Spring cleaning & spring is in the air

[shrimp paste]

It is with great pleasure that i am able to post here for the FIRST time. MY two turqs who i have had for 1 year now have got the spring feeling. I was lucky enough to witness the whole affair yesterday, and for me it was a real buzz. I have never had fish spawn before nor seen it occur. I am not hoping for success at this stage because they are in a community tank and i am not yet equiped with breading or grow out tanks. I just had to tell someone. Actually i do have a few questions:

Mum seemed to only get a few eggs on the tube. She would pass over it and then after coming off the tube she would let additional eggs fall (all of which got promptly snapped up by local residents). Is this just inexperience? Will she become more accurate?

Mum only seemed to lay a total of about 30 eggs or so (very ruff estimate). Is this normal, or will she get larger batches.

The male seemed to continue to clean the tube after the 'laying' and blew-off a number of eggs. Is this normal? He did make attempts to pass and fertilise.

How long before mum may try to lay again? At present she is still sulking where the eggs used to be (24hrs later)

Hmm, both mum and dad still seemed to have the 'booty' hanging out this morning, over 12hours after the event. Are they exebitionists or is this normal?

Well thanks for any info you can provide. I am happy that i am obviously doing and providing the correct environment for them, but i may just need to spend some more time and $$ in the lfs shortly. hehehe

[nicholas76]

refer to

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3118

[shrimp paste]

Thanks Nic,

Yes i had read that excellent post from LR before posting but did not see answers to my questions around number of egss, accuracy etc. Will look again.

[Merrilyn]

Hey shrimp paste, congratulations :wave2 :wave2 :wave2 :wave2

It's fascinating to watch, isn't it.

All the problems you mention can be put down to inexperience. Fish know they are supposed to be doing something, their instinct tells them that, but getting the technique right is another thing.

That's why I let my fish practice in the community tank a few times before putting them into a breeding tank of their own.

The number of eggs can range from 50 up to 400 depending on the maturity and health of the female. Younger females lay a lot less eggs than older females. She may be one that prefers a wider spawning surface than a tube, so think about providing her with a flowerpot for a breeding cone, instead of a narrow surface.

Now that they have started, you can expect them to spawn every 7 to 14 days till they manage to raise a successful brood.

Well done, keep up the good work!

[shrimp paste]

Thanks Lady Red,
Obviously teenagers still experimenting i think. lol.
I will put a larger spawning surface in their for her so she doesn't fall off the bed as much. What did suprise me, was that they went from shimmering and cleaning for about 3-4 hours straight to laying eggs and fertilising. I was expecting the courting stage to be a little longer. Thanks again LR.