HELP! GUDGEONS LAYED EGGS!

[samthefishman]

I just looked in my tank and saw hundreds of gudgeon eggs!!!
what do i do???
both of them are on them right now fanning and i think she is still laying some.
Its only preditors would be a featherfin and the parents.
If anyone has any info on how to keep them alive that would be great. Thanks.

 

[samthefishman]

ahhhh shes still laying eggs!
they are all over the glass.
They had been acting strange latly. I watched the male suss out a little stop behind some wood and would come out to eat and then go back. But ocasinally he would come out and "flare" up at the female and follow her around for abit.
Its quite amazing how many eggs there are. I got no IDEA of what i am gonna do with them.
So yeah help would be GREATLY apreiciated.

 

[CFC]

As soon as the female stops laying the eggs you must remove her from the tank or the male will try to kill her, it would be a good idea to remove any other fish they share a tank with too as the males become very aggressive when guarding a clutch of eggs. The eggs will take 3 or 4 days to hatch and once you see the first fry starting to pull themselves away from the eggs the male should be removed to a seperate tank, but not the same one as the female as he will still be aggressive to her, it is best to keep the pair seperate for at least 2 weeks after spawning. The newly hatched fry are tiny and will need to be fed on insofuria or a commercial liquid fry food for the first 4 days or so, then new hatched artemia (brineshrimp) can be introduced, within 2 weeks you can start feeding small pond foods like bloodworm and daphnia. The fry are highly canabalistic and to save a high yield of them you will need to grade them into different tanks by size, you can expect to lose at least 70% of them otherwise. The fry are quite slow growing and will take around 12 to 14 weeks to reach 1.5 inches which is the smallest size you can sell them at really.
You can expect the parents to spawn again within 3 weeks of being put back in the same tank.

 

[samthefishman]

that sucks.
I dont have any other tanks to put them into.
When they spawn again i will make sure i have another tank.
Thank anways.

 

[samthefishman]

CFC

1. Does the male HAVE to stay with the eggs and fan them? cos i noticed him doing that.
2. My mate from the fish farm thinks we should make a mesh box thing and put it over the eggs and when they hatch they will be safe.
3. Will the male DEFFINATLY kill the female? its quite a large tank and they are no where near each other.
4. Is there any chance of survival if i just let nature take its course?

 

[Pufferpack]

If you don't have the option of seperating them into different tanks I would go to the LFS and pick up a tank divider to seperate the male and female, as well as a plastic basket (or some type of breeding trap/net) to protect the fry from the male.

 

[CFC]

CFC

1. Does the male HAVE to stay with the eggs and fan them? cos i noticed him doing that.
2. My mate from the fish farm thinks we should make a mesh box thing and put it over the eggs and when they hatch they will be safe.
3. Will the male DEFFINATLY kill the female? its quite a large tank and they are no where near each other.
4. Is there any chance of survival if i just let nature take its course?

1) The male keeps the eggs aerated by fanning them, you can remove the male and use a airstone positioned in such a way that the bubbles fan the eggs but IME it is easier to let the parent fish do the work.

2) The mesh would have to be very very small, when born the fry are barely 2mm in length, personally i dont see this as a viable option, a second tank would be better.

3) My Purple spot gudgeons spawned in a 36x18x15" 42 gallon tank and the male relentlessly chased the female around biting her fins and gill covers until she was in quite a state.

4) No, the male will eat the fry as soon as he see's them swimming.

 

[samthefishman]

how big would a second tank have to be??

i cant be around the tank 24-7 how will i know when they hatch.

Will they spawn again? cos then i will know what to do.

 

[Dragonscales]

I have an easier alternative for the next time they spawn, it won't work this time though as the eggs have been laid.

Make sure you have a spare tank for this though, doesn't have to be overly big, any tank you'd use to place fry in is fine. Add a couple of pvp pipe pieces, or even plastic jars - jars are easier - into the tank the parents are in and they will spawn in these.

Once the pair have laid and the male is inside the jar/pipe, fanning the eggs, then cover both ends so no water can escape (this is why a jar is easier, you only have to tip it the right way up) and transfer the jar to the other empty, cycled tank, eggs, male and all in one easy hit (keep your hand over the top though so he can't jump out midway between tanks).

Once you see the eggs have hatched then all you have to do is remove the male back to the other tank and keep the fry well fed. I would also add microworms and vinegar eels to the list of foods that CFC gave, they most likely won't be able to eat these first off, after a few weeks most should be big enough for them though.

 

[CFC]

Purple spot gudgeons will not spawn in pipes they are surface spawners that choose a flat vertical surface like the wall of the tank to spawn on, the best piece of spawning media you can give them is a small rectangular piece of slate leant up against the side.

The smallest size tank i would recomend for the fry would be a 24x12x15" (18 US gallon), anything less would be over crowded and you would have terrible troubles keeping the parameters safe.
The fry will not all hatch at once, the first and last to hatch and become free swimming can be as much as 24 hours apart. Once the eggs have been there for 3 days start paying close attention for any eggs that have hatched and either remove the male or the eggs on their spawning media (without letting the eggs come into contact with air) into a seperate tank.

 

[Dragonscales]

lmao sorry, my bad. I thought you were talking about peacock gudgeons

 

[samthefishman]

Well how do u know that he wont choose the glass again?
and when will he do it again?