Hi all,
As some of you know, I've been attempting to breed Polypterus weeksii for about 3 years now, it's easily one of my favourite Bichir species, and as a friend of mine mentioned,
"They are like the Congicus of the upper jaws". Weeksii seem notoriously hard to breed as we're not sure what triggers spawning behaviour, but I have had some ideas which appear to have worked over the last 2 years. I'll share these at a later point!
A bit of background, Weeksii are one of the only species of Bichir which have not yet been bred in captivity, the other being P. retropinnis. If you weren't aware, Korean breeder Jiseok Jung was the first to successfully breed P. mokelembembe in January of 2020, and like myself is also trying to breed P. weeksii.
I have 5 sexually mature Weeksii (3 females, 2 males), which spawned multiple times around May last year, (including once with a female P. congicus) and May again this year, I failed to recover the eggs in 2019 as they were eaten swiftly by the African Arowana, but I managed to recover one yesterday, and only because a trapped air bubble (since gone now) made it float to the front of the tank. To me this looks fertilised, but I'm not sure whether it was alive when I found it; a few days will tell.
Unlike last year, I can't say with any certainty it's the egg of a Weeksii as I didn't see these ones released, but I would add it's slightly larger than other eggs I've seen from Polypterus. The only fish in the tank which I see trying to spawn this time of year are the Weeksii, maybe Congicus x Weeksii at a push. The species might account for the larger eggs, but hard to know for certain. The only other culprit could be a Florida Gar (which might explain the size), although I don't see this behaviour from them often as the Gar being chased shows no interest in the male, likely because it might also be a male.
Perhaps there are some Gar breeders on here which might actually say this is a Gar egg? Be good to hear all your thoughts!
As some of you know, I've been attempting to breed Polypterus weeksii for about 3 years now, it's easily one of my favourite Bichir species, and as a friend of mine mentioned,
"They are like the Congicus of the upper jaws". Weeksii seem notoriously hard to breed as we're not sure what triggers spawning behaviour, but I have had some ideas which appear to have worked over the last 2 years. I'll share these at a later point!
A bit of background, Weeksii are one of the only species of Bichir which have not yet been bred in captivity, the other being P. retropinnis. If you weren't aware, Korean breeder Jiseok Jung was the first to successfully breed P. mokelembembe in January of 2020, and like myself is also trying to breed P. weeksii.
I have 5 sexually mature Weeksii (3 females, 2 males), which spawned multiple times around May last year, (including once with a female P. congicus) and May again this year, I failed to recover the eggs in 2019 as they were eaten swiftly by the African Arowana, but I managed to recover one yesterday, and only because a trapped air bubble (since gone now) made it float to the front of the tank. To me this looks fertilised, but I'm not sure whether it was alive when I found it; a few days will tell.
Unlike last year, I can't say with any certainty it's the egg of a Weeksii as I didn't see these ones released, but I would add it's slightly larger than other eggs I've seen from Polypterus. The only fish in the tank which I see trying to spawn this time of year are the Weeksii, maybe Congicus x Weeksii at a push. The species might account for the larger eggs, but hard to know for certain. The only other culprit could be a Florida Gar (which might explain the size), although I don't see this behaviour from them often as the Gar being chased shows no interest in the male, likely because it might also be a male.
Perhaps there are some Gar breeders on here which might actually say this is a Gar egg? Be good to hear all your thoughts!
