Ocellatus harem

[UKSouth]

My male Ocellatus has one female with 2 week old fry (cute little critters especially when they charge back into their shells at the first sign of danger) at one end of the tank and another female guarding eggs at the other.

He spends his day charging from one end of the tank to the other trying to keep his ladies happy

Is it normal for males to select more than one female at the same time?

 

[TaffyFish]

yes, absolutely. the biggest threat to the fry is another male occie, so you're ahead of the game there......and then the father once he senses the female's ready to lay more. congrats on the successful spawn, mine didn't last 4 days :-(

 

[UKSouth]

Thanks Taffyfish

There is another male in there but he knows his place. I assume other males wipe out the fry to give themselves a chance of spawning.

This is the orginal pairs second brood and the first brood for the other female. I am a little suprised the fry have survivied this long but saying that the aggression shown to my hand during maintenance has to be seen to be believed. I really admire their courage.

I have now successfully bred the Occies and Cyps (my local shop took the entire batch).

I should be able to upgrade to the 400 litre in the next few months and want to try and breed some of the other Tangs, I like the challenge. A fully stocked tank is a frustrating tank!

 

[TaffyFish]

You're right on the reason why other males eat fry.

How much did you get for your cyps at what age/size?

 

[UKSouth]

I had around 20 fish around 1" so still only babies, I will get credit on any new fish I buy in the future so haven't really agreed an amount.

I was sad to see them go but they were outgrowing the 10 gallon I had them in and I had no space in my main tank. They are by far the best baby fish I have ever had. Perfect minatures of the adults with yellow dorsal fins and really easy to raise. I didn't lose one fish from the two broods.