Eggs hatched yesterday night in the AM. Lucky with the timing again. I knew it was time for the eggs to hatch judging by colour. No yellow/orange of yolk. All black is the right time. Backbreaking work saving the fry... had to crouch at the tank and tickle the eggs so the fry hatch about 4-5 at a time. All fry individually caught from my community tank. If the fry doesn't come out, tickling them and calling out "WAKE UP!!! WAKE UP!!!" seems to work
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In mimicking the male's action to help hatching, I tickled and fanned the eggs with my finger and the fry pops up and swims wildly looking for a vertical surface to attach to. Fry at this stage already have colour morphing ability. They immediately assumes the same colour(in tone) as the surface it's attached to. If the surface is light coloured, it turns very pale, if it's a dark surface it turns almost black. These fry cannot be caught with a net they stick hard to any surfaces and any attempt to remove them forcefully will injure them. I may have lost one or two to a marauding trio of rosy barbs. I tried catching them out with a net... impossible. I will pay anyone RM100 if they can catch my rosy barbs in a minute. I charge RM10 for each attempt
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I used the same method used to catch hillstream loaches in a tank. Use a clear jar or a clear plastic container.. cover the fry and jiggle it until it sticks to the jar. The mass of eggs definitely do not reflect the number of fry it contains.... I counted 62 fry this time round. Big spawn! The eggs are laid in a very compact formation so it's hard to tell how many there is at first glance. Using the same method as raising the first batch, shallow water and mucked with dirty tank juice. I now have a tankful of little tadpole looking babies.
The male looks pretty worn out by the entire episode. Looks rather thinner than how he used to be. I'm feeding extra portions of bloodworms which looks appreciated. He has been guarding and fanning eggs for the past 3 weeks now.. I see the female approaching him again... if I were the fella, i'd be thinking "Oh man, not again".