An Amazing Treat

[blainep]

I was fortunate enough today to witness the birth of 12 Xenotoca Eiseni fry.

An amazing sight to watch. The female even went thru what looked like contractions with each fry.

All I could do was sit and watch in wonder. Even the male was sort of involved, he seemed to be guarding the female.

So far, no signs of any fry munching.

[CACAdmin]

That's fantastic! Births almost always occur when we're not around. I always hope I'm around and never am.:( Glad to hear the little ones haven't been munched. :D Congrats!

[Melody]

Its awesome indeed, very much like childbirth I'm sure, especially with the size they're born at. Congrat's!

[Soggybottom]

Lucky! what time of day was it?

The closest I came to seeing a birth was looking over to see every fish in my tank madly following an endlers female and biting at her bum :(

[CACAdmin]

I'm envious. One of my Redwag platys who was absolutely huge gave birth sometime last night. Because it was in the 70g I haven't even seen one baby yet... only time will tell how many avoided being munched.

Someday, I hope to be lucky enough to witness the birth of some fry. Too bad they're so tiny or it would be something fantastic to catch on video!

[fishenthusiast]

Wow! You are a lucky person. I have been lucky enough to witness the birth of one L. Tridens fry a few months back and it was the most amazing thing! To witness 12 must be out of this world! Congratulations.

[blainep]

It was in the middle of the afternoon, first time I've seen fry being born.

I was finishing up my water changes for the week and was just checking the tanks over and playing catch the finger with the Mollies.

When I checked their tank, I noticed she was in a corner and looked stressed. I thought maybe she was fighting with the male, they are a pugnacious fish.
I also didn't think they were mature enough to mate yet.

I watched her for a while, she started shaking, and out came a fry !

The male sat and watched her and chased away anything that moved near .

She started shaking a few more times before the next fry came, thus the thought that maybe she was having something like contractions.

Needless to say, I grabbed a chair and sat and watched all afternoon until she was done !

As the fry came out, they had the little umbilical cord type thing attached to them and started swimming right away.

Even thou they may not always be a good community fish, gotta say I love Goodieds.

[jordonsmum]

That's awsome! Congratulations. I've only ever been lucky enough to whitness a sword give birth. I was feeding them and saw this little "ball" drop from her anal fin and wondered what the heck was going on. Just before the little ball hit the bottom, it opened up and turned into a fry. It was amazing and I can only hope to be so lucky again in the VERY NEAR (LOL wishful thinking) future.

I'm so happy for you!!! Is your photo attached to your name, the same type of fish that you are referring to? Can you post a pic? I'm so very curious.

Cheers!

[blainep]

That's awsome! Congratulations. I've only ever been lucky enough to whitness a sword give birth. I was feeding them and saw this little "ball" drop from her anal fin and wondered what the heck was going on. Just before the little ball hit the bottom, it opened up and turned into a fry. It was amazing and I can only hope to be so lucky again in the VERY NEAR (LOL wishful thinking) future.

I'm so happy for you!!! Is your photo attached to your name, the same type of fish that you are referring to? Can you post a pic? I'm so very curious.

Cheers!

I'll try to get a picture of the proud parents and fry, the photo on my avatar is of a bee shrimp. I had them shipped in from California a couple weeks ago. It's not a very clear picture, but they're so small I haven't gotten a clear shot yet.

I have a picture of the male from a few months ago posted here
http://www.canadianaquariumconnection.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69

He's in the first picture.

[jordonsmum]

LOVE the velvet swords. I'm envious!!! You people really need to come over here to the island and TEACH ME HOW to take photos like that!!!! I'm useless with aquarium photos... beautiful job!!!

[blainep]

LOVE the velvet swords. I'm envious!!! You people really need to come over here to the island and TEACH ME HOW to take photos like that!!!! I'm useless with aquarium photos... beautiful job!!!

Step one - Take hundereds of pictures, review them, if none are clear, repeat step one !

See, nothing to it ;)

[blainep]

As promised, pictures.

Mommy

http://tlfs.org/ntanks/orange/Image1.jpg

Mom and Dad

http://tlfs.org/ntanks/orange/Image2.jpg

The Kids

http://tlfs.org/ntanks/orange/Image4.jpg
http://tlfs.org/ntanks/orange/Image7.jpg
http://tlfs.org/ntanks/orange/Image8.jpg

Not great shots, but all I seem to be able to get.

[Melody]

They look nothing like the Eiseni I've seen....hmmm.... must be a location thing. Anyways, very nice!

[Melody]

These are the young adults I had eons ago. They go blue & red as they age.

http://members.linkopp.com/biz/sandpiper/images/MM-Xenotoca-eiseni--M-Jouv-.jpg

http://members.linkopp.com/biz/sandpiper/images/MM-Xenotoca_Eiseni-F-C.jpg

Hence my confusion.:Think:

[blainep]

Seems to be a location thing ( I'm guessing ).

A while back I Googled them for images. Some looked more like yours, some like mine.

Mine are still very young as well, I didn't realize she was even pregnant. I thought she was still to young to be carrying.

Some of it may just be my crappy picture taking as well. The colour in my pictures is pretty washed out.

[Melody]

I'm almost positive that I've seen them ID'ed with a collection location so that's probably it.

Some Livebearers even come with a pedigree, which amused me to no end...lol. If they have GPS co-ordinates for the collection location, they're pedigreed & more expensive.:rolleyes: The last Eiseni I brought in were pedigreed, but I never did get the GPS co-ordinates. I suppose I should get them for the buyer.