dojo/weather loach spawning

jenratico

Jen
Apr 8, 2008
176
0
0
Denver, CO
Last night I introduced my sister's dojo loach into my 55g. I have two dojo loaches and since I will be upgrading to a 100 within the year and her dojo was all alone in a 20g we figured it would be better off with my group. Anyway, this morning my dojo's are swimming one on each side of her so tightly they are almost glued on! At first I thought they were just being bullies, but then I noticed one comepletely circle her tail, wrapping himself around her. I believe spawning is occurring, though I haven't seen any eggs. The tank is heavily planted and very healthy and my rosy barbs have been spawning for the last two days as well. Has anyone ever seen the dojo's spawn before? I did some checking and based on what I've read about the shape of the pectoral fins, the new loach is a female (round fin) and mine are males (pointy fin). Pretty neat to watch but I feel sorry for her - she looks pretty harassed.
 
I just saw some eggs! They are smaller than I thought they would be. I hope some are hidden away enough to escape being eaten and hatch!
 
Cool! Good for you. Maybe add a few more females to take some of the heat off of the poor little lady! LOL
 
do they need sand to burrow into? get some pics or a vid!
 
Update:
So the spawning went on all day yesterday and the gold female looks a little bruised where the males wrapped around her but is otherwise none the worse for wear. I saw her spew eggs several times and think it unlikely that any eggs made it past the feeding frenzy that ensued amongst the rosy barbs. It was a really cool day of activity and I'm glad that "Slim Shady" is peaceful and settled today. Frantically spawning didn't seem like the best way to settle into a new tank and I was worried about the stress of it for her. I look forward to watching her just settle in now and join into some of the notorious dojo loach silly, gregarious behavior. I do so love to watch these fish!
 
Wow! I've seen mine trying to spawn a few times, but nothing ever came of it. I hope some of those eggs made it.
 
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