Fiyero And Elphaba's Spawn Diary
- Thread starter Andie
- Start date
Andie
Fish Addict
Well yes, it would have been a good idea if it had kept working 
He started out building a nest attached to the end of the mesh, which looked pretty good, but then seemed to get confused and tried to build in within the mesh itself, which failed miserably. Today I finally pinched a polystyrene cup from the caf, chopped it in half and bam! Away he went, bubbling to his little heart's content.
I was pretty proud of him, and decided I'd start to study and check in on him in an hour or so. I looked up from the computer not ten minutes later only to see Elphie was awfully close to his fledgling nest. I waited to make sure he wouldn't hurt her when he chased her away, and I nearly freaked when I saw that, instead of chasing her, he was trying to figure out how the heck he was supposed to wrap himself around her!
They had a couple false starts but he got the hang of it soon enough, and the entire process took them about two hours. I don't know exactly how many eggs she dropped, but there were quite a few- from what I saw I'd venture to guess between one and two hundred, but they were both so quick to gather them up it was hard to count, plus I think she swallowed a few (she was definitely helping, though; her bubbles held together pretty well, too).
After two hours finally decided she'd had enough and sauntered off to settle in amongst her plants, so after making sure she really wasn't heading back I scooped her out and put her in a clean jar. She's very upset with me- all of her previously beautiful colouring is washed right out and she's stress-striped terribly. I think she misses the company; she forgets how nasty he was to her before today To cheer her up I've set her beside Brill, and despite the fact that she's easily 25 percent bigger than him, he's strutting for all he's worth.
Fiyero is hovering under his nest, a little doubtful about the whole Daddy thing but apparently willing to give it his all. He'll wander off now and then but he always comes back so I'm hoping he'll be able to handle this mostly on his own. The nest is pretty pathetic; the eggs look awfully crowded, but I haven't seen any fall yet, so it must be strength rather than size that counts.
These pics are pretty bad, cause the lighting sucks, but it at least gives you an idea, anyway.
Yes, that really is both of them wrapped in there! I wish I'd been able to get a clearer shot of the embrace- it was beautiful. Like an underwater ballet.
Elphaba's confident she scooped up all the eggs but Fiyero is just making sure
Elphie, just after I jarred her. That glorius colour vanished within fifteen minutes; she much preferred the spawning tank!
Them's beebees in there!
He started out building a nest attached to the end of the mesh, which looked pretty good, but then seemed to get confused and tried to build in within the mesh itself, which failed miserably. Today I finally pinched a polystyrene cup from the caf, chopped it in half and bam! Away he went, bubbling to his little heart's content.I was pretty proud of him, and decided I'd start to study and check in on him in an hour or so. I looked up from the computer not ten minutes later only to see Elphie was awfully close to his fledgling nest. I waited to make sure he wouldn't hurt her when he chased her away, and I nearly freaked when I saw that, instead of chasing her, he was trying to figure out how the heck he was supposed to wrap himself around her!
They had a couple false starts but he got the hang of it soon enough, and the entire process took them about two hours. I don't know exactly how many eggs she dropped, but there were quite a few- from what I saw I'd venture to guess between one and two hundred, but they were both so quick to gather them up it was hard to count, plus I think she swallowed a few (she was definitely helping, though; her bubbles held together pretty well, too).
After two hours finally decided she'd had enough and sauntered off to settle in amongst her plants, so after making sure she really wasn't heading back I scooped her out and put her in a clean jar. She's very upset with me- all of her previously beautiful colouring is washed right out and she's stress-striped terribly. I think she misses the company; she forgets how nasty he was to her before today
To cheer her up I've set her beside Brill, and despite the fact that she's easily 25 percent bigger than him, he's strutting for all he's worth.Fiyero is hovering under his nest, a little doubtful about the whole Daddy thing but apparently willing to give it his all. He'll wander off now and then but he always comes back so I'm hoping he'll be able to handle this mostly on his own. The nest is pretty pathetic; the eggs look awfully crowded, but I haven't seen any fall yet, so it must be strength rather than size that counts.
These pics are pretty bad, cause the lighting sucks, but it at least gives you an idea, anyway.
Yes, that really is both of them wrapped in there! I wish I'd been able to get a clearer shot of the embrace- it was beautiful. Like an underwater ballet.
Elphaba's confident she scooped up all the eggs but Fiyero is just making sure
Elphie, just after I jarred her. That glorius colour vanished within fifteen minutes; she much preferred the spawning tank!
Them's beebees in there!
Naughtygirlrlw
Life, Love & Everything in Between
YAY!!!!!!!! splashluff
Fish Addict
Congrats on all the eggies!! Hopefully you'll get lots of babies that are just as pretty as their mommy and daddy! =0) nice spawn tankAndie
Fish Addict
Poor Fiyero's bubbles don't seem equal to the task of handling all the eggs! I'd say he's keeping three quarters to two thirds of them afloat at any one time; he seems determined to ignore the ones that have already hit the ground in favour of catching the remainder when they fall, and so long as he continues to do that I won't mind, but I'm hoping that he'll keep up the effort! Just in case, I ran down to the dollar store and bought a couple containers; I used a turkey baster to capture approximately eight eggs from the bottom of the tank, and put them in a separate container on the chance he might get fed up with the chore some time during the night and gobble them all down.
Andie
Fish Addict
I hadn't, really; not in condensed form!
She and Fiyero got to go on a few "dates" before they were ever sharing tank space; they were put side by side three times, and every time there was definite interest. After the third time, because Fiyero's tank was needed for Galinda, I settled him into the spawning tank and put Elphie's jar in with him. After 24 hours I swapped the jar for the breeding net, and she lived in there for another 24 hours, barring up like a little fiend as I waited for him to figure out the nest thing.
Yesterday I remembered several breeders who'd said that at this point they would release the female whether or not a nest had begun, so I released her into the tank at about one o'clock, and I'd say the first two hours were spent figuring out territories. Once he was satisfied she'd keep herself decently hidden in the plants he calmed down, and today I popped the cup in at about two o'clock, and by quarter after four they had begun to embrace.
They were done by six thirty, and because Fiyero's intimidation tactics consisted of much flaring and darting, and next to no nipping, Elphaba had suffered minimal damage. In fact, her tail had actually healed up even more during the chase/spawning process than she had while she was in her jar; possibly the extra exercise increased blood flow . . ?
ETA: I just read that over and though "huh, I can't believe it happened that quick." Then I realised that I conveniently left out every single one of my panicky moments covering everything from tank temperature (perfect) to ammonia content (less than 0.5 ppm), pH (dead on) and every little aspect of the pair. It seemed at the time like it was taking MUCH longer than that
She and Fiyero got to go on a few "dates" before they were ever sharing tank space; they were put side by side three times, and every time there was definite interest. After the third time, because Fiyero's tank was needed for Galinda, I settled him into the spawning tank and put Elphie's jar in with him. After 24 hours I swapped the jar for the breeding net, and she lived in there for another 24 hours, barring up like a little fiend as I waited for him to figure out the nest thing.
Yesterday I remembered several breeders who'd said that at this point they would release the female whether or not a nest had begun, so I released her into the tank at about one o'clock, and I'd say the first two hours were spent figuring out territories. Once he was satisfied she'd keep herself decently hidden in the plants he calmed down, and today I popped the cup in at about two o'clock, and by quarter after four they had begun to embrace.
They were done by six thirty, and because Fiyero's intimidation tactics consisted of much flaring and darting, and next to no nipping, Elphaba had suffered minimal damage. In fact, her tail had actually healed up even more during the chase/spawning process than she had while she was in her jar; possibly the extra exercise increased blood flow . . ?
ETA: I just read that over and though "huh, I can't believe it happened that quick." Then I realised that I conveniently left out every single one of my panicky moments covering everything from tank temperature (perfect) to ammonia content (less than 0.5 ppm), pH (dead on) and every little aspect of the pair. It seemed at the time like it was taking MUCH longer than that
Andie
Fish Addict
An interesting new development; Fiyero has divided the eggs. He took I'd guess a mouthful of escapees and isolated them about an inch or two away in an itty bitty new nest. Now he's moving back and forth between the groups but is focusing mostly on the new area, and it's got me stumped!
ETA: I should mention I'm observing all of this through a little opening in the towel I have over his tank; I don't want him to feel too watched
ETA: I should mention I'm observing all of this through a little opening in the towel I have over his tank; I don't want him to feel too watched
Andie
Fish Addict
Well I risked another peek just now, and I'm glad I did; Fiyero really wasn't sure what to do with himself, and he was off in the far corner just resting. The bad part is more eggs had fallen in his absence, and others were drifting away, so I went in with the turkey baster and rescued a large portion of the neglecteds. I hope once he rests he'll go back to what's left, but just in case I want to have a backup set, so to speak
Andie
Fish Addict
The rescued eggs are divided into two jars of water set in the spawn tank; I want them all to have constant temps as much as possible. I don't hold out much hope for my rescues since I can't sit up all night to keep them turning, but I like to think that now that he has fewer responsibilities Fiyero will return to what's left and try again I'd like to get a minimum of five babies out of this spawn if I can, and then in a couple weeks, if this doesn't go too well, I'll let them try again and give him a better shot at building a proper nest.
I'd like to get a minimum of five babies out of this spawn if I can, and then in a couple weeks, if this doesn't go too well, I'll let them try again and give him a better shot at building a proper nest.Andie
Fish Addict
Poor Fiyero's back to try again I looked in this morning and there he was, the little martyr, hovering under his nest like a trooper. Maybe now that so many eggs aren't showering down around him he feels more equal to the task of coping. I'm really relieved; I put little to no faith in my own ability to hatch out eggs, so I'm counting on him to give me at least a few!
They're due to hatch anywhere betwen four thirty this afternoon and four thirty/five o'clock Monday morning; I'm just bouncing all over!
I looked in this morning and there he was, the little martyr, hovering under his nest like a trooper. Maybe now that so many eggs aren't showering down around him he feels more equal to the task of coping. I'm really relieved; I put little to no faith in my own ability to hatch out eggs, so I'm counting on him to give me at least a few!They're due to hatch anywhere betwen four thirty this afternoon and four thirty/five o'clock Monday morning; I'm just bouncing all over!
Booboo puppy
Fish Addict
This is so exciting, even from here!
Andie
Fish Addict
He may have returned just to eat them 
I finally lifted the towel up this afternoon to get a good look and watch for hatchlings, and there's not an egg in sight outside of the containers. Just too much strain for him, I think. I'll have a couple more looks around and make sure he didn't move them, and then I think I'll just put him back in his old tank again and give him a nice long vacation
ETA: Fiyero was put back into his 2.5 and looks very happy about it! He still won't eat- possibly the daddy instinct lingering, but I'll try him later today.
I went to clean out the tank and found a few eggs lingering in one corner; he may have tried to move them, only to have the bubbles break and drop them under the heater where he couldn't get at them. I went in with the turkey baster to put them in with the other eggs, and then cleaned out the sludgy water and put in fresh, keeping the water about three inches deep.
All the eggs are now in one section of the 10g, and I count 25-30 that I was able to save, two of which are definitely at least going to make an effort to hatch- if I squint, I can see the tiny little tails curling out behind the 'head/body/etc.' area, so I hope that I'll have at least two babies when all is said and done
I finally lifted the towel up this afternoon to get a good look and watch for hatchlings, and there's not an egg in sight outside of the containers. Just too much strain for him, I think. I'll have a couple more looks around and make sure he didn't move them, and then I think I'll just put him back in his old tank again and give him a nice long vacation ETA: Fiyero was put back into his 2.5 and looks very happy about it! He still won't eat- possibly the daddy instinct lingering, but I'll try him later today.
I went to clean out the tank and found a few eggs lingering in one corner; he may have tried to move them, only to have the bubbles break and drop them under the heater where he couldn't get at them. I went in with the turkey baster to put them in with the other eggs, and then cleaned out the sludgy water and put in fresh, keeping the water about three inches deep.
All the eggs are now in one section of the 10g, and I count 25-30 that I was able to save, two of which are definitely at least going to make an effort to hatch- if I squint, I can see the tiny little tails curling out behind the 'head/body/etc.' area, so I hope that I'll have at least two babies when all is said and done
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