Marbleds -- new breeding round

[TJ]

She's very ready

(Message edited by TJ on December 07, 2005)

 

[TJ]

He's ready too:

 

[TJ]

...and they're positioned at the starting line, rarin' to go

 

[rubén]

I guess a hard breeding work soon

 

[simon]

Tim, they're gorgeous!

 

[william]

ahh mine will be doing that soon....

oh wait, yeah, they are all <u>FEMALE</u>

 

[terry]

Excellent photos Tim but, what of the other 30 over juveniles from the first breeding session?

My larvae on the other hand have grown somewhat and the group finished the daphnia I placed in their nursery last night. *sigh* They sure eat a lot.

 

[TJ]

Thanks Simon!

Yeah, Terry, this species sure is a ravenous one. I was up until 1:30 this morning hand-feeding those 28-or-so juvies you mentioned ...

To keep track of which ones have eaten and which haven't, I remove them, one by one, to a new container after they've each swallowed a waxworm. Then I put them back one by one after they've each swallowed a second one. Then it's a free-for-all, in that whoever sticks his or her head up or otherwise shows an interest gets a third or fourth worm. Several of them that showed a lack of appetite were moved to a shoe-box-sixed container for intensive feeding. A couple are big enough now to maybe qualify as semi-adults, though probably not sexually mature yet.

Rubén, I'd be just as happy if they didn't breed again so soon as I kind of have my hands full now with C. cyanurus and C. ensicauda eggs, larvae, etc., in addition to all the other mouths I have to feed.

William, I'm sure you'll find some fine, upstanding, decent (and well-crested!) male to to do right by your girls sooner or later!

 

[joseph]

You seem to be getting overrun with them. Beautiful photos, both males and females. Interesting on the shape of the tail in the female. I noticed the T. karelinii to develop very wide tails but nothing rounded off like that one.

 

[TJ]

Joseph, I don't seem to recall her tail being as rounded during the last breeding round (the last being the first in their case -- and mine with this species), but she was less mature then. It's impressive!

Anyway, eggs are starting to appear, but the two I had a close look at were both fuzzed-up duds.

 

[TJ]

I was lucky enough to catch her in the act of laying eggs this evening:

 

[TJ]

A later shot of the same female:

 

[TJ]

Somebody's been shooting blanks

 

[TJ]

 

[TJ]

Mother with eggs:

(Message edited by TJ on December 13, 2005)

 

[alex]

Nice colour in the male's crest. Do all your males share this feature?

 

[david]

I've pulled out about 30 baby marms in the last couple of days from one of my tanks. Tis the season

 

[paris]

i just got eggs in the last 3 weeks! none hatched yet tough.....

 

[TJ]

Hi Alex, yes, they all do, since they're probably siblings (which would mean they're probably now inbreeding

).
Nice color, eh? Is it different with other marbleds?

Nice going David. I'm probably going to do better with this upcoming batch of larvae than the last batch as I know now not to keeping changing the water like I did before. But then I really have to start looking around locally for somebody to take them off my hands!

Too bad, Paris. The first eggs I had this season seem to have all gone fuzzy, but the subsequently laid ones seem fine.

 

[TJ]