I have a 55gal planted brackish. Salinity ~ 1.004. The temperature is at 78F. My ph is at 8.0, with 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 0 nitrates. I have 4 mollies (2 male 2 female), 2 knight gobies (male & female?), 2 mudskippers (both male), and 2 breeding orange chromides. There is spagnum moss on the driftwood at the top (for the mudskippers. they luv it!). I have Anubias and various aponogeton bulbs in the bottom. I have red and grey slate set up on the bottom at different levels to form caves. A couple pieces are just leaning against the glass in the corners. Well, my chromides spawned probably about 300 eggs on this piece of slate. They've been taking care of them for about 3 days now. The only information I can find, just tells how many eggs, incubation time, and that the parents take care of them. Anything you guys could contribute to help, would be wonderful!
Orange Chromides have eggs
- Thread starter Theresa
- Start date
Your setup sounds great. It has been too long since I bred these fish, I can't remember what I used as first food,but the info on that should be available on the web somewhere, if not shortly by some member here. The java moss is a good reservoir/refuge for fry and the infuosia it tends to house. Watch the fry cloud closely - they graze on the parent's slime coat as do baby discus, but not quite as much. Very nice! Good luck with the spawn.
Thanks! Glad to hear that everything is going good. I had hoped so. My first aquarium came on my birthday when I was in sixth grade. Ironically, it is the same 55 that is in my previous post. I had 6 feeder goldfish. About a month later, I bought another. I had them all for 7 years. Then I sold them to the LFS. I've had tropicals for awhile now. My columbian shark was the spark that got me started on brackish. I got her about 4 months ago when she was about 1.5-2 inches. She is now a robust 6 inches. She is really sweet tempered too. I don't have her in the tank yet. I want to up grade to around 135gal or more. Anyway, 'nuf about me. Thank you for your response!
As far as first foods go I can suggest a good source and an awesome food. Where you can get it is http://www.kensfish.com They carry a product called Golden Pearls. It was developed to mimic baby brine shrimp and suspends fairly well in the water collumn, on top of it, the food you get is tiny. You can get stuff that is 100-200 microns, tiny stuff, smallest of fry can eat it. Next step up is 200-300 microns, and the last is 300-500 microns. Its high in protein. My baby endler's love the stuff, any other fry that I have had since I got this stuff has eaten it and they grow quickly. Its also not really that expensive, and a little bit goes a long way. Here's a link to the page the food is on.....http://kensfish.com/kensspecialtyfood.html
Congrats on the spawn to by the way!
Congrats on the spawn to by the way!
I just ordered 6 orange chromides from someone on aquabid.com, and I asked for 3 males/females. I hope to raise fry.
Is it possible to end up with the wild-type morph when breeding the orange? I would love some of them and I've never seen then offered.
Sorry to hijak the thread. . .
Is it possible to end up with the wild-type morph when breeding the orange? I would love some of them and I've never seen then offered.
Sorry to hijak the thread. . .
Thank you very much. I have never heard of those 'golden pearls'. definately something I will try. I think the fry have hatched, but I'm not sure if they did or if maybe the parents got stressed and ate them. I read that they dig a pit, and when the fry hatch, they move them to the pit for a few days until free swimming. well, the female has a pretty deep pit that she pays alot of attention to. my fingers are crossed. 
Brackishdude - I don't have that much experience with breeding chromides, as you can tell by my thread. but I do know a little about genetics. it is possible with pretty much anything to get a 'throwback'. that is just a 'freak' that pops up out of nowhere every now and then. sometimes that 'freak' will be the wild form, or some coloring or fin form, whether desirable or not. some genes are pretty set and you would have to introduce the wild blood to trigger it. that is about all I can contribute. I'm sure there are other members here that know more than I. good luck!
My chromide pair has had several batches of eggs/fry. It took them about 5 times before they got it right and the batch was raised to juvenile stage. In order for this to happen, I had to help them a little. I had to leave one of the lights on 24 hours a day so that the parents could always keep an eye on the little ones. I have lots of gobies in the tank they are in that would love to snack on little babies in the dark night. Evil wee beasties! 
Then, one day, dad decided to beat the crap out of mom and I had to separate them for awhile with a divider. Didn't matter, they just laid and fertilized the eggs on the darn divider! They are back together now and laying all the time. However, nothing's come to fruition yet. They lay the eggs, the eggs hatch and the mom and dad run off for another honeymoon with no babysitter. -Sigh- The gobies enjoy it, I'm sure.
Then, one day, dad decided to beat the crap out of mom and I had to separate them for awhile with a divider. Didn't matter, they just laid and fertilized the eggs on the darn divider! They are back together now and laying all the time. However, nothing's come to fruition yet. They lay the eggs, the eggs hatch and the mom and dad run off for another honeymoon with no babysitter. -Sigh- The gobies enjoy it, I'm sure.
Nippy said:My chromide pair has had several batches of eggs/fry. It took them about 5 times before they got it right and the batch was raised to juvenile stage. In order for this to happen, I had to help them a little. I had to leave one of the lights on 24 hours a day so that the parents could always keep an eye on the little ones. I have lots of gobies in the tank they are in that would love to snack on little babies in the dark night. Evil wee beasties!
Then, one day, dad decided to beat the crap out of mom and I had to separate them for awhile with a divider. Didn't matter, they just laid and fertilized the eggs on the darn divider! They are back together now and laying all the time. However, nothing's come to fruition yet. They lay the eggs, the eggs hatch and the mom and dad run off for another honeymoon with no babysitter. -Sigh- The gobies enjoy it, I'm sure.
It's been a few days now. As the days went on, the less they were the 'attentive' parents they were. I think I have the same problem you did, Nippy. So, ultimately, the mollies ran amuck in that corner. well, I will just keep trying.