# p's breeding?



## jonscilz (Dec 2, 2004)

Been a long time since Ive posted. Ive been busy all summer with work and such but Im back at school and keeping up on my tank again. Just in time to notice some unusual behavior.

Over the past week my p's seem to have been acting way more rowdy than they usually do. From the moment I wake to when I go to bed they are swimming all over the place, chasing each other and then following each other swimming around the tank. This is usually only the behavior they show after they have eaten a big meal.

Just tonight in the past few hours two of the reds seemed to pair off. For a while I assumed they were just doing the typical square off some of the p's do when fighting over a piece of territory in the tank. But then I realized they werent actually fighting. They are hanging in the one corner of the tank next to each other following each other around and when any of the other p's come too close one will chase them away. Then they will return to the other red he/she paired off with. During this process once they seemed to settle in together, one will wiggle very fast like I have never seen. Then the other will start to go vertical with their face into the gravel stones and seem like they are digging or picking up stones in their mouth. This process has been going on for almost 5 hours now and doesnt seem to be stopping.

I always assumed p's didnt reproduce until at least 2 years roughly and at a size of at least 8+ inches. None of the p's in my tank are over 6 inches 2 of the 3 largest are the two that are acting really strange. Any ideas? Anybody care to comment on the actual breeding behavior and compare to my experience? Im definately not ready to have baby p's in my tank nor take care of them so how is this going to affect my tank community? Thanks guys!









ps I have a video of the activity I took with my digi cam but dont have to time to trim and compress it right now. Ill do so if any of you think this will help out your diagnosis.


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## jonscilz (Dec 2, 2004)

Update...

She has layed some eggs. Some=an assload. Shes not really protecting them too much but the rest of the p's seem to be staying away anyway. Her mate isnt even there with her I assume he hit it and quit it haha. Ill start reading up on what I should do to save the babies assuming they hatch. How long do I have and is there anything I should do in the meantime? Thanks!


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## mashunter18 (Jan 2, 2004)

Sounds really cool man. Alot of folks would love to have breeder reds.

For your records, the fish spinning over the eggs right now, is your male fish. The one he was shaking with him last night is a female.

For taking care of the babies if you have a 20 gallon tank around, you can syphon the eggs to it, or what about 5 days and remove the babies from the substrate into the 20 gallon, or even 10 gallon.

read up like you said, you may want to get a brine hatcher and start hatching brine on day 4 or day 5.

You said you dont want to deal with the babies, if you just leave them they will probually just turn white and die in your substrate.

you could also have someone come over with some buckets and syphon out the babies for them to take....


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## jonscilz (Dec 2, 2004)

Lots of questions and more to come...

How long will it take for the eggs to hatch? Will some hatch considerably faster than others? How long should I wait for them all to hatch?

How long after they hatch should I syphon them into a seperate tank? I have read a lot of posts and people sometimes syphon the eggs before they hatch and some wait until they are almost 0.5-1.0"

Will water from the main tank be OK for the smaller tank or should I change 25-50%?

Will a 10 gallon be suffiencient for now and if so, for how long?

Should I keep the baby tank the same temp as the main tank? Roughly 80-82 degrees?

What kind of death rate should I expect? 50% very soon after birth maybe? Up to how many of the original batch should I expect to live past the first month? How many will hatch in the first place?

How long will a 30 gallon be sufficient for the whole batch?

Do any of you know of any pet stores that buy fry from private breeders? and if so how much is a good going rate and size? I talked to the Shark Aquarium and he said roughly $1-1.50 a piece at 0.5-1.0" and about the same price at Ocean Aquarium in Pleasantville, NJ.

Im sure Ill think of more in the next few hours. Until then Ill start setting up my baby tank!

Thanks guys!!!


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## jonscilz (Dec 2, 2004)

bump


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## mashunter18 (Jan 2, 2004)

Your really gonna need to read and learn some tricks on your own, lots of folks do things differently.

lots of people take the eggs out immediately, I would reccomend since its your first time leave the eggs in for about 5 days.they dont really hatch, but grow out of the egg, first the tail, eyes develop etc.. should be 5-7 days they will start swimming freely.

use parent tank water, and that temp is good. 10 gallon is good for a wile, you can grow a full batch out in a 30 galon no problem, 10 is probually better to start with...

probually be 6 weeks before you can sell them, I wouldnt even try marketing them untill atleast 5 weeks old...


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## Piranhaz 411 (Oct 8, 2005)

whatcha gonna do with the eggz


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## jonscilz (Dec 2, 2004)

Dunno yet... im still waiting on them to start "hatching"... not like ill have many. My p's have been picking at the eggs for some reason and the male hasnt been defending them except for just floating over them most of the day. Id say maybe 1/5 of them are still left, maybe less. When I first caught them picking at the eggs I fed them but after another day they started picking at them again when I wasnt around and I came back tonight to not many left. Some of them are turning dark and some of them you can slightly see the embryo starting to grow as a little white spot on the tops of the eggs. Hopefully I will see something promising in the next day or so. Ill update as they come...


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## jiggy (Jun 27, 2004)

ill take some dime sized p's if ur ever gonna drop any off to george or pedro.. i live 5 minutes away from both..


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## Piranha King (Nov 28, 2002)

mine would get pushed in the gravel where you couldn't see them and then would hatch. you'll proabbaly find alot when you syphon the gravel. after 2 days my nest would actually disappear completely into the gravel.
wes


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