My 20long Moliwe tank

[fish-n-chips]

I got some F1 "Moliwe" off Aquabid back in Sept. from a seller in Seattle. Since then, I have had 2 pair in a heavily planted 20 long. Two months ago I had the dom. male breed with the now sub. female. The fry made it a week before they disappeared. I wasn't too surprised since they were still small( male about 1 1/2"). The male switched females, they bred 3 times and none of the fry made it past wigglers. Then the sub pair bred and those made it hatching but not past wigglers stage. The dom. pair then bred but the eggs disappeared and I thought that they got eaten also. Today when I went downstairs after lights on, What did I see.......about 20 free swimming with both parents gaurding them!!!! I thought they were gone since the parents were clearing gravel/sand just two days ago under some driftwood.
This tank has been a soap opera to say the least. Now should I put the fry in a breeder net with some driftwood and java moss or should I let them stay in the tank and hope the parents are going to do it right this time. They are both guarding the fry and making sure they don't wander too far.

The tank is planted with:
Anubias- nana, golden and petit
Crypt- tropica and wendtii
Needle leaf java fern
java moss
ph-6.6
kh-around 8
gh- around 3
I haven't tested my water in a few weeks since I keep up on my wc's and it has been stable for months.
I have some nice driftwood that I collected last spring in there also. The other inhabitants are 3 nerites, tons of ramshorn snails and some rcs( don't know how many since my taenies have a fondness for shrimp now). Sorry for the long winded post, I just wanted to get as much info as I could into my first post. I will try to get a few pics tonight and set up a photobucket account. I do have some pics in my ablum though.
Thank you for looking~FNC~

 

[Hawkeyes]

I had a WC pair of Makoures in a 29 gallon tank (same footprint)with a female Pelv. Pulcher and they did a great job raising the fry. Quite a sight to see! Anyway, practice makes perfect so if you're worried about keeping some just take a portion and let them keep some to practice with. Or, remove the other pair and you shouldn't have any problems at all.

Aron

 

[fish-n-chips]

Heres a couple of pictures of the parents and fry.
mama "Wilma" and some fry

One of papa "Fred"

I decided to get the fry out of the tank and into a breeder net until I get a tank set up to get them into. I was able to get 6 fry. Already the females are having a "shimmy" war and the dominant is coloring up and shimmying for her "man" again. Maybe I'll see some more eggs soon.:biggrin:
Thanks for looking, FNC.

 

[bigbird]

very nice indeed and congrats..cheers jk

 

[fish-n-chips]

A quick update. I separated the pairs at the beginning of the month. I kept the dom. pair in the 20 and put the other pair in a 15 that also has a L. dorsigera and 10 habrosus cories( I love those little wigglebutts). I was about to put a mirror in the 20 since I had not seen any breeding behavior but the day I was going to get one I saw the female had lost her bulge. Upon further inspection I saw that indeed there were about 30 eggs on the roof of their cave. This morning I have wigglers!!!
Also, I noticed today that the female in the 15 was hiding out in the cave and when she finally came out for food, I saw that her bulge was gone also. She won't leave the cave and it is situated so that I can't see into it, yet I can only deduce that she has spawned also and is protecting some eggs. I guess I will know in a few days(fingers crossed).

 

[fish-n-chips]

Just a quick update with a couple of pics. The fry in my 20 are free swimming and both parents are doing a good job of protecting them. I do have free swimming fry in my 15 now too. The female is guarding them in this tank, even keeping the male away. The 3 that I have growing out in the 10 are continuing to grow out and are doing even better now that I have started to feed with Hikari First Bites.
Here is one of the fry in my 10~

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The parents in my 20 doing a great job with brood~

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