Azhael
Site Contributor
- Joined
- May 7, 2007
- Messages
- 6,644
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- Location
- Burgos
- Country
- Spain
- Display Name
- Rodrigo
The Caudate Gods have bestowed upon me the ultimate blessing, they have gifted me with dunni eggs!!!
Now a brief and explosive display of happiness:
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!!!!!!! Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!
I shall sacrifice many a worm to thee oh Caudate Gods!
Now, here´s the story. They have been in my terrace for the entire winter, because i couldn´t fridge them like i did the previous year. Unfortunately that meant that they haven´t been exposed to temps as low as i wanted, they have been fluctuating between 8-12ºC most of the time. Eventually i put them in the breeding tank two months ago, because the males were spending some time in the water and the females were getting somewhat biggish. For two months i struggled to keep the temps below 10ºC. The males went in full breeding mode, the females got bigger and everybody was spending time in the water and eating a lot. But no eggs.
Then as all us europeans know, we had a heat wave. A bit over a week of excellent, sunny, spring weather. the water temp went up to 15ºC and the females were barely in the water anymore. The water quickly developed algae and i lost all hope of any success. A few days ago i was considering putting them back in their usual tank and taking them in, because with the high temps i thought that was it, plus i was getting worried about keeping them in the terrace, which gets direct sunlight all afternoon and really heats up. But then winter came back xD I delayed taking them in out of laziness more than anything else. I really thought there was no chance, but since the males were still in the water i thought "hey, let them enjoy it a bit longer while the bad weather lasts".
Then yesterday i went in to check the water temp out of curiosity and then i saw it....i saw a translucent ball full of dots clinging from a brick. My eyes went wide and the nonsensical screaming begun. While i was calling my father to come see i noticed something on the bottom of the tank.....a second set of egg sacs!!! Yeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!! The two females had laid the same night!!
After a quick happy dance followed by failed attempts to take any half-decent pictures i spent a good 20 minutes just staring at the things and freezing my **** off in my pijamas.
I fell in love with H.dunni the first time i saw Henk Wallays' photos. Their mode of reproduction fascinated me and when i finally got my little group from Joost all i wanted was to some day see this remarkable thing with my own eyes and yesterday that day finally arrived
and oh....it is beautiful....
Now it´s time to come back down to earth. As far as i understand there´s a very good chance the eggs are not fertile. Which is fine, i´m happy enough having the chance to see the egg sacs and truth be told, knowing that by the time they hatch i will have to spend over a month away from home for my exams, i don´t know what i will do if they end up being fertile and viable. If they show signs of being viable i might even consider putting them in a foster home xD
I´m not expecting anything, as i say i´m happy enough with just getting to see such remarkable egg sacs, but obviously if on top of that i somehow end up with a group of minidunnis to distribute to friends, despite the terrible timing, that would be fantastic but hey, there´s always next year.
Anyway, sorry for the long post..but i couldn´t just say "hey, got dunni eggs"...i´m waaaay too thrilled to spare you the details xD
Oh, here are two terrible pictures where you can barely see anything at all. Enjoy! (i´ll upload better pictures as the egg sacs inflate to their full size in the following days).
Now a brief and explosive display of happiness:
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!!!!!!! Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!
I shall sacrifice many a worm to thee oh Caudate Gods!
Now, here´s the story. They have been in my terrace for the entire winter, because i couldn´t fridge them like i did the previous year. Unfortunately that meant that they haven´t been exposed to temps as low as i wanted, they have been fluctuating between 8-12ºC most of the time. Eventually i put them in the breeding tank two months ago, because the males were spending some time in the water and the females were getting somewhat biggish. For two months i struggled to keep the temps below 10ºC. The males went in full breeding mode, the females got bigger and everybody was spending time in the water and eating a lot. But no eggs.
Then as all us europeans know, we had a heat wave. A bit over a week of excellent, sunny, spring weather. the water temp went up to 15ºC and the females were barely in the water anymore. The water quickly developed algae and i lost all hope of any success. A few days ago i was considering putting them back in their usual tank and taking them in, because with the high temps i thought that was it, plus i was getting worried about keeping them in the terrace, which gets direct sunlight all afternoon and really heats up. But then winter came back xD I delayed taking them in out of laziness more than anything else. I really thought there was no chance, but since the males were still in the water i thought "hey, let them enjoy it a bit longer while the bad weather lasts".
Then yesterday i went in to check the water temp out of curiosity and then i saw it....i saw a translucent ball full of dots clinging from a brick. My eyes went wide and the nonsensical screaming begun. While i was calling my father to come see i noticed something on the bottom of the tank.....a second set of egg sacs!!! Yeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!! The two females had laid the same night!!
After a quick happy dance followed by failed attempts to take any half-decent pictures i spent a good 20 minutes just staring at the things and freezing my **** off in my pijamas.
I fell in love with H.dunni the first time i saw Henk Wallays' photos. Their mode of reproduction fascinated me and when i finally got my little group from Joost all i wanted was to some day see this remarkable thing with my own eyes and yesterday that day finally arrived
and oh....it is beautiful....Now it´s time to come back down to earth. As far as i understand there´s a very good chance the eggs are not fertile. Which is fine, i´m happy enough having the chance to see the egg sacs and truth be told, knowing that by the time they hatch i will have to spend over a month away from home for my exams, i don´t know what i will do if they end up being fertile and viable. If they show signs of being viable i might even consider putting them in a foster home xD
I´m not expecting anything, as i say i´m happy enough with just getting to see such remarkable egg sacs, but obviously if on top of that i somehow end up with a group of minidunnis to distribute to friends, despite the terrible timing, that would be fantastic but hey, there´s always next year.
Anyway, sorry for the long post..but i couldn´t just say "hey, got dunni eggs"...i´m waaaay too thrilled to spare you the details xD
Oh, here are two terrible pictures where you can barely see anything at all. Enjoy!
(i´ll upload better pictures as the egg sacs inflate to their full size in the following days).
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