Mesoheros atromaculatum spawn!!

jonclark96

jonclark96

Past CCA President
I did a big water change on my Atro tank on Saturday morning. I have 5 fish in the tank, an obvious male and female and three that I can't quite tell. I picked up these as 2" juvies at The Big Fish Deal 2015 and have been growing them out since. I noticed last night that the female was all colored up in spawning dress, with jet black eyes and dorsal fin and pronounced stripes down the sides. I didn't think much of it, as all accounts of breeding in this species that are documented indicate that it takes years to get to sexual maturity. Low and behold, tonight I get home to check on the tank and there isn't a fish to be seen. All were hiding, but I could see the female in a clay pot. I flicked on a flashlight and she is protecting a batch of eggs! It is a small clutch for new world standards, maybe 50 or 60 eggs. They all look fertilized to me.

Keep your fingers crossed! These are pretty tough to spawn. I only know of two others in the US that have spawned them (including David in our club).

You can see the eggs in this terrible picture.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app

ImageUploadedByMonsterAquariaNetwork1453242602.136511.jpg
 
jonclark96

jonclark96

Past CCA President
Several of the eggs were unfertilized last night and had turned white. Here's hoping it isn't the whole batch...
 
Andrewtfw

Andrewtfw

Global Moderators
Maybe the eggs hatched and the parents moved the fry?

Sent from my VS985 4G using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
jonclark96

jonclark96

Past CCA President
Andrewtfw said:
Maybe the eggs hatched and the parents moved the fry?

Sent from my VS985 4G using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
Click to expand...

This is what I was hoping at first, but it doesn't appear to be the case. I don't keep the lights on their tank on a timer, so when I first got home I saw the female in the clay pot and some dark spots at the back of the pot. I thought it was a bit quick for eggs to hatch (my experience is 3 days minimum). I clicked the light on and went to turn on the lights on the other tanks in my fish room. By the time I got back to the atro tank, the female was out and swimming around, and the only thing in the back of the pot was some mulm.

Here's hoping that they try again!
 
dogofwar

dogofwar

CCA Members
They did it once, they'll do it again!

You'll just need to wait for the next pre-blizzard to trigger it :)

Matt

jonclark96 said:
This is what I was hoping at first, but it doesn't appear to be the case. I don't keep the lights on their tank on a timer, so when I first got home I saw the female in the clay pot and some dark spots at the back of the pot. I thought it was a bit quick for eggs to hatch (my experience is 3 days minimum). I clicked the light on and went to turn on the lights on the other tanks in my fish room. By the time I got back to the atro tank, the female was out and swimming around, and the only thing in the back of the pot was some mulm.

Here's hoping that they try again!
Click to expand...
 
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