from what I understand). They have been displaying for each other since I got them, and last night I noticed the female's tube had dropped. Unfortunatly when I woke this morning (or afternoon, 1:30 PM 
), the male had chased the female into a corner so I put in a divider.
However when I went upstairs to bed tonight, I noticed the female swimming low over a rock in rows and saw that she had covered the top surface with several hundred eggs while the male watched very, very impatiently from the other side of the eggcrate. Just my luck huh?
His face was getting smashed up from the divider and the rock was a good fifteen inches or so from him, so I took the divider out to see what would happen while I kept a close watch.
He immediately approached the eggs and was met by strong resistance from the female. Unfortunatly, she did not recognize him as the neccessary partner. She defended the site with great fury, managing to keep the male away despite the significant size difference. Eventually after several minutes of jawing, both fish deserted the site and retreated to the opposite side of the tank.
A short while later, the male again approached the eggs, but angled himself downwards as if to eat them. The female recognized this cue and came to defend the eggs. After a bit of lip locking, the pair retreated again. This cycle repeated maybe two or three times, before the much larger male started chasing the female in circles around the tank. At this time I replaced the divider, as the male was neither willing nor able to fertilize the eggs. I can only hope that he tried to before I discovered them, but I do not even know if this is possible from fifteen inches away. I guess only time will tell.
Attached is a terrible cell phone picture of the pair liplocking with the eggs in the foreground. The photo is very blury, but the entire top surface (lighter in color) of the rock is covered in solid eggs.
), the male had chased the female into a corner so I put in a divider.However when I went upstairs to bed tonight, I noticed the female swimming low over a rock in rows and saw that she had covered the top surface with several hundred eggs while the male watched very, very impatiently from the other side of the eggcrate. Just my luck huh?
His face was getting smashed up from the divider and the rock was a good fifteen inches or so from him, so I took the divider out to see what would happen while I kept a close watch.He immediately approached the eggs and was met by strong resistance from the female. Unfortunatly, she did not recognize him as the neccessary partner. She defended the site with great fury, managing to keep the male away despite the significant size difference. Eventually after several minutes of jawing, both fish deserted the site and retreated to the opposite side of the tank.
A short while later, the male again approached the eggs, but angled himself downwards as if to eat them. The female recognized this cue and came to defend the eggs. After a bit of lip locking, the pair retreated again. This cycle repeated maybe two or three times, before the much larger male started chasing the female in circles around the tank. At this time I replaced the divider, as the male was neither willing nor able to fertilize the eggs. I can only hope that he tried to before I discovered them, but I do not even know if this is possible from fifteen inches away. I guess only time will tell.
Attached is a terrible cell phone picture of the pair liplocking with the eggs in the foreground. The photo is very blury, but the entire top surface (lighter in color) of the rock is covered in solid eggs.
Looks like the actual distance between the male and the site was really closer to ten inches. 
