fishyNZ Posted January 28, 2017 Report Share Posted January 28, 2017 After several days of the eggs "disappearing", I noticed the male with his mouth always closed even when food's near. Took a video, continued observing and about 15 minutes later, out comes a clutch of fry from his mouth. Totally surprised! Silverdollarboy2, gligor, livingart and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverdollarboy2 Posted January 28, 2017 Report Share Posted January 28, 2017 Congrats! Really nice fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishyNZ Posted January 28, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2017 Thanks. As there are other fish (a lot) in the tank, the fun part is to extract the fry from the father so they don't get eaten when spat out. Have never bred a mouthbrooding species before. Silverdollarboy2 and gligor 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted January 28, 2017 Report Share Posted January 28, 2017 Well done. I used to wait until fry were fairly big and male was having trouble holding them all, left a big net in the tank each day beforehand so they got used to it being there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted January 29, 2017 Report Share Posted January 29, 2017 Nice. Hey, once you've grown them up to a good size, let me know. I'll buy a fewoff you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishyNZ Posted January 30, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2017 Well it was no fun at all. I noticed yesterday that the number of free-swimming fry has gotten smaller since the video was taken. So with a fine mesh net, I waited until the father spats out the fry again and scooped as many as I could. The father initially scampered but when I pulled-up the net he went back to retrieve the rest. I got about a dozen or so fry and put them in a plastic breeder box. This afternoon, just about half remains. I'm moving them to a separate tank and hopefully I could get some luck raising them. Meanwhile, the parents will have their own tank. This is their second spawning in about 3-4 weeks, so I got some time to prep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishyNZ Posted January 30, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2017 On 1/29/2017 at 7:52 AM, livingart said: Well done. I used to wait until fry were fairly big and male was having trouble holding them all, left a big net in the tank each day beforehand so they got used to it being there. Thanks. Were there any other fish in the tank? I think the fry could have gotten bigger as the male spats them out at least once or twice per hour. 9 hours ago, Ira said: Nice. Hey, once you've grown them up to a good size, let me know. I'll buy a fewoff you. No worries, you are first on the list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted January 30, 2017 Report Share Posted January 30, 2017 Yes had some Lake Tefe Green Discus in with them and Butterfly fish, in their own tank will be best Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fruju Posted February 1, 2017 Report Share Posted February 1, 2017 Nice looking fish, didn't realise red head Tapajos were in the country. I too would be interested in some if you have success rearing them. Where did you get them from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverdollarboy2 Posted February 1, 2017 Report Share Posted February 1, 2017 If I ever get a bigger tank these would be the main stocking, only recently found out we had them here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gligor Posted February 1, 2017 Report Share Posted February 1, 2017 Wow they are a nice looking fish. Good work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishyNZ Posted February 1, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2017 2 hours ago, Fruju said: Nice looking fish, didn't realise red head Tapajos were in the country. I too would be interested in some if you have success rearing them. Where did you get them from? Advertised at Redwoods' Facebook page as "Brilliant Earth Eater - Red Head" (c.2015). After seeing the photos, I had a gut feeling and initially bought 3. And then bought another 3 soon after. Of the 6, I lost 1 whilst 4 paired-up (2 couples). Both couples actually spawned (in separate tanks) though I haven't seen any fry off the other pair. I counted about a dozen on the advertised photos so I'm sure there are other keepers. There's someone here in the forum I believe, based on his signature. Silverdollarboy2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fruju Posted February 1, 2017 Report Share Posted February 1, 2017 Yeah I believe Hovmoller had a small group of these guys too, but his were not mature and did not display such vibrant colours. I think it would definitely be worth establishing these guys in NZ, I think they are the nicest looking eartheater. You have some excellent looking stock FishyNZ! Jealous. gligor and Silverdollarboy2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hovmoller Posted February 7, 2017 Report Share Posted February 7, 2017 Great to see your video fishyNZ. Yes I still have 7 of these (also from Redwood) and they now look similar to the ones in your video so hoping for some paring up soon. Did you see the spawning take place? What did they lay their eggs on and did they take the eggs into the mouth immediately? Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishyNZ Posted February 8, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2017 9 hours ago, hovmoller said: Great to see your video fishyNZ. Yes I still have 7 of these (also from Redwood) and they now look similar to the ones in your video so hoping for some paring up soon. Did you see the spawning take place? What did they lay their eggs on and did they take the eggs into the mouth immediately? Cheers I have only seen the eggs lying on the bottom glass. The pair in the video above sifted a lot of sand which made the bottom bare, at least on the spawning site. The other pair is in a bare bottom tank. I believe the eggs “disappeared” between 24-48 hours after being seen. I don’t know who picked up the eggs initially but it was the male that I noticed holding (mouth closed, not eating or going for food), at least after a week or so. Free-swimming fry were seen a short while after that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishyNZ Posted March 4, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2017 Pic below taken a week after video above. Managed to save about half a dozen fry and put into a 60L tank, with sponge filter. Pic below taken today. After several weeks, the initial few fry I've managed to save have now grown to slightly more than a centimeter. Also, their parents have managed to spawn and successfully hatched another batch. But as I've not been able to separate them out into another tank, sadly those fry just became food. Silverdollarboy2, gligor, flatfish and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishyNZ Posted March 4, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2017 I fed baby brine shrimp for the first 2 weeks, at least once a day. After that, I fed them a slightly soft NLS-Repashy mix cut into about 1cm block cubes. 1 cube is dropped in the evening, which normally lasts 24 hours. Lately, I also drop a pinch of finely-grounded NLS pellets (less than 1mm) in the morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted March 4, 2017 Report Share Posted March 4, 2017 1 hour ago, fishyNZ said: Pic below taken a week after video above. Managed to save about half a dozen fry and put into a 60L tank, with sponge filter. Pic below taken today. After several weeks, the initial few fry I've managed to save have now grown to slightly more than a centimeter. Also, their parents have managed to spawn and successfully hatched another batch. But as I've not been able to separate them out into another tank, sadly those fry just became food. That's sad. They sound pretty rare, would be worth setting them up their own tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fruju Posted March 4, 2017 Report Share Posted March 4, 2017 Nice work! Congrats on raising some fry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flatfish Posted March 4, 2017 Report Share Posted March 4, 2017 Great work on a beautiful species Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted March 4, 2017 Report Share Posted March 4, 2017 Very well done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hovmoller Posted March 5, 2017 Report Share Posted March 5, 2017 Good stuff! Well done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TbarTerror Posted March 11, 2017 Report Share Posted March 11, 2017 They are such beautiful fish! Congratulations on the breeding ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted March 16, 2017 Report Share Posted March 16, 2017 Wow, bit late to the party but awesome to see these being bred here!!! I'm incredibly disappointed I didn't grab some from Redwoods when I had the chance, but it looks like the species in safe hands with at least two good sized groups being kept by people willing and capable of breeding them. @Fruju you must have missed that great article in the last edition of Aquarium World magazine if you didn't know they were in the country! https://aquariumworld.nz/magazine/8-September2016 flatfish 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fruju Posted March 21, 2017 Report Share Posted March 21, 2017 On 3/16/2017 at 7:27 PM, David R said: Wow, bit late to the party but awesome to see these being bred here!!! I'm incredibly disappointed I didn't grab some from Redwoods when I had the chance, but it looks like the species in safe hands with at least two good sized groups being kept by people willing and capable of breeding them. @Fruju you must have missed that great article in the last edition of Aquarium World magazine if you didn't know they were in the country! https://aquariumworld.nz/magazine/8-September2016 Haha. I did not know that the magazine was uploaded to the website. Hmm. Nice article btw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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