# Smith and Wesson Spawned



## Splash55 (Jan 24, 2008)

So Smith is the male and Wesson is a female. They have spawned and all has been documented.
What was hanging from Wesson in pics that I previously posted was debris from the egg tube. I took it to the Research Center here in Leth along with pictures that I previously posted here. It took three days for her tube to come completely unblock. During this time her and Smith both scraped a piece of slate on the bottom of the tank completely clean. The two africans I had in the tank with them were removed. The male continued to eat but the female quit eating just before she spawned. The ritual went on for about 48 hours. The female has removed some of the eggs. I am assuming they were the unfertized ones. Both parents are taking turns fanning over the eggs. The male became very aggressive towards my camera even though he is used to me taking pictures. Here are some pics will post more later.


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## Blu-ray (Apr 28, 2008)

Hey congrats on the spawn!
watching them taking care of their babies is really amazing. have a nice time!
usually in the 3th day they will move wigglers to another place, they dig gravels to make a hole for them.

my male was smashing into the glass or jumping to the lid when I was going to watch them or feed the fry, so be careful.


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## renegade545 (Jul 4, 2008)

Congrats on the spawn and good luck rearing the fry.


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## Splash55 (Jan 24, 2008)

Thanks for the information! I knew it takes 3 days for them to go to wiggler stage but I didn't know that they would be moved to gravel. Do you think the egg crate under the gravel is going to interfere with that. They have already cleared their spot.


> my male was smashing into the glass or jumping to the lid when I was going to watch them or feed the fry, so be careful.
> _________________


Yep the male expecially has become very aggressive towards me and he definately does not like my camera. What do you feed the fry. I feed my African fry cfushed NLS 1mm sinking pellets. They seem to do well on it. My cichlid moms chew the pellets and spit towards the fry also.


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## oscarlover43055 (Jun 7, 2008)

WOW, What size tank are they in again? They are beautiful I bet they have some broots. I had some fry once, that sadly became food for my natives because I didn't know what to do with them ..


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## Blu-ray (Apr 28, 2008)

Splash55 said:


> Thanks for the information! I knew it takes 3 days for them to go to wiggler stage but I didn't know that they would be moved to gravel. Do you think the egg crate under the gravel is going to interfere with that. They have already cleared their spot.
> 
> 
> > my male was smashing into the glass or jumping to the lid when I was going to watch them or feed the fry, so be careful.
> ...


no problem with the egg crate. I had under gravel filter in my tank, and when the parents moved the fry to a hole they all dropped under the filter's plate ( I turn it off ), after 3-4 days that they started free swimming they all came out of there.

IME there are some problems when you keep the fry with parents, first you can't do gravel vacuum, at least my male wouldn't allow me to do that. this is a time that you need a lot of water changes because of the large number of fry and thus tons of debris ( specially if you want to keep them there for more than 2-3 weeks )
second you will probably have problems feeding the fry, again parents don't want you to interfere their job. 
when my male is with babies, if he see me coming from a 10ft distance he starts smashing and jumping to the glass! it caused a big bump on his chin.
I had to hang some newspapers in front of the tank so he couldn't see the outside.

I feed the fry with newly hatched brine shrimps for at least 3 weeks and 3 to 5 times a day. its very nutritious, won't ruin the water, spreads in all the water so all babies can get some.
I know someones have success with crushed fish foods but I prefer live brine shrimp. I think there are some brine shrimp hatcheries in the stores. I use DIY ones.

I remembered another thing, you must cover your filter intakes, otherwise it will suck the fry.


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## Splash55 (Jan 24, 2008)

Thanks for reminding me about the intake filter. I do have frozen brine shrimp on hand. I feed my african fry 4 to 5 times a day is that about the same for oscar fry?


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## bulldogg7 (Mar 3, 2003)

The frozen brine shrimp around here are adults, a bit bigger. The newly hatched ones are supposed to be more nutritious. It's not hard to hatch them, cyclopeeze may work also, they come freeze dried. And there's also an oscar fry food by HBH at least I think they're the ones that make it.


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## Splash55 (Jan 24, 2008)

Thanks bulldog. You are right about my brine shrimp it is the bigger variety. I think once they are done with their egg sac I will remove them to a grow out tank. The male has already been trying to strike at me thru the glass. I don't want him injuring himself. Thanks for all your help everyone. Splash


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## bulldogg7 (Mar 3, 2003)

I was wrong about the HBH, it's a juvie growth footh. not sure one the size of it. Sorry, I was thinking it was fry food, you could crush it.


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## Big Vine (Feb 26, 2007)

Congrats on the spawn! :thumb: 
BV


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## Splash55 (Jan 24, 2008)

Thnkyou! Wesson died last nite. She had no visual marks on her. An autopsy was performed. Everything looked normal inside except for what appeared to be a sac of eggs was still inside of her. She has not ate for at least three days which was normal for her. All the eggs were gone off the slate this am also. Not sure if the male moved them or what happened. I will leave things be for awhile just in case there are wigglers in there somewhere but I doubt it.


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## Blu-ray (Apr 28, 2008)

ahhhh poor wesson was just happily dancing on her eggs ...  very strange ... but at least she was happy in last days  
so sorry to hear about it.


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## FishJunki (Jul 20, 2008)

Did you get these guys at a Calgary petland? they look like my old oscar's...


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## Big Vine (Feb 26, 2007)

Oh no! So sorry to hear about Wesson's passing.  
BV


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## Splash55 (Jan 24, 2008)

Thanks for the condolances. No I didn't get them from petlandI was looking after them for a friend in Ca;garu.
Smith went back up to Calgary to live with her. He will need a bigger tank where he can live with some other fish.


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