My venustus are spawning!

[aidensmomma2000]

This is very cool, but I cant find much info online about their breeding....

Are they going to eat their babies? I guess if they dont the others will...

[ambushman2j]

the female probly won't eat the babies..but I wouldn't rule against it happening, everything else will more then likely eat the fry.. depending on your tank setup you might have a few live..but it takes a long time before they are big enough to survive in "open water" with other big fish..one mistake coming out of hiding and they are gone

best chance is to separate females, leave her in there with the fry for a few days, remove her and raise the fry in a separate tank until they are at least 1"

[aidensmomma2000]

so....right now I think the eggs/babies are in a cave with her,  but I have NO idea really. Im not sure what to do really! How do I know if/when there are babies? I would have to take apart all the rocks/caves to get back to where she is, but she sure if protecting that cave, she barely came out to eat!

[ambushman2j]

erm?.. venestus are mouth brooders, she should have them in her mouth unless she spit..at which point they are possibly all gone .. but every situation is different

[aidensmomma2000]

ok, mouthbrooder or not, what do I do if I want to babies to make it? Take out all the other fish?

[ambushman2j]

well this depends, has she spit the fry or does she still have the fry in her mouth?.. if she has spit them, it will be difficult to save them..you can try and take everything out and catch them and remove them, but hopefully they are still in the females mouth in which case just remove her

[aidensmomma2000]

Oh, okay that sounds good Thanks!

[aidensmomma2000]

I took her out of the tank, and she did spit a few eggs but seems to still have some in her mouth. There are 2 eggs on the bottom of the tank, not sure what will happen to those...

Im surprised how big the eggs are, but I haven thad experince with fish this size breeding before.

[ambushman2j]

hmm..still eggs..probly should have waited a little longer before taking her out, but it will be ok, not that big a deal..depending on when they spawned they should hatch between in about 12 days from when they spawned and she will probly hold onto them another week before releasing them

[aidensmomma2000]

Thanks I have no idea how long they stay eggs, or how long she keeps them in her mouth, these guys are new to me! Thanks for the help though.

Do you think the ones that dropped will make it or will they just rot?

[ambushman2j]

not sure, never had that happen..but if she's dropping them there must be quite a few!

[Sue]

droped mouthbrooder eggs would need to be moved about, such as one would do in an egg tumbler to have a chance to develope.

[aidensmomma2000]

Oh dear...

Shes spit them all out...maybe ill get an airator and put them in a small container to keep them moving...

[328iGuy]

Hmm thats strange that she would spit them all out, usually the first time sometimes they will swallow them.  HAs she tried picking them up again after spitting them out yet?

[aidensmomma2000]

Nope, she hung onto them but when I got home today they were all in the gravel. Maybe she spit them out b/c I moved her too soon?

I have them in a water bottle, which has a million little holes in in (water circulation) floating in the tank (the other fish really want to eat them!) So theyre moving all the time and have fresh water.

I have NO idea if they will actually hatch, but I alway slike a challenge with fish!  :lol:

Forgot to add, I tried putting them in a jar with an airator, but theyre heavy I guess and didnt move much, and I figured that onve they hatched it would be awfully stressful.

[ambushman2j]

that is rather bizarre..I agree with 328iguy..they normally do eat them instead of spitting them out like that but yeah, I like to keep track of when they spawn and try and take them out around day 12..this has worked well for me

[328iGuy]

Agreed.

My blue dolphin is holding again for the second time, the first time she spit about 50 little babies, still all doing well.  I am contemplating leaving her in the show tank and hopefully a good chunk of them will survivie.

[ambushman2j]

50?? wow, how big is she??

[328iGuy]

50?? wow, how big is she??

She is around 5" or so......looks like a full mouth this time too, she should be spitting anytime!

[ambushman2j]

how many end up making it to 1"?