Disaster

[fecat]

I have a trio of GT, 1 boy 2 girls. The girls have bred and laid their egg on the rock. The next day the girls are so protective and will attack anyone who get close to the egg. on the third day all the eggs were gone!

They were in the community tank share 20 other fishes including American and Malawian. the tank is 5x2x2.

PH is about 7.4.

My question is:

Should i take all the egg out oncei discover it?

how do you breed American fish? For my africian, if i can see they are holding, i will just put them to a separate tank and few days after they will release the fry. But for the egg layer i really have no idea.

All input are appreciated.

Thanks

[Ash]

If the girls have paired then the eggs are infertile - do they go white before they disappear?

[wui39]

Very unsual that a male and female pair will tolerate a thrid fish be it male or female. Like Ash suggested the females might be paired instead. Did you manage to see the courtship dance?

Also if its their first time breeding, don't be surprised if they eat their egs.

[Citypainter]

[Often the females will pair up because they are eggbound. They simply guard eachother put their eggs down and either eat them or abandon them when they satrt to go off.

If you want them to breed take 1 female out.

Gts are pretty good parents and the babies usually do better staying with the parents. If they are young it can take a few attempts but the will eventully work it out.

By the way I think you should put them in their own tank. They could never defend babies against Malawians.

[fecat]

Thanks for the reply. The reason why I got 3 GTs is that I used to have a white saum breeding pair and the boy decided to suicide. So I got one girl left. Later I went to LFS and purchased 2 juvies and lucky they are a pair. However they are gold saum. The new pair is about 10 cm atm and they have grown really really fast!!! The boy seems to ignored his “sister” and sometime even attack her. The white saum girl about 12 cm is aggressive toward the pair but sometime I can see the boy spawn with her. I also notice the gold saum girl is full of egg in her stomach, so I think the boy is pretty lucky to have 2 girls at the same time.

I saw the white saum girl laid her egg on the flat rock and the eggs were white. What does it mean? If I is to relocate them, I only have a standard 2 foot left. Would I be too small for a GT pair?

Both girls never get along with each other. The gold girl would never approach the white girl and if so she will be chased off.

How do you tell whether the egg is infertile or not?

Also, If I decide to pair up the gold saum boy with the white saum girl. Whats gonna happen in terms of quality and the coloration of the next generation? Or should I leave the gold pair together? But they are from the same bloodline and I think it is not a very good idea! Please advise.

[Ash]

Most CA/SA's lay clearish orangey eggs that get darker as time goes on (as the embryo grows I guess?) however some like Oscars have the eggs starting out white instead, which is usually a sign of fungused infertile/dead eggs with the clear/orange ones. Did that make sense?

If yours are white as soon as they are laid, then perhaps GT eggs are like Oscar eggs? Anyone who's bred GTs care to comment on egg colour?

Regarding the gold/white saum & brother & sister - I wouldn't breed any of them but if I had to then I'd keep the colour form pure.

[patchy]

i've bred blue acaras who are very similar genetically (aquideus pulcher vs aquideus rivialatus, shocking spelling in know ) and they lay eggs which are clear orange, as ash stated, which turn white within 24H if not fertilised.

[fecat]

My Gt has laid their 2nd batch of eggs onto a rock again, its about 500 of them

Most of the eggs are yellow except for maybe 10 of them are white. Very unfortunately my parents who wanna be a smart buM took all the eggs out and claimed that they will protect the eggs this time....

would the egg be ok in a 2 ft tank by them self? 20 of them has started to turn white.. what does it mean? Do i need any special care? would i just better off put the egg back to their parent???

[Ash]

stick an airstone next to them to get some waterflow, there's some blue stuff books say you can treat the eggs with to prevent fungus but the name escapes me.

you are probably better off leaving them with the parents, but I don't know if shifting them back would be a hot idea - they may eat them thinking they are someone else's

[Ged]

Ash is referring to Methylene Blue which is effective against superficial fungal infections. It is particularly useful in combating fungus infection in eggs and fry.

[TropheusQueen]

There is much debate as to whether the gold saum is a different strain to the the white, and therefore should not be crossbred. I personally keep mine sererate in an attempt to keep the line pure - whether i am having any effect at all seems to be the question

Firstly, if you have the room, seperate the white saum as it may not be clear who is mating with whom

My gold saum used to mate in a six foot tank with lots of predators on the watch. You would always know however, when the spawning was about to take place, as all other fish including a full grown male dimi was baled up in the opposite end of the tank .

The eggs would take a couple of days to hatch, and as as soon as they were free swimming, mum and dad would move them off the slate an further into a safe corner. At this stage I would syphon off a few, 200 or so, and move them to a tank on their own. The others were left to fend for themselves, and inevitably became food. Of the 200, most would survive - feed small amounts of crushed food or live bbs or microwoms regularly with daily 20-50% water changes saw the greatest success. These guys need room to grow as their gill plates are damaged with stunting if not enough room is available for growth. Bear this in mind if you wish to grow some up .

I would suggest if you are not getting to the free swimming stage, that the fish are immature as yet and will get better, or maybe there is too much competition in the tank.

Good luck - these guys are one of my favourites.

Cheers

Aline

[fecat]

Thanks for all the tips and advices. really appreciated.

Just give you guys an update. I would say its a bad news.

this morning I woke up and discoved that my fry tank has covered with the funga disease. Some of the egg which turned white hasl the cotton stuff covers it. Some of the eggs are still clear. When i try to take the rock out and try to get rid of the infected one, I can see some eggs has black spot inside. So i would say they are fertised one. So I put the rock back in and put an air stone next to it.

Hopefully the egg with the spot can come out as they should. otherwise, i think i would just have to wait for the next batch.

anyhow, i learnt myself a lesson this time. Thanks for sharing.