Peacock Gudgeon baby questions

captmicha

captmicha

Le tired.
Dec 6, 2006
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Maryland, USA
So I have a peacock gudgeon that has eggs. When they're laid, I know the male is supposed to guard them. When they hatch, do I have to remove the parents to prevent the fry from being eaten?

Is it true that they won't eat anything except for live food? Not even frozen foods caught in the water current? If this is true, which food is right sized for them? Microworms? Or banana, Walter, vinegar eels, or baby brine shrimp? Or infusoria?

I have the gudgeons in a 2.5 quarantine tank. I realize it's small. I have two sponge filters running, as well as an air pump and lots of live plants. Is this good protection against the eggs getting fungus or should I add a fungicide when the eggs are laid?

If you can't tell, I don't have much experience with fish breeding.
 
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Update! Eggs laid. The male is doing his job and fanning them and guarding them. The female looks skinny so I put some live black worms in but so far they're ignoring all food when I watch.
 
Infusoria for a few days then microworms followed by fd Cyclopeeze. is how I did it. I can't remember specifics as to how long it took to get them onto non-living foods but it couldn't have been more than 2 weeks, and I do remember having the things coming out of my ears! They're very easy to raise considering their initial small size.
 
I guess I'll just hit them with a bunch of foods. I'm hoping it'll be hard to mess up water quality if I over do the foods b/c of the water changes.

Like I said in the other post, but not necessarily in this order: infusora, bbs, water worms, micro worms, walter worms, vinegar eels, chopped black worms, oyster eggs and cyclopeeze if I can find them, and zooplankton. And I'll mix some Hikari baby food into whatever I feed with hopes of them getting a little.

Thanks for letting me know they're some what easy to raise. It makes me a little less scared about screwing things up!
 
The changes are the key! One of the best breeders I know raises spawns of baby discus in 10 gal tanks. He feeds them 5-6 times a day, performs a 1 gal cleanup/water change after each feeding, and then at the end of the day changes 75%. I wish I had the time!
 
Yeah, seriously. I wonder where I'm going to get the time for this.
 
I have been trying to raise these fish from eggs for months with minimum success. Here is what I observed. Success in moving from eggs to fish depends on the male fanning them. If they are removed from the breeding tube too soon, they die. Instead, I move the tube with the male inside to a separate grow out tank. I let him fan until the fry emerge. Then I net him out and put him back into the species tank with the other adults. Presto, by later that day or the next day, he is at it again. The number of eggs varies. Also, the 2.5 hex I had for grow-out in was too small or ill-shaped to get him out easily, etc. So, I moved everything to a slightly larger tank (3g?). I am feeding Golden Pearls, which I make into a solution and feed using a dropper. I have only one fry of a tiny size that looks like an adult, despite multiple breedings. I have some smaller fry but rarely see them. They must hide in the java moss. I plan to use some freeze dried daphnia and pre-hatched baby brine shrimp when more fry get larger.
 
Ive been breeding these for a while now. The male will eat the eggs if you don't take them, but as posted above its all in the timing. I wait for the eggs to start developing eye spots before i pull them out, and then I put them in their own 5g to hatch. Check out this vid, this yields the biggest success rate for me. Give them a ton of java moss and greenwater along with some very small feedings of microworms and vinegar eels.

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I have sponge filters made of 1/2" pvc, so I just pull the sponge off the end, and then add an elbow and add the pvc tube with the eggs in it. Angle it so that the flow of the bubbles is moving water over top of the eggs, and if all goes well, you'll have little fishy eyelashes in a few days. Best of luck!
 
I allowed my males to incubate naturally and never had a problem with males eating the eggs or fry. I used pieces of 3/4" PVC for caves, and if you wanted to remove them you can stand them on end and run an airstone so the bubbles go up the tube. The whole point of the male fanning is to keep fungus spores from settling and to keep fresh, well oxygenated water around the eggs. An airstone will do this nicely.
 
I think I'll try letting the male do his job. Less work for me! If I notice eggs disappearing, then I'll angle the filter and the pvc so water flow goes over the eggs.

When they hatch, will the parents eat the fry?
 
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