[carlso63]

11/29/2007 - Day 20

The First Babies


UPDATE:

when I got home from work, a little after midnight, I checked the nursery. Initially I saw something tiny and "shiny" on the glass bottom... after further examination I realized it was a baby... however, it looks like it was spit out too early...

I gave the entire 10g nursery a very close visual and counted a total of 5 underdeveloped 'larvae' scattered along the bottom... 3 look like tiny tadpoles and their yolk sacs are still quite large - they are laying on the bottom and occasionally "wriggling" a bit. I actually witnessed one of these getting "shot out" of the males gills... 1 looks like a curled up baby (this is the first one I saw above), and 1 looks like it is already dead - as it doesn't move and I don't see any signs of breathing or heartbeat.

Not what I was expecting to find, having read up on the reports that the fry should be swimming around upon release, looking for food - and should look like little copies of the adults.

However, the good news is that the male still has a very full mouth and did not appear spooked or unduly stressed. I feel it is possible that what I witnessed is part of a natural "culling" behavior, or maybe once the majority of eggs hatch they somehow get the unhatched ones "pushed out" or something... and at least now I'm sure there indeed was a viable spawning and that I truly have a mated pair

So, as long as I don't wake up tomorrow to a whole bunch of underdeveloped larvae all over the tank floor, I'm not freaking out.... yet.

Will update again in the morning