3rd time the charm... i hope

[andakin]

i have spawned the same male 3 times this month. the first two attempts have been epic fails. i will share my findings so that others wont make the same mistakes as i did.

spawn #1 Oct 27 (OrchidM x MgF)
~24 hrs after hatching, some were swimming freely but not all. concerned that the babies would starve, i removed the male at this point. the remaining fry never made it to swim horizontally. they kept darting upwards and hung around the nest. they stayed there til death. i had one survivor that was strong enough to eat bbs from day one. since then, i threw in the cheapest aquarium plant i could find and stopped hatching bbs. the lone survivor was able to live off of infusorians for over a week. i have since culled him because raising one fry was not worth the effort.

conclusions: leave the male in longer (i am hypothesizing that the fry benefits from being in the father's mouth, perphaps feeding off of something in there too. crazy, i know.) also, if youre going to breed, have a live plant in there because the fry may not eat bbs from day 1.



spawn #2 Nov 4 (OrchidM x MgF)
thats right, i have spawned the same pair a week later. where is the conditioning? will the female have more eggs after a week? can the male handle another rigourous workout after only a few days of rest?

the pair spawned happily producing about the same amount of eggs as last time. the eggs hatched and things looked good. this time, i left the male in extra long to see if i'll have more survivors. the next day, i woke up to zero babies. the father had eaten them all.

conclusions: CONDITION! males need conditioning too, just not as much as the female.



spawn #3 Nov 12 (OrchidM x OrchidF)
i woke up and saw them embracing. excited, i ran for my camera to only find the action had ended. what bad timing. so, no pretty pics this time.

i know i dont do as i preach. i am very impatient and didnt wait to fully recondition the male. perhaps i will feed him while he tends the nest.



here are a few pics from my failed attempts:

[Lethbridge]

well i hope all goes well and this time you dont have any more problems but just remember those mistakes you made in the past will make you a better breed later on

[doggyhog]

WOW!! AWESOME pictures!!! That is an epic bubblenest...! I like the last pic. :)

[k stiles]

whope this time goes well andikin, and thanks for the tips for when I breed cobalt and luna

[AlexXx]

i love the embracing pic, so sick!

I hope the spawn goes well!!

[k stiles]

Originally Posted by AlexXx

i love the embracing pic, so sick!

I hope the spawn goes well!!

I know right!!!

[andakin]

perhaps you pervs would like to see a video of them mating. jk.

http://s30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...rent=Movie.flv

[CodeRed]

Haha. I'm the type of person who would've kept raising the first survivor and most likely would've kept him too, just to make his effort worthwhile. (: Good luck with this new spawn! Watch out though, while 3rd time is a charm, bad luck also comes in threes.

[doggyhog]

Awesome video!

[dramaqueen]

Wow!! Great video!