# Paretroplus menarambo spawning



## notho2000 (Dec 8, 2012)

I was greeted by a beautiful sight this evening ... Pinstripe damba spawning. A couple of firsts here: first spawn for this pair and first menarambo spawn in this 180G Madagascar tank. The others took place in a 90G. This species is very acrobatic when going through the motions and are not confounded by unusual surface orientations. In this photo, they are in the final stages of egg laying. It looks as if there are over 400 eggs, a large spawn from large fish. They have been at it for about 3 hours now and they're running out of room on the driftwood. They might just move over to the nearby rock. Actually, it looked as if the rock was going to be their choice, since they spent some time cleaning it. Well, after putting a few eggs down on the rock, the female made a switch and moved to the driftwood, which gave me a perfect view of the proceedings. I took about 10 minutes of video and some stills. Here are three shots.


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## notho2000 (Dec 8, 2012)

Here are another couple of pics.


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## notho2000 (Dec 8, 2012)

This is the largest spawn yet, well upwards of 400 eggs. They are being attended to by the parents for third day now, and no sign of them lessening their vigilance. This genus has a reputation for being poor parents (easily distracted, leave the spawn alone, eggs get eaten), but I don't entirely agree with that based upon my experiences with the dambas. This pair in particular has been stellar in its attentiveness and care, in fact as reliable as a pair of typical CA cichlids. Now how am I going to get the eggs out? I have a plan. Still pictures just don't capture the beauty and grace of this species' spawning act so here is a brief video of the event.


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## notho2000 (Dec 8, 2012)

The newly formed pair of Pinstripe Dambas laid their eggs on a large piece of driftwood ... wouldn't you know it. What better way to prevent the fish keeper (i.e. me) from making an easy getaway with their spawn. Prior spawns from another pair were put onto rocks, the outside of a flowerpot, and onto a bunch of pebbles on the bottom of the tank. The rocks and flowerpot were easy, the pebbles, not so much. I had to reach in and lift out about 10 smallish stones to get most of the eggs out. And the parents were nipping at me every time I went in. Yes, they do draw blood with those two "buck teeth". This time, I wasn't prepared to save the spawn. My wife and I plan to be away for a good part of the summer (I use the term summer, loosely this year) and I didn't want to leave a bunch of young fish for my son to look after. They can be 'tricky' to manage at times. Well I changed my mind. Menarambo don't spawn very often, and when they do, it's a big deal (at least for me). So I decided to pull the eggs. The pair had been doing a great job parenting for the last four days. This is the longest that I've left a spawn with the parents and not had it "disappear". 


With the size of the driftwood being what it was, I decided to set up a 25G tank (24"x18"x12")to accommodate the driftwood on the floor right behind the parent's tank. This way, I could use a combination of water from the tank (an easy siphon) and tap water (60-40 split). When I tried to remove the driftwood / eggs from the 180G, it dawned on me that I may have put it in the tank (about 6 years ago), with the top tank not on the stand. After about 2 minutes of turning the piece of wood every which way, I finally got it by the upper edge of the 180G (I felt I had just solved a Rubics Cube) and into the 25G. The parents took it in stride, looking woefully at the spot where their eggs had been. I expected them to squabble over the missing eggs, but instead they searched the bottom for any sign of their "babies-to-be", continued to chase away potential threats, and still had time to do a wonderful courting dance around one another, like saying to one another "let's forgive and forget" or "we'll do better next time". Now there are classy fish!

 
One more thing I got very lucky with. With the eggs secure in their hatching tank (at least that's the expectation), I took a couple of pictures and was ready to turn out the lights when I noticed a movement in the 25G. A large male Bristlenose Pleco had hitched a ride on the wood (actually he lived under it so I'm sure he thought he had every right to be there). If I hadn't noticed him, the eggs wouldn't have lasted the night ... yum-m-m. So I figure this spawn is destined to survive


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