sharing the parental responsibilities

[Tisia]

so my pair just finished spawning a little while ago (I'll make a log soon, lol). the male had made a pretty dinky little nest which the eggs keep falling out of, and the female has taken it upon herself to help him take care of them. he isn't trying to chase her off at all. occasionally she flares at him a bit like she's daring him to chase her away, but he seems to be perfectly fine having her there. it's pretty interesting to watch, lol.
the tiny nest

vid of them taking care of it

[vilmarisv]

I experienced that same in my last spawn. The male was perfectly fine having the female around and she wasn't eating the eggs. At first I thought they weren't done but after leaving them overnight I was sure they were, they were just being nice to eachother... still I didn't want to challenge my good fortune so I removed her.

[Amphibianite]

Nice looking pair Tisia. I swear we will have to exchange fry here eventually. haha

[indjo]

IME during the first 24 hours, the female will help care for the eggs. But eventually she will eat them. I haven't experienced a female help care for eggs and fry until free swimming.

[Tisia]

assuming I can lure her away from the nest (she's being much more attentive than he is) I'm planning on taking her out tonight. just with my first spawn the male had chased the female away immediately after they finished so didn't get to see this last time. was pretty surprised about how okay he was about having her there. of course now as I speak, he's decided she's done enough and has chased her off.

[vilmarisv]

I always find getting the female out much more difficult than getting the attentive father out.
Females just dart around everywhere, even when food is offered.
My males usually come very peacefully towards the food and I just scoop them up.

[Tisia]

my last spawn I had the male in for about a week after spawning and he took his daddy responsibilities very seriously! lol, he came to the food but as soon as a net or cup touched the water he made a run for it. trying to avoid scooping up fry as well didn't make things any easier.

[bettalover2033]

Beautiful pair. The female really is trying to "test" him. What colors are they? I'm almost 100% sure they are marbles? They're both PKs if I'm not mistaken?

[Tisia]

yeah, the male is the red/white/blue guy in my avvie.
color is a bit off but here's pretty much how the female usually looks

here she is all barred up. her body turned a much darker blue than it usually is and you couldn't really see her cute little spots anymore

and yeah, she was a fiesty little girl, lol. he was ready to go pretty much right away even without much of a nest, but she took a bit of convincing before she'd submit to him. it was around 24 hours from when I first put them in the tank until spawning started. a bit of a change from the 5 days it took my last pair to figure it out, lol

[bettalover2033]

I'm gld they were a fast pair. My pair took 5 days as well. The male was luring under the IAL since day one and she was finally ready to agree on the 5th day.

Either way I'm still happy. Her colors are really going to make beautiful unique fry!