Lady Hobbs
05-29-2008, 01:05 PM
As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, I have a gazillion baby firemouths. They were in a 55 gallon with parents and another mated pair.
They were getting very close to the other pair I have in the tank so I thought I should try to move them into their own tank to keep them safe. I moved what seemed like hundreds of them then moved the parents in with them. (Don't know why.) About an hour later, I check and realize I had moved the wrong daddy in with them! Not only were all the babies not eaten and are just fine, the babies in the 55 gallon that I couldn't catch were swimming around the other female in the tank, also fine.
You'd think a mix-up with parents would eat them in a heartbeat but it didn't happen. All just become surrogates to these babies.
The two males I have are identical in size and coloring. My two females are totally different in size and temperament. One is very small (mama) and the other is my largest firemouth. Trying to determine females by size sure doesn't work. Who would have thought such a tiny firemouth could lay so many eggs and not be fat as a hog. I didn't even realize she was about to spawn.
I see another spawn and I will be destroying the eggs! There is no where for me to get rid of all these babies and waiting until they are free swimming and cute as heck makes it much harder to get rid of them! Firemouths sell for $6 in the store so who in their right mind would pay shipping charges for them? No one! I must have 100 in the 55 yet that I have not been able to catch.
Having fry is not all it's cracked up to be and the pits when there is no where to get rid of them!
They were getting very close to the other pair I have in the tank so I thought I should try to move them into their own tank to keep them safe. I moved what seemed like hundreds of them then moved the parents in with them. (Don't know why.) About an hour later, I check and realize I had moved the wrong daddy in with them! Not only were all the babies not eaten and are just fine, the babies in the 55 gallon that I couldn't catch were swimming around the other female in the tank, also fine.
You'd think a mix-up with parents would eat them in a heartbeat but it didn't happen. All just become surrogates to these babies.
The two males I have are identical in size and coloring. My two females are totally different in size and temperament. One is very small (mama) and the other is my largest firemouth. Trying to determine females by size sure doesn't work. Who would have thought such a tiny firemouth could lay so many eggs and not be fat as a hog. I didn't even realize she was about to spawn.
I see another spawn and I will be destroying the eggs! There is no where for me to get rid of all these babies and waiting until they are free swimming and cute as heck makes it much harder to get rid of them! Firemouths sell for $6 in the store so who in their right mind would pay shipping charges for them? No one! I must have 100 in the 55 yet that I have not been able to catch.
Having fry is not all it's cracked up to be and the pits when there is no where to get rid of them!