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A call to the Aulonocara Doctor

Sonny Disposition

Active Member
OK. So my female Ruby Red (maybe German Red) Aulonocara is holding. I figured I needed to get her out of the tank with the other fish, so I can save her fry. So I took all the bricks, pvc pipes and broken flowerpots out of the tank and drained it about halfway down. After netting her, I put her in a bucket filled with old tank water, before filling the tank back up again.

So after I filled the tank back up, I hung one of those plastic V-trap breeder boxes on the side, and put her in it. She thrashed around a little, and then I saw all the eggs slide down the v and through the slot. Each egg was a little orange sphere with a tiny head and tail sticking out of it.

The yellow lab and maingano females never spit out their eggs when I moved them to a holding tank. I didn't have the slightest idea of what to do. So I called Richard Mendez, aka Submariner aka the Aulonocara Doctor.

"Bob, just take the V out and she'll pick the eggs back up."

So I followed Richard's advice, and that's just what she did.

There was some detritus in the holding bucket I had kept her in before I filled the tank back up, and I didn't want to pour it down the drain. I poured the bucket water through an aquarium net. In addition to plant scraps and snail shells, there were also 4 or 5 aulonocara eggs that she must have spit out when I put her into the bucket.

Then I emptied the net into the holding trap, and she picked those up too.

Those were really large eggs. Centrarchid eggs are much smaller. In fact, you (maybe not you, but definitely me) need a magnifying glass to see the wrigglers. Since Aulonocaras brood their eggs, I guess they don't need to have so many of them, and can allocate more resources to each egg. Since the fry are larger when they come out of their mothers' mouth than just hatched baby sunnies are, their survivability is higher, and there doesn't need to be quite so many of them. I'd guesstimate she was holding 20-30 eggs. Centrarchid spawns typically consist of hundreds of eggs.
 

maddog10

Members
They do not always pick them back up, but most of the time things work out ok. If she had not picked them up, you could have put them in an egg tumbler. Most of them also hold the fry for quite a long time, until the fry finally say 'I am outta here'
 

Pat Kelly

CCA Member
Staff member
Good job Sonny. Have had that a few times with the ruby reds.

I always have problems with my Albino Eurekas.
The females usually spit as soon as the net gets near the surface. I usually have to put them in a cup while still in the original tank and then move them.

Other fish will hold the fry no matter what. Or at least until they start to run out of O2.
 

Sonny Disposition

Active Member
I guess I'll have to find some egg tumblers, to have on hand for an emergency.

They do not always pick them back up, but most of the time things work out ok. If she had not picked them up, you could have put them in an egg tumbler. Most of them also hold the fry for quite a long time, until the fry finally say 'I am outta here'
 

Charlutz

Members
I built an egg tumbler for about 10 bucks worth of materials at Home Depot. Just took some albino bristle noses out of it. I took the design from a post on another forum. I'll send you a link, Bob.
 
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