# Green Terror Eggs



## gatman09 (Feb 8, 2011)

So i woke up this morning to about 100 eggs at the bottom of my terror tank, i was really suprised that they breeded because my terrors are only about few months old and and about 3 inches long and i have read that they dont mature until around 6 or 7 inches?? Is there any truth to this?
Also the female is the only one protecting the eggs, i also read they both watch over the eggs and are great parents. Is this bad and or something i should worry about? 
And last question... Since i only have a 55 aquarium what are some options of getting rid if the eggs (except any options of killing them). 
Thanks for the help


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## Jonesboy75 (May 11, 2007)

I have a female that is around 4" total length that has spawned multiple times so three-inch GTs doing the same doesn't surprise me much. As for protecting the eggs, my female won't let the male anywhere near her eggs or fry so this is perhaps normal behavior for young and inexperienced mothers. It's common for young substrate-spawners to do things their own way the first few times (up to and including eating their own eggs) but they usually get much better as time goes on and both parents should eventually settle down into model caregivers. As for the 55, it really depends on their tankmates and just how aggressive the mother is. Mine also spawned in a 55. The mother takes over about half the tank but generally leaves the other fish alone, provided they stay on the other side of the tank. There's very little chance of any fry surviving in a community tank, however, as the tank's other residents will usually pick them off despite the mother's best efforts at protecting them.


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## GTWilly (Nov 17, 2010)

I have a mated pair of terrors and they began to spawn while female was 2.5in, male was about 3in (they tend to grow a little faster) The first batch was succesfully hatched and the female aggressivly gaurds the young (which i theorize ends up being the death of the fry) At her young age she seemed frantic to keep every fish away and safe gaurd her young, even from the male, not even stopping to eat. Just walking up to the tank to put in pellets freaked her out to the point where she would just back into a corner and hover above her young for hours. She would kinda walk the fry around searching for food for them. I have a bubble wall in my 55 gal and the fry ended up being carried all over the tank by the bubbles. That was the only time i saw the male helping with the care of the fry, scooping up the young, he had his little group and she had hers, until she caught him with the fry, chased him off and collected them up to reunite them with the others. After a few days of all this frantic chasing and grabbing, the hunger must have been too much (she was eating very little) I believe she ate them all, one morning i turn on the light and they were all gone (about 30-40 fry) There were about 3 unsuccessful spawns after, the female would lay her eggs inside of a small log and the male is too large to fit inside to fertilize them properly. I want to grow out green terror young and keep them, so i removed all cover, rooks, caves, logs, save for a few plants and a large flat rock to spawn on. They have successfully spawned again, and i am currently growing out the young in a seperate tank in the hopes that maturing in captivity will make them a little less skittish, and people friendly. I have tried several things to make my terror pair less skittish, including, changing ph/nitrate levels, adding cover, removing cover, covering tank, putting objects in front of the tank, light, dark. So im probably going to start over with these little guys.

Anyway, sorry to ramble, that has been my experience. If you don't know what to do, i say let nature run its course. If the eggs haven't hatched yet, chances are they are not going to. If they take on a milky white color, they were not properly fertilized and will most likely turn into food. You got nothing to worry about. If they do hatch, chances are the fry will not survive anyway with a mother this young, tank mates aside. I have a red tailed shark, two laoches and a pleco in my tank and they never got close enough to get the fry. Larger, braver fish may run the risk of getting pretty beat up. (My pleco always gets a little raggid during my green terror spawning cycle) If you decide to keep them, wait until they are about 1/2in long and free swimming (leaving the bottom to venture around) You will also see the change in parenting from the mother, who will occasionally leave them to eat or harass tank mates. I haven't got any fry to survive seprating them earlier than this. They are best removed with a syphon, be on your toes, because they are very quick, and surprisingly strong swimmers (i have to corner them with the syphon and wait until they get tired of swimming against the flow. Takes awhile and you need a few buckets.)Try to get food close to the eggs/fry to get the female nurishment. Like i said she will eat very little at this stage.

Maybe its just my female, but my male seems like he wants to help with the fry, but the female wont let him. I guess he helps by sticking close by and attacking anything in the area of the young, but like i said, in my case when the opertunity arose he cared for the young until the female returned. Scooping them up and ploping them into a central location where he hovered over gaurding them. My terrors are pretty young still. Male is about 5.5in. Female about 4.5 in. And with only a few succesful spawns, their behavior may still change.

If you have a spare tank, growing them out is an option. I have yet to find out when the adults consider them a threat/food, and my research has not come up with any solid answers on that, if you dont have another tank, and you want to keep them together i am very interested in knowing that information. Most pet stores will buy them (for not very much) if you want to sell them. But in my experience will not buy them if they cant identify them. Usually about 1.5in. most people can figure out what they are. There is always ebay or craigslist. I'll be honest i am having a great time watching my fry grow, and get there little personalities, and features of their parents, its very exciting. I vote to grow them if you can.

What other fish/tanks do you have? my terror young are doing great with my guppies, of course they are not big enough to eat them yet. Anyway, I hope this novel has been helpful. Let me know what you decide.


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## mok3t (Nov 28, 2008)

We currently have a pair of GTs at the shop roughly 1.5" long who are spawning. We sold a pair the same size a few weeks back who even had wrigglers when we sold them!

I was shocked they could spawn so small!


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