Surprise, Checkerboards layed eggs! Help!

[Orchid]

I have three Checkerboard cichlids in my 55 gal discus tank. They are the filamentosas sp. One is an adult male, one is a juvy male who is just starting to color up and the other is a female. Yesterday the juvy male was picking on the female and the adult male staunchly defended her, but then he would flash his gorgeous colors at her, they'd zigzag around together, then he'd nip her and/or chase her. I noticed that her belly was getting a little swollen, but I thought she was far too young to be egg laden. I also observed that she was staying in a particular area of the tank.

Today her pelvic fins are bright red, she's not so plump, and the males are totally leaving her alone, each is remaing on either side of the tank and not wandering towards her area. Just now I noticed that she was nipping the cory cats when they came near her territory...OK, something is up when cory cats are chased away. I've discovered that she has neatly layed a bunch of eggs on one of the lower leaves of an Amazon Sword plant. I don't know how many hours old they are, but they don't appear to have fungused yet.

I have been informed that it takes a couple of years for a male filamentosa to be viable, is this true?

What should I do about her in a community tank? Should she be moved? Other occupants are two discus, four cory cats(hmmm, these guys will definately eat the eggs/babies), one male betta, one otto cat, three Boreli cichlids, and one rainbow fish-I have no idea what sp. it is, it showed up as a baby w/an egg sac, I am assuming he was an egg on a new plant I had previously put into the tank.

How can I tell if these eggs are fertilized? If these two Checkerboards are breeding, then should they be placed into there own tank? How often will they breed? Should I be hatching some brine shrimp? Is there another food I should get for the babies?

Gosh, I had always hoped for some dwarf cichlids to breed, but now that it has happened and taken me completely off gaurd and unprepared.... wooo, what a lot of work this is going to be.

 

[Neil]

Congratulations Orchid,
A few years ago, I measured the success of how well I was doing in the Dwarf Cichlid breeding department by spawning D. filamentosa. It is considered a difficult fish to successfully breed! Just getting them to lay eggs is an accomplishment in itself. However, the real difficulty lies in the successful hatching of the eggs. The problem is usually the water. For these checkerboards to hatch a brood of fry, they require very soft, acidic water. Virtually any hardness and the eggs will not develop properly. The parameters that I had when I did it were: 4.5pH, .5 dGH and probably a TDS of 30ppm. Temp was 82.
What are the parameters in your tank?

I have been informed that it takes a couple of years for a male filamentosa to be viable, is this true?

I don't know for sure, but I doubt it. Most SA Dwarfs like this do not have particularly long lives. For a fish like this to not be fertile until that late in life wouldn't make sense. As I recall, mine were a little over a year when they spawns with successful fertilization.

How can I tell if these eggs are fertilized?

You probably can't, unless you have a powerful magnifying glass and can see the embryo development. If they hatch, they were fertilized. If they don't, then it could mean no fertilization by the male, immature eggs by the female, or more likely, improper environmental issues (see above).

If these two Checkerboards are breeding, then should they be placed into there own tank?

Yes. That pretty much answers the questions from the paragraph before too. It is really an accomplishment to spawn this fish. You are half way there. If you are unsuccessful with this go, then set them up in there own tank where you can manage their water requirements more easily, as well as eliminating the extreme parental responsibilty that they will face in the current tank. I would leave her in there this time though, just to see what happens. You never know with these little guys. Moving anything is just as likely to cause problems as anything else now.

How often will they breed? Should I be hatching some brine shrimp? Is there another food I should get for the babies?

Every couple of weeks. Yes, but you will need to feed them something else smaller for the first few days. Infusoria, microworms, tetramin powdered egg-layer food, etc - day 1 - 6. Then BBS - day 4 - 6.

You are on your way to becoming a Dwarf Cichlid breeder. Way to go and good luck. I am sure that we will be hear about more spawns in the near future.
Neil

p.s. Enable the Smilies in your post at the bottom of the posting box. I don't want to miss your conveyed emotions.

 

[tjudy]

Way to go! Neil is right, the difficulty is in getting the eggs to hatch.

I can answer the question about the time until females are viable. They do not take 2 years. I have been fortunate to have been somewhat sucessful with D. filamentosus, and I have spawned second generation fish at about 8 months of age and gotten viable eggs.

 

[Orchid]

Here are my water perameters

A week ago I checked the carbonate hardness of this tank and it was between 1 and 2 dKH. At the most, the pH is 6.0, the test kit I use doesn't go below 6 so the pH is probably lower. From what I have read about these little fellas, this is prime spawning parameters. I am now trying to decide if I want to set up another tank specifically for them or if I should put them in with my pygmy gouramis. Anabatids are effecient predators, so I don't know about this choice. I might just put them in the planted but fish empty 20 long I just set up for a future pair of P.t. Lobes.
If I do set up a tank for them does anyone know if they would prefer sand or gravel?

The fish get fed Sera Discus flakes and OSI Vivid Color at least once in the first half of the day and live tubifex worms after the evening news. He-he, I swear the fish are all lined up by the time Dan Rather signs off for the day. :lol:

The tank is heavily planted, but I've disconnected the diy CO2 injector for the time, have a question about that but I will post it in the plant forum.

Unfortunately, by 2 am that day, the corydoras had eaten all the eggs. :cry:

 

[Neil]

Boy the water in your tank is very good for most Dwarf Cichlids. Unfortunately, I think that you may have to decrease the hardness just a little more for the checkerboards. They are really toughies to breed successfully.
Did you see the corys eating the eggs? What were the parents doing?
Neil

 

[Orchid]

Yeah, it was those sneaky cory cats that were eating the eggs. :cry: The female checkerboard wouldn't allow the male checkerboard anywhere near the eggs. That night I watched the female chase one cory after another away. The cories were always lingering under the egg laden lower leaf. I'd notice that eggs were disappearing while she was chasing cories away and no other fish dared to come near this spot.

She is starting to plump up again! I am concerned about setting them up in a ten gallon tank with such low KH and pH needs. How do I keep the tank water stable? When I test for the KH in their current tank, the water starts to turn yellow, the end color, on the first drop of tester, I am using RO and Acid Buffer, how can I get the hardness even lower than this? I read an article about layering the bottom of a checkerboard tank with boiled beach or oak leaves for the tannins. Has anyone tried this?

I was thinking of dividing the ten gal tank down the length with a 2.5 inch tall acrylic sheet and filling the back with a substrate in which I'd like to plant short growing Amazon Swords and anubias. On the bare bottom front part I'd like to place Java fern on driftwood and some loose Java moss. That way the fish can feel secure. It would be neat to be able to breed and grow out this fish. I think it is one of the most lovely dwarf cichlids as far as colors go. I have power compacts angled into the 55 gal tank they are in, the male practically glows aqua and red with these side lights. They certainly don't look this pretty in the lfs.

By the way, Neil, what is TDS?