About 6 weeks ago I came across a local guy trying to get rid of a JD. Turns out it was an 8-9" male...I already had a 6-7" female. So I thought that I would put them together...and see what happens.
Believe it or not...it was love at first sight!
The female absolutely loved him from the second I put him in...and he didn't seem to mind her either. She followed him everywhere he went in the tank...from moment #1...and continued this for the last 5-6 weeks.
I've heard of all sorts of complex parameters/odds against two fish pairing up...so I guess I got really really really lucky that these two guys were/are so compatible!
I basically dedicated a 55 gallon tank to them...specifically for the purposes of them hopefully breeding. So it's been about 5-6 weeks...and even though they were getting along fantastically...I was starting to lose hope that they would ever breed. I tried many of the "tricks":
- increased the water temp
- large flat rock in the tank
- caves
- flower pots
- even taping a small mirror to the aquarium glass...to get the male "excited"
Of course all this time both the male & female have constantly been moving the aquarium stones/gravel around...but nothing else. Then yesterday (just casually passing the tank)...I see out of the corner of my eye what looks like common aquarium crud laying on the bottom of the tank. But just for the heck of it I take a closer look...and it's a while bunch of eggs!!! Very exciting!!
Of course they totally ignored the flat rock & the flower pot...and just laid the eggs on the bare aquarium bottom (cleared of gravel of course).
So it's been about 24 hours. Since I've read that it takes about 48-72 hours for the eggs to hatch (water temp is about 82-83°F)...about 24-48hours to go. Almost all the eggs are tan colored (very few white ones). So I figure most of them are viable fertilized eggs.
So here's the part you've been waiting for...pictures! First photo is of the female & the eggs...2nd photo is of the male (right of photo) and female (on the left):
Believe it or not...it was love at first sight!
The female absolutely loved him from the second I put him in...and he didn't seem to mind her either. She followed him everywhere he went in the tank...from moment #1...and continued this for the last 5-6 weeks.I've heard of all sorts of complex parameters/odds against two fish pairing up...so I guess I got really really really lucky that these two guys were/are so compatible!
I basically dedicated a 55 gallon tank to them...specifically for the purposes of them hopefully breeding. So it's been about 5-6 weeks...and even though they were getting along fantastically...I was starting to lose hope that they would ever breed. I tried many of the "tricks":
- increased the water temp
- large flat rock in the tank
- caves
- flower pots
- even taping a small mirror to the aquarium glass...to get the male "excited"
Of course all this time both the male & female have constantly been moving the aquarium stones/gravel around...but nothing else. Then yesterday (just casually passing the tank)...I see out of the corner of my eye what looks like common aquarium crud laying on the bottom of the tank. But just for the heck of it I take a closer look...and it's a while bunch of eggs!!! Very exciting!!
Of course they totally ignored the flat rock & the flower pot...and just laid the eggs on the bare aquarium bottom (cleared of gravel of course).
So it's been about 24 hours. Since I've read that it takes about 48-72 hours for the eggs to hatch (water temp is about 82-83°F)...about 24-48hours to go. Almost all the eggs are tan colored (very few white ones). So I figure most of them are viable fertilized eggs.
So here's the part you've been waiting for...pictures!
First photo is of the female & the eggs...2nd photo is of the male (right of photo) and female (on the left):
