She moves the eggs - He guards them both

[winston.smith]

I noticed the male will not touch an egg during this moving operation.

He can get very close to inspect things, -mostly when she isnt looking but he will not move one. Generally she keeps him at a distance with open mouth nudges he gladly responds to.

I watched her moving them for almost 2 hours earlier. He protects her,, darting out during or after almost every picture I took..he has also been excavating the inside and outside too, again.

He had slid the flat rock out of the cave to the center of the tank and cleared everything from around it...then she laid the eggs yesterday, now today they are (she is) moving them back behind the wall, i/-.e 'cave.

Too bad I wanted to take pictures at each stage.

*I think the eggs are already wiggling a little, maybe (It looks this way on the ones that are piled up may be>? but the solitary ones look stationary, -is this possible? It may be the water too.

Here are some shots from just moments ago.. First time I play with using a flash
so they're more contrast but seem better resolved.

w.









I was trying to photograph her just as she snaps up the eggs, but she does it at such a lightning fast rate, that its almost impossible to capture the precise instant. Full size the images are more impressive because it's like looking through a loupe or a magnifying glass.

You can see them in full res here: http://goo.gl/kLWBLR
-I'll have to work on that gallery.

 

[winston.smith]

Just to post a little follow-up: they are definitely alive, within 24 hours. They just wiggle in place but already have tiny tails.

Im tempted to try and siphon one out to I can look at it under a proper objective, but Im probably better off just finding image of those stages online.

I hate to piss off the fish.
The first time they spawned,, I didnt realize the eggs were there bc they were on the inside wall of a cave. His digging had destabilized this heavy rock arrangement,.,and was about to possibly collapse.. So I herded -with MUCH difficulty, -the female had to be netted! to get them to the other side of the tank and then he was so pissed off he almost jumped out of the tank... he literally came out of the water and splashed everything. (I was so glad he didnt jump out! ( moment later when I felt the eggs with my hand it made more sense. Anyway, I wont be doing that again. Certainly not without a cover on the tank. * I had used the glass cover as a divider bc I didnt have one.

 

[isde02]

Nice pair, I love that gold on the female

 

[winston.smith]

Tx.. !
I got 'em from Jeff Rapps

Today the male ate every month old fry he could catch! There werent many left anyway.
Poor little suckers never saw him coming. He's regenerating them. So i de-mineralized (white vinegar w/mixed results) an old empty 10 gallon tank I was gonna toss and just set it up.

This way maybe I could save a few from this next batch.

My plan was to just let them be in the 150 -I havent even had the stand built for, yet.
Im still working on making room in the LR.

 

[jag123]

Really liking this pair. That female is dynamite. I need to get back into jags one of these days. Great parents and pairs are not usually too rough on each other.


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[cichlidfish]

Tx.. !
I got 'em from Jeff Rapps

Today the male ate every month old fry he could catch! There werent many left anyway.
Poor little suckers never saw him coming. He's regenerating them. So i de-mineralized (white vinegar w/mixed results) an old empty 10 gallon tank I was gonna toss and just set it up.

This way maybe I could save a few from this next batch.

My plan was to just let them be in the 150 -I havent even had the stand built for, yet.
Im still working on making room in the LR.

Nice looking pair! Are the Lake Nicaraguan jags?