Fish Egg Surprise!

[Ulu]

I have been keeping fish for 45 years or more, and I thought I knew what I was doing. I was wrong, wrong, wrong!

 

Sometimes action is more predictive than physiology. I thought I had a breeding pair of Oscars. They seemed so fond of each other. But as they grew larger, I decided they both looked like males, physically, and that was that.

Well that was then and this is now. 

The Oscars have been moving rocks and plants as per usual, and they seemed stumped by this big rock they couldn’t move. Distressed and forlorn, even.

I stuck my arm in the tank and moved the rock away a foot. I immediately got bit six times in 1.5 seconds.

I looked closer, realized my blunder, and got bit six more times as I replaced the rock.

 

I didn’t see the eggs drop, but Papa Bear was fertilizing the eggs. He is visibly the male fish, displaying a pearly white appendage for the first time.

They are both very aggressive, and guard their rock 24/7 from the catfish and snails.

[Veemoney]

Congratulations, looks like you will have a tank full. 300-500 fry in a few days, time to find some new homes

[Ulu]

Maybe if I hadn’t disturbed things.

 

I think I ticked them off by accidentally moving the rock, and last night they ate all the eggs.

[Ulu]

I’m rather disappointed by the fact that we won’t have fry, but in another 3 to 4 months they will lay eggs again. This is pretty amazing since it’s rare to breed Oscars at home. Oscar fish usually do not like each other and I was lucky that these two were friends right from the start.

 

Also you just have to have a really big tank to breed Oscars. I have a 125 gallon and I consider it better than minimal only because it shares an additional 100+ gallons in the attached filters, sumps, and guppy breeder.

[ggdad1951]

9 hours ago, Ulu said:

Maybe if I hadn’t disturbed things.

 

I think I ticked them off by accidentally moving the rock, and last night they ate all the eggs.

 

Better than my experience...I had some blue lyretail rams....very colorful and they decided to procreate....even with a divider all the fry got gone when a fish jumped the barrier and ate 'em all.  (not my picture, mine were even more colorful)