3M 3F. This wasnt intended. I wanted 2M 4F but one of the females sort of transformed into a male as she matured. Ideally, Id like to remove one male to eliminate some competition. One male has definitely emerged as dominant. However, I've had all 3 breed at the same time.
I thought maybe someone might be interested in my peacock gudgeons breeding in this tank.
I've had about 40 hatch. Of those, Id say 20 don't look like they're going to make it already. They're just sort of laying around the bottom of the tank. The other 20 or so are sort of "bouncing" around the tank but still have small yolk sacks so I dont expect them to be free swimming until tomorrow. There are maybe 5 darting in and out of the java moss I have in this fry tank. I've been feeding them infusoria, and I have a batch of walter worms ready for them to take after all the fry are free swimming. I'll also introduce a couple snails at that point to eat leftovers.
Photos: Sorry my camera is just a point and shoot. The first pic is fertilized eggs inside of PVC. You'll notice that the female lays them partially upsidedown. Interesting. The second pic is newborn fry making their way out of the PVC. The internal diameter of that PVC pipe is 3/4 of an inch, so that gives you an idea of how small these fish are.
Just a heads up about that gender ratio. One of the males was murdered shortly after you asked the question. So current gender ratio is 2M 3F, and everyone seems much happier in the tank. Im sure that more males could be kept in a larger tank of course.
Bonne - Thank you I love planted tanks. Its as close to reefkeeping as you can get in freshwater, in my opinion.
I was planning on buying an Eheim 2213. It's pretty much perfect for a 10 gallon. However, I found a deal on a Fluval 305, so I ordered that. Its WAY overkill for a 10 gallon, but I plan on upgrading to a larger tank, so Id move that filter on to the bigger tank.
Well, I've fallen completely in love with my baby peacock gudgeons. They're in a 5 gallon eclipse hex tank (I used to have an old journal about that tank if anyone remembers) with java moss and some random plant cuttings. I'm feeding them walter worms 3 times a day. The worms smell absolutely horrible. Rotting baby cereal is a true horror.
It was tough getting pics with my camera, but here ya go. They look a lot like most baby fish. However, I can already see them starting to change shape and become more "gudgeon-like". I'm counting over 20 of them. They hover around like fruit flies, so they're not easy to count. There are 3 that are malformed and so of just bounce around the bottom. I should probably cull them, as they're heart-wrenching to watch. They're all about a quarter inch long and one week old at this point. I believe that by next week I should be able to start varying their diet with something other than the walter worms (they won't touch powder fry food... i tried).
And finally, my mess of a 10 gallon, which now houses 2 male and 3 female peacocks. Those 5 are left from the 8 I originally purchased. 1 female died by jumping into the HOB filter. And 2 males were murdered by the 2 dominant males left. I've been feeding these guys by hand, and they nip at my fingers whenever I go into the tank. Like the endlers I had before them, I could probably just scoop the gudgeons out by hand if I wanted to, they're so tame. Since they're so accustomed to being fed by me, they started taking dry food pellets. The males spit them out, but the females eat the pellets voraciously. Other than that, their diet consists of frozen bloodworms and frozen brine shrimp.