jewel update

[gonefishin]

Just wanted to update the forum on my progress. For those of you who don't know, I have 2 jewels that have paired up and I've been waiting to see if they will spawn(this wasn't my intention when they were purchased).

tuesday morning we noticed eggs in the middle of the tank (out in the open). Mom and dad both took turns watching the eggs and didn't let anyone near them. Come wednesday afternoon we noticed her eating the eggs and they were gone by fri. morning. I've noticed from this site this is common for new families and it may take them a few tries to get it right, so I'm not too discouraged. I'll let everyone know as the situation progresses.

 

[snakeskinner]

I think this is fairly common among any new pairs. Ours did the same thing and they've had 2 broods in the last month or so. I've got a 10 gallon with about 50-75 1/2" jewels growing out and they have a new brood of about 200 1/4" fry in their 29 right now. I'm suprised you have 3 jewels in the same tank, does one stay hidden all the time or what? It took me 3 males to finally get one to survive the wrath of the female. She shredded the other two within an hour each time we introduced them. She didn't attack the 3rd one but would chase it so we moved the female to a 10 for a few weeks and let the male get established and reintroduced the male and we had eggs within 2 days. they all disappeared 2 days later and then we noticed them guarding something in their strawberry pot the next week and a few days later there were wigglers all along the bottom inside the pot so I shut off the HOB and just left an air filter going while the fry grew. This time I'm leaving the penguin run to see if the fry can avoid the filter. so far, so good, they all look like they are strong enough to stay away from the intake. It's more of a test because I'm not too worried about losing any. It's gonna be a chore to get rid of all these jewels anyway. Kyle

 

[gonefishin]

The 2 males were bought together after the female was in the tank for a few weeks. when the eggs were in the tank he was in hidding but usually the 3 of them hang out like a pack of wolves, helping eachother in hunting and the like. the omega male will catch a goldie by the tail and hold it so the other 2 can eat the eyes/guts, then he'd take what was left. I've seen the 2 males lock jaws and "wrestle" to assert dominance, but they never actually try to kill eachother. And the female just sits and says "oh look at me I've got 2 good lookin' guys fighting over me!!".