Amblydoras spawn

[Doradid]

My Amblydoras spawn pretty regularly, pretty much after every water change. I have 2 females and 3 males. The males usually eat most of the eggs but I scooped up about a dozen of them this last time and threw them in one of those livebearer net things that hang inside the tank. Wondering if anyone knows how long it takes for the eggs to hatch?

Thanks.

[Bas Pels]

I wish I knew. That would imply I had bread them. I do hope the eggs will hatch. If not you might blame the light: I understand the net is hanging high in the tank, where the light is rather bright. Fissheggs are sometimes - depending on the species - sensitive to light.

Perhaps you can provide some shade?

[Jools]

It's good to be concerned but the light may not be a problem, I've only seen one other similar doradid spawn and it was where the

Platydoras

eggs got caught up in

Megalechis

spawning and hatched at the surface in a bubblenest. Also, I've caught 5-10mm

Amblydoras

fry in the wild in shallow water (ankle deep).


This is not a commonly documented occurrence at all so I think many would be interested in hearing (or seeing) how you get on.

Jools

[Doradid]

I see, thank you. I've had many cichlids spawn over the years but they take care of their eggs by themselves, I guess I have much to learn about these. Maybe a separate small tank I can put the eggs in.

I'd read that these might be bubblenest builders but these fish don't seem to do that. Pretty much when I do a water change the three males will all start chasing one of the obviously chunkier females. Eventually one will get next to her and kind of wrap his tail under her and "shake" This doesn't last long and eggs are dropped during this embrace. I'm assuming he is fertilizing them as she drops them. I'm not sure if the 'embrace' is what stimulates her to release the eggs. The males then eat as many as they can find easily but keep chasing her also. It seems like maybe 10 or so eggs are dropped each time she is caught and this goes on for a couple of minutes. The tank is very dimly lit and heavily planted with java fern so I may not be seeing everything going on.

I'll keep you posted on egg progress.

[Doradid]

Eggs didn't hatch. Not sure if they were fertilized. The twelve I scooped out eventually turned yellow and fungused up.

I'm open to any advice for the next batch I scoop out. I purchased an egg tumbler although I will have to figure out how it works, thoughts on that for these eggs? Meth blue? Anything? Thanks in advance.

[bekateen]

An egg tumbler is definitely worth trying. When using baskets, I've added oak leaves before to (hopefully) improve egg survival. I don't know if that'd work in a tumbler.

I hope you have success,
Eric

[Doradid]

https://youtu.be/oUpMinvKmco

Got a really short, sideways video of my Amblydoras spawning. Sorry for the crummy quality, not great with the video thing.

You can see a handful of eggs fall as the embrace ends. They spawn pretty regularly, every water change, have for about six months. They eat their own eggs immediately if I don't disturb them.

I've only tried to separate the eggs once, they didn't hatch.

[bekateen]