Severum's Have Laid Eggs!

[Creature Seeker]

Hello,

I have a bit of a situation.

I fed my severums Tango & Pancake today to find them crowded in one corner of the tank and aggressivley attacking any other fish that comes near. On closer inspection I've found they've laid eggs and are now guarding them!

Unfortunately I have no experience with breeding fish and do not know what I should be doing to make sure the fry are safe.

There is also a sizeable elephant nose also within the tank who seems to be getting the run around whenever he goes near the area. I'm guessing he's seen as a predator. There are also three rams, a golden algae eate and a garra. Are any of these a threat?

Any advice anyone can offer would be great!

 

[minxfishy]

Any fish that can get to the eggs is a threat and will be chased away by the parents, if you want to raise the fry and you have another tank, I would move the other fish out, or move the parents and eggs, although with moving the parents and fry there is always a chance they would eat the eggs after the move.

If the parents can guard them, you have a chance that a few will make it, but I would think it unlikely with other fish in the tank.

The eggs if fertile, what colour are they? Should hatch within 72 hrs and the fry will initially eat the egg sacks, after two days you would need to start adding some fry food, newly hatched brine shrimp, decapsulated brine shrimp eggs, finely crushed flake, something like that to the fry. Again the parents should protect the fry, but will find it more difficult once they are free swimming to protect them.

 

[star4]

If its their first spawning they will most likely eat the eggs themselves or the fry if they hatch. It may just be the angel of the photo but they do look rather white, which means they are not fertile and wont hatch, with servs normally you dont have to interfere as they are mouthbrooders and keep the fry safe themselves. Do you have a spare tank? you may need to seperate the servs once the eggs have gone else the male may harrass the female to lay again and she wont be able to. My 2 recently spawned again I think (too many other fish in the tank to eat the eggs) as my 2 have fallen out at the moment, but they have enough space to hide from each other.

Congratulations on eggs though very nice looking fish

 

[minxfishy]

Only the heros severus is a true mouth brooding Severum, whereas the Heros Efasciatus species, more commonly sold, is not. So it depends on which species you have. Are those the eggs on the glass? Unusual place for severums to lay eggs!

 

[Creature Seeker]

Thank you for the replies.

Unfortunately I cannot take the eggs out as they have laid them on the fake rock background that's fixed to the tank.

About half of the eggs are white, and half are clear with a yellowey tinge.

I think they must have laid them yesterday as they were very excited at feeding time and swimming around, but today they just sat next to the eggs when I fed them. So if they hatch, it will be Tuesday.

I'll keep this post updated, but I'm not expecting a high success rate as this is their first time. I didn't even realise they liked each other!

 

[star4]

I thought they all were! well learn something new every day.
pppssst are mine mouth brooders then lol

Fingers crossed you get some.

 

[minxfishy]

The eggs that are white are unlikely to be fertile and they will probably eat them, if they dont, they may go fungusy and you will need to remove them so it doesnt spread to the fertile eggs, fertile eggs go a yellow/cream colour, so sounds like some are indeed fertile, let us know how you get on.

Star4, hon, yours are Heros efasciatus and are substrate spawners, hence why you lose the eggs, if they mouthbrooded, they would take it in turn to hold them, although saying that in some cases, its been reported (and this is just what Ive read on the net) that Rotkiels do mouthbrood occassionally, but in your case, they arent doing it or they are eating the eggs themselves.

 

[star4]

Thats why I thought they were mouthbrooders then I must have read it somewhere lol. I doubt they stand a chance with eggs with Jethro about. I wonder if they would do better in the tank next door with the gourami? something to think about.

(sorry thread hijacking)

 

[minxfishy]

Well its big enough, might be an option

Edit to add, if you ever get fry from them, I want 1st refusal

 

[star4]

LOL I am really pondering that now could move some of the angels to the 1 180l leave the other for the ellioti and baby fronts for a while. hmmmmm brain going 10 to the dozen now lol, if I did raise some fry you would be most welcome to a couple you know that.

 

[Creature Seeker]

Unfortunately all the eggs seem to have disappeared. Half of them had gone by lunch time, and now there is no sign of them and the Severum's are back to normal behaviour.

Strange? Anyone know what happened?

Thanks

 

[minxfishy]

Its not unusual for it to happen, either they ate them themselves because its their first spawn and they were unsure what to do, or they ate them because they felt they were under threat, or some of the other fish ate them. Better luck next time.

 

[Creature Seeker]

That's a shame, but I didn't really have the correct measures in place to care for them so I'll be better prepared next time! I hope they lay the eggs on something removeable next time so I can seperate the eggs from the tank.

How often do they spawn?

 

[snowflake311]

I found my blue acaras did a great job keeping the eggs from getting eatten. It was when the fry were free swimming they got picked off by my other fish. So IMO it's best to keep eggs with parents but once they hatch syphon them out and raise in their own tank .

Congrate on the spawn. That means you have happy fish and they should do it again. Maybe in 2 weeks they will be at it again.

 

[minxfishy]

They could spawn again within a few weeks, it just depends on the pair.