Oh...kay...so I've still got all of Pip/ Mongo's babies. The fry are cute as buttons but most of them are thick/chunky/tall and some are longer more bullet shaped. I read somewhere that female hrps tend to have mostly males or females, depending on the fish? Is it true? If so I think most of these are males (they're almost big enough to sex).
Pip herself is a big, bulky female. She's getting it on with one of her sons and yes, there's a second batch of recently hatched fry. The son is about 3/4 of her overall size although she's much rounder and thick. BUT his defense of the fry isn't working so good anymore because his brothers (I believe they are male) are now the same size as him, so now HE gets chased off. Then Pip runs THEM off.
Will get pics soon. The son has thinner stripes than Pip. Would like to start sexing these so I can separate the ones I want to keep. I may end up calling an animal rescue or take them to a local Petco (manager said they can only sell fish through their supplier, but if I want I can bring the fry so they can give them away for free). A bit cautious about that option.
Did I mention Mongo is in the holding tank with his kids? He's hyper aggressive usually but is very calm around the fry and waits for them to eat first ( food is gone before it hits the floor). I have to clean the filters every 2 days. Mongo has a quiet area he goes to while the kids dart around. Since moving them out of the tub I feed them 2 or 3 times a day. Growth has exploded (which explains the mud slime filters).
Pip herself is a big, bulky female. She's getting it on with one of her sons and yes, there's a second batch of recently hatched fry. The son is about 3/4 of her overall size although she's much rounder and thick. BUT his defense of the fry isn't working so good anymore because his brothers (I believe they are male) are now the same size as him, so now HE gets chased off. Then Pip runs THEM off.
Will get pics soon. The son has thinner stripes than Pip. Would like to start sexing these so I can separate the ones I want to keep. I may end up calling an animal rescue or take them to a local Petco (manager said they can only sell fish through their supplier, but if I want I can bring the fry so they can give them away for free). A bit cautious about that option.
Did I mention Mongo is in the holding tank with his kids? He's hyper aggressive usually but is very calm around the fry and waits for them to eat first ( food is gone before it hits the floor). I have to clean the filters every 2 days. Mongo has a quiet area he goes to while the kids dart around. Since moving them out of the tub I feed them 2 or 3 times a day. Growth has exploded (which explains the mud slime filters).
