New batch of P. caudopunctatus eggs

[paris]

just a quick post, will put up pics later. i found a bunch of well advanced eggs in my set up-didnt see them but the females actions lead me to look closely at a piece of artificial drift wood. she laid them where i wouldnt expect it and there are far more than 10 this time-so the old 'underside of rocks' seems not to be what they prefer....more later

oh yeah-these are the larger brown types of caudos..


(Message edited by tj on May 28, 2006)

 

[paris]

here are the photos i took on 20-2-6
first is a picture of my breeding male -note how large his vent ISNT

here is the female -her vent is much bigger than i would expect

here is what i saw that got me looking all over the tank for eggs

i finally found them where i didnt expect them

 

[paris]

soo..why hadnt i seen the eggs before now? well. i was told that they lay eggs on the underside of rocks in airated water-so i kept 2 very large flat stones in there right above the box filter. i would check these periodically, and was always dismayed when i had seen signs of breeding w/o signs of eggs. when i finally found the eggs-i noted they were a different stages, so she must lay a few at a time. these are not fast developing eggs. here are some pictures if the eggs in situ where i found them.

last time she laid eggs-she laid 10, 6 of which developed. 2 morphed but both drowned soon after in shallow water. this time i got 60 eggs! last time i found the 10 on 2 separate days attached to the box filter-my suspicion was they were these due to the location being in the presumed ideal laying spots. now i know caudo's prefer tight cracks to squeeze an egg in. i bought my blue green caudos a fake rock that is ideal for this. the eggs are not like most, they are elongated (naturally) slightly sticky (like velcro) and can easily be removed from their location. here they are after removal from the cracks the female laid them in.

here is a close up-look at how many different stages they are in

many are laid in chains

 

[ester]

Great pictures! let's hope they continue to thrive.

 

[paris]

thanks ester. one has already hatched out. odd thing is, its not the most advanced larvae in the group.

 

[hayden]

Very Cool Paris.

 

[TJ]

Wow, amazing stuff, Paris!

I'm going to add something similar to my caudo tank as an egg deposition site.

Keep us informed

 

[paris]

she's laid a few more since i removed them all. i will leave these in to encourage her to lay more. she not very big-doesnt really look gravid, but if it aint broke.......ive got 2 females in there-perhaps the other one will get some ideas.

 

[jennifer]

Very nice, congratulations Paris. This female has clever ideas about where to put the eggs!

 

[paris]

here are shots of the female 'looking' for suitable spots

she searches around placing her vent all over till she feels a spot she likes

here are some of her new eggs, she does a few a day

 

[paris]

p.s. ..thinking about it now and with the last batch-water changes seem to trigger hatching. i just did a 50% water change and in 15 mins i had over 6 hatch (only 1 had hatched out prematurely before that)

 

[mark]

That’s great news Paris and a lovely photo series too! Congratulations – I hope this batch fair better than the previous one. Keep us updated.

 

[paris]

ive removed the ones she has laid recently. she has laid about 25...that i found. of the 3 pictured in a row above-none remain. it seems they have a liking for their eggs, those in the tightest cracks faired better. it does not seem to be related to 'dead' egg eating-cause they leave the fuzzy ones alone! i just find empty jellies, manually denucliated. looks as if the best procedure will be to remove them as they are laid.

 

[richard]

Great photos

 

[paris]

went in an removed 15 since the 3rd-not sure if just 1 female or 2 are laying

 

[paris]

just removed another 14 viable ones...i think im at about 110 good ones laid so far, this doesnt include the ones that were eaten. i think females of this species lay about 300

 

[TJ]

Wow, seems you're going to be showered with larvae.

Same oviposition/deposition site site over and over again as the eggs are removed?

Notice any egg hunting/eating going on?

 

[paris]

well she uses the same type of spots on the fake log, but placement will vary. i mention egg eating above-i now remove what i find every few days because of this. since these are all laid at different times, the larvae are at different stages. so far i have about 15 living larvae.