Confirmed eggs!

Alright, so it's confirmed! EGGS ARE PRESENT!!! The eggs are late in the 5th day of development. From what I can see they eggs are yellow. It seems like a small batch though I didn't count them.

Here is a pic

Woo Hoo!!!! Way to go!

Sarah

Thank you! I am so excited as the is my first time breeding BNs or egg layers in general. I think I mentioned before I work mostly with swordtails. Though I have had my beloved male 5 ish years now, it was only recently that I took it to the next level.

THANK YOU BNWORLD FOR TEACHING ME SOOOO MUCH!

awesome work!!

Checked on them yesterday and there are wigglers! If there is food at the opening the male eats. He also left the cave once that I saw to eat. Then a swordtail swam close to it so he rushed back! He doesn't even let the Ramshorn snails in ) what a good daddy. I just hope swordtails do t have an appetite for BN babies..... I would be so sad.

Congrats on your first batch mate! It's always great to discover eggs in the cave.

He's a very good parent if he's stopping the snails as well. Good on him! Keep an eye on the swordtails, if any wriggles find themselves outside the cave then your ST mollies may try to eat them. But I have all sorts of mollies in my tank and the last 2 batches that I didn't end up sectioning off was left to explore the tank once they were released from the cave. Neither mollies nor danios gave them a second glance.
If your fry have plenty of spaces to hide, then you'll be fine.

The tank is well planted. Has the terra cotta cave, a shrinking piece of Malaysian driftwood (funny how it gets eaten away over the years), and one small piece of cholla wood that I used to root some water sprite. I was thinking of separating them but the male is still vigorously guarding them.

You don't need to separate them unless you are worried the eggs/fry won't be safe. Let nature take its course
I know what you mean with the shrinking wood. Some of my older pieces now have smooth holes through them. I separated my L010A from his eggs because I know how docile he is and I could foresee him loosing them very quickly. So I took them and put them into an egg tumbler. Do you have an egg tumbler handy though?

Well they are wigglers now so I didn't think I needed a tumbler. I have the option of moving them to a 55 with my swordtail fry or devoting a 10g to them. That is if I don't leave them in the main tank.

Have you taken any pictures of the wriggles? Would love to see them. They're so cute wriggling around as they do :P

A tumbler just comes in handy. If you have another spawn later on and the male accidently kicks out a couple of eggs that have come loose, or he happens to kick them all out, or abandons the cave for whatever reason - the eggs can be saved. The first spawn my marble/calico male had he did his job too well, fanning so furiously that some eggs came loose. Loose eggs won't stick back on to anything so they'll just get blown out again. I'm lucky I had made the tumbler in time (was actually making it once I discovered the spawn). Popped the eggs in and they hatched and survived

You may never need to use one, but it's handy to have around just in case. ^_^

Unfortunately I was not able to get a pic of the wigglers. I only saw them briefly myself! I did have the camera ready so here is a pic of the male in the cave with the wigglers. The little guys are behind the rock that is siliconed to the back.



As you can see the plexiglass separated from the terra cotta :,( But we learned from our mistakes and have improved the latest batch of caves. That is my BFs hand. He helps tremendously with the cave making, gets his hands wet for pics, and I think he secretly is falling in love with the fish. I just saw him check on our two clown loaches before he left for work, lol!

Here Are two pics of how I set up the cave for my next pair (mentioned on the cholla wood post.) I plan to set up all my caves like this at some point. This should eliminate the need to move the cave at all for pics. This is in our spare room (turning into a fish room slowly, lol) so it doesn't have a lot of foot traffic. I am hoping the male will tollerate me taking pics in this situation and not feel threatened. Obviously this tank is still being set up. Biologically it's fine, but it needs wood, more plants, and some finess!

Oooooh I'm liking how you've done the new caves, and a very good idea to pop them on the side of the tank like that. If you're lucky to see them spawning, when you get a pair in there, you'll be able to watch the whole process. Give your man a thumbs up for me, it's great to see partners get involved. Where do you guys source your terracotta pots from?

The wrigglers will get adventurous soon, then you'll be able to get better happy-snaps of them. They always have to cram into the darkest corner when you want to take a picture.
Loving the look of the new tank, can't wait to see what it looks like finished!

Thank you!!

We buy the pots from Micheal's which is an arts and crafts store.

Seeing as I Live in Florida I have an endless supply of coconuts which I also make caves from. I have never attached these to plexiglass. My clown loaches live in them mostly. And a friend of mine uses the coconut cave for his Cory catfish. I like them because they look more natural than terra cotta, but my beloved BNs prefer the terra cotta.

Congrats on the wigglers!!

I've never kept swordtails, but I'm not sure I'd trust them with BN fry. My female guppies, admittedly large Moscows, kill any BN fry they can get to, and even with lots of hiding they get to most of them eventually. I only leave them in a tank with them if it's an expendable spawn. Dime size baby angels will try to eat BN fry, killing them even if they can't get them down. Perhaps Swordtails are less predatory?

Sarah

I doubt it as they eagerly eat their young! I think I will set up the 10g for them until I feel comfortable enough and satisfied with the amount of pics I have taken to move them to the 55 grow out. It'll have to be a simple air driven set up with the equipment I have on hand.

Just caught dad and wigglers. Didn't tak pics as moving them is stressful enough for one day. There are 6 little guys! Looks like 3 regular, 2 calico, and one that is super light in color (maybe another calico?). I guess I'm glad I moved them now as I know there were at least a dozen eggs before. Somebody has been snacking I bet :,( I am thinking some of the wigglers might have escaped because the cave separated from the plexi glass...???

One has left the cave! And awesome news to boot!! One of them is albino! That means this pair spawns common, calico, and albino; how lucky am I!?!?

Here is the pic of the escapee.



I was only able to count 5, but I am hoping I just wasn't able to find the 6th one.

Ok so they are definitely free roaming now here you can see a calico on the top right and the albino on the heater

Enjoy!

I can't believe how fast they are growing! The final head court remains 6. I thought I lost one for a while but I didn't : )