Reply With QuoteBreeding Mimagoniatus inequalis
The tank set up was as for most smaller characins,24x8x8 inches.small corner filter,wool/peat stratum.rest of tank clear except for a handful of Javamoss in center,temperature started at 78ish p/h about 6.5.Female added at night,next morning the male.The pair was as follows...female drab steel grey with a hint of blue on sides and all paired fins equal,no apparent breeding bulge of either eggs or vulva sac.The male was about 2inches,female just less,he was a dark steel grey down the flanks and steel blue colour through a stripe down the lateral line.The caudal peduncle was rough looking as it contained the caudal gland[a gland/opening]the top lobe of the tail was normal but the bottom lobe was extended to form almost a square and this was coloured grey with yellowish marks but dull.Feeding with brine shrimp, they started to breed after 4 days with heater now at about 80ish.The morning of breeding I had sprayed the tank with cold water and this prompted the pair to fly around the tank at about 100 mph,settling over the moss they danced nose to tail so fast I could hardly follow it,eagerly awaiting the eggs,I waited and waited,the male retired to the far corner of the tank,the female just hovering over the moss,just when I was considering taking them out to recondition them the female darted over to male who was half lying on the floor with fins outstretched to bursting,the female was prodding him? along the lateral line then darting back to the moss and she danced around and I spotted 2 or 3 eggs dropping,she made no attempt to eat them,merely went through this routine until about 30 or so eggs were laid,when they were finished i took them out,the eggs were minute and hatched in about 24hours,24 hours later they were hanging on the sides of the tank from the gland on the head which stuck them to the glass.Growth was slow,banana cultures with other cultures were fed,then,at last, shrimp nauplii.I showed them at a breeding show at Oldham AS[this was the finest breeding show in UK]they won the class and section.I meant to say at the beginning that they were recorded with FNAS and my own society Skelmersdale AS.So,if you try them dont be surprised that the sexes are seemingly not doing the business.The question is how did they fertilise the eggs?did the female take in the milt and then spray the eggs,did she swallow the milt and internal fertilisation took place somehow.I lost the female so couldnt go through it again.Jimlen
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