# Need Advice on EBJD eggs



## becikeja (Oct 14, 2007)

Back in November I was fortunate enough to come across a BGJD female to mate with my EBJD Male. I Crossed my fingers and sure enough eggs were laid. They lasted about 3 days and then disappeared. I assume they became food. In the 125G tank I have a chocolate cichlid, a red tail shark, 5 silver dollars, a small cat fish and 2 small plecos.

Yesterday I noticed the Dempseys clearing a place in the rock, just like they did when they had their eggs the first time. I assume they are preparing to lay another batch. The tank has several fake bushes, rocks, caves etc... for all the fish to easily hide. It would be next to impossible to separate the fish with a divider, and catching them to move them to another tank would be a nightmare.

So here is my thought. Build a cage 6"X6"X6" out of egg crate, and place that cage over the eggs. This would keep all fish away from the eggs. Then when the fry hatch they can escape into the bush and then nature would just have to take it's course. My concern is that this would isolate the parents from the eggs.

Would this be a good idea? a bad idea? any other suggestions?

Your help is most appreciated


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## auratum (Jul 6, 2006)

Your best bet is to let the parent care for the fry. From my understanding it is pretty common for JD's to mess it up a couple times before they get it right, but after a few tries they will care very well for the fry. My suggestion is to let nature take its course or pull the rock the eggs are on and hatch them in another tank.

Good luck with these!


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## becikeja (Oct 14, 2007)

I did think about trying to remove the eggs. I placed a flat rock in hopes that is where they would lay the eggs. Thye didn't the first time, instead choosing to dig all the way down to the bottom and lay them directly on the plastic grate I have between the glass and the gravel.


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## becikeja (Oct 14, 2007)

She finally layed the eggs. SHe placed them directly on the flat rock as I hgad hoped. Now here are my 3 choices.
1) Leave everything alone and cross my fingers
2) Place a cage around the rocks to keep all the fish away
3) Remove the rock with the eggs and place in another tank (this one sounds risky to me)

Please advise, I really have no clue what I am doing here. But Isure don't want to loos allthe eggs again.


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## Leviathan64 (Sep 23, 2007)

Leave everything as is for now. You could add a divider ( egg crate) .

Plan for future spawns.
Move fish around to accommodate the pair or get more tanks to dedicate a tank for the pair and future fry.


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## becikeja (Oct 14, 2007)

She aggressively guarded the eggs for a couple of days. Then she located them, and then they vanished. No sign of wigglers, eggs, nothing. Everything is back to normal.

Oh well, need a new strategy for next time.


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## Jake Levi (Mar 2, 2009)

what Leviathan said.

You are placing a big handicap on the pair.

Do you want a community tank, or raise the fry?

Your choice.


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## becikeja (Oct 14, 2007)

Since my last post she has layed eggs again, and again after about 3-4 days they vanished. So I added a divider in the tank and seperated the EBJD-male and the BGJD-female from the rest. about 3 days ago she layed eggs. the male and the female have hovered over the eggs ever since. The eggs were a brownish-tan color. Just now I noticed about half the eggs have turned white. What does that mean? what should I do if anything?


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## sjwrx (Apr 15, 2009)

The eggs turning white would mean that they arent getting fertilized by the male.


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## becikeja (Oct 14, 2007)

That is what I was afraid of. I was just hoping it was something else.


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## sjwrx (Apr 15, 2009)

Since they arent Getting fertilized by the male you can just let them do their thing and hope they get it right eventually or you can try and artificially raise the eggs yourself. I have never tried that so im unable to help. Maybe someone with more experience can help ya out.


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## Cedric&amp;Candy (May 19, 2009)

What age/size are the parents? Have all the eggs gone white or only some of them? Are the parents still guarding them or have they given up?

Generally JD's will have the eggs on their chosen surface for 3-4 days and then they acually pick them off and re-locate them to a hollow in the substrate. Sometimes it is not possible to see where they have moved the eggs to; and it may take a few days or a week or so before you see them with some wrigglers.

I definately would not move the eggs from the parents as the JD's are great parents. They fan water over the eggs and I doubt it'd be possible for you to do that for 24hrs a day!

Can your plecos go thru the divider? Plecos are the worst egg munchers around...and they'll sneak around at night and eat the eggs/wrigglers when no one notices...

Also: I have found that even if their spawning is succesful but only produces a small number of fertile eggs, the JD's will eat them. Its almost as if it is not worth their effort to care for a small batch of babies so they eat them and get on with having another go at producing more.


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## becikeja (Oct 14, 2007)

It's been over a week, most of the eggs turned white. I left the divider in place in case she moved the good eggs, but so far no signs of wigglers, eggs or anything. The only thing getting through the divider are a couple of small zebra danios, but they stay at the very top.

The EBJD male is about 18 months and the BGJD female is around 12 months old. Do you think they will get this right, or do you think the male may be sterile? Who knows? I guess they will keep trying. I plan to keep them separated for one more attempt. If no eggs hatch this round, Iâ€™m going to remove the divider, and let the tank go back to normal.

Thanks for all the input.


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## becikeja (Oct 14, 2007)

Looks like I spoke too soon, I just noticed them today. I can't count them because they are wedged under a rock within a bunch of plants. But there are definately a couple of dozen wigglers. I guess the divider did the trick.


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## gage (Feb 7, 2007)

it can be common for not all of them to be fertilized, so there is a good chance that most were and the ones that werent were eaten.


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## becikeja (Oct 14, 2007)

Very intersting to watch. The wigglers would swim toward the divider, and right before they would get there the mother would put them in her mouth and move them back to the other end of the tank. At least she did this for a couple of days. I have noticed all my other Fish now constantly sare at the divider, and there are no more wigglers. My guess is they began to swim through and were eaten. We will try again.


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