this is what happened.....
The last few days, the exchange stopped, both parents were carrying the mouthful. Obviously those tiny fish reached sizes, one parent simply couldn't hold them all.
however, these are fish that are rare to pose for any cam in normal circumstances. while mouthbreeding they stubbornly refused to venture out at all! They simply spat out babies in the cave; the other spouse swallowed them, and the one venturing out, had a normal face. Still no pix (= proof) of cats with extended throats....
So taking pix of mouthbreeding cats wasn't going to work; not by me and my limited picture-skills.
Since both parents were breeding now, I was getting worried it might end any day. There are 4 other Phyllonemus in there, and taking those out would require dismantling the tank....
There was the risk of babies being spat out and getting eaten; stressed parents eating their own, parents spitting for the last time while me either asleep or at work.....
So I went for the least nice option: catching the parents first and perhaps putting them in a breeder-net. However, they started to spit babies as soon as I had them!!! First caught ma, then pa.
This is the result, and they still have a wee bit of yolk too.
now hope and pray that they'll eat fresh hatched artemia-brine like the tiny Lophio's did! They're bigger than those. The fry you see is about 10-12mm or so.
Sid
btw I do NOT advocate "stripping", but this event is SO rare, that I choose to save this first batch. The next one, they're on their own for the whole duration of the spawn. It's not like Phyllonemus typus F1 are available in the cornershop.....(if available anywhere for that matter)
