M. auratus spawning

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3436

I happened to catch my 2 M. auratus spawning today.

First a few pics (female is yellow, male is dark brown).

Spawning involves going around & around in circles. The female lays the eggs, then the male comes along & fertilizes them, then the female comes and picks them up in her mouth. Unfortunately, she kept picking them up right before I snapped a pic so I didn't get any showing the eggs.

You can see the ovipositor on the female here.

Demonstrating what the egg spot is for.

Egg spots are small orange spots on the anal fin (generally in males, but sometimes females will have them too). Sometimes females will get in such a hurry, they'll pick up the eggs before the male can fertilize them. So the male will turn so his anal fin is laying on the ground and the female will nip at the egg spot thinking it's an actual egg. When she does that, it gives the male a chance to fertilize the eggs in her mouth.

And here's a video. If you look carefully, you can see some of the eggs.
http://chelle16.7oh2.com/auratusspawn.wmv (5.4M - will probably take 2 or 3 minutes to download with a cable connection).

Since I don't currently have room for more fry, I went ahead and stripped her afterwards. There was no point in letting her starve for 3 weeks if I wasn't going to keep the fry. I ended up getting 51 eggs. Shocked

-Chelle

tina1 · Senior Member Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 651

Very cool Chelle! Couldn't watch the video (stupid 'puter!) but it took less than one minute to download with my cable connection.

Makes my miss my m. auratus Artie. Loved that little guy (actually a girl, but looked more like a boy. I think she was "confused")

Anyway, congrats. Maybe you can keep them next time.

Fish Addict · Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2004 11:24 pm Post subject:

hey how did you strip her of her eggs
??

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3436

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3436

tina1 · Senior Member Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 651

Well that's what my little guy looked like when I bought him/her. As he/she grew she just became a grayish color with two black stripes, the only yellow was on her fins really. But the color would change. When I finally parted with her/him I'd had him about 1 year and he/she was dark gray color with black stripes. No white stripes though. Would she/he have matured by then or is that still considered a juvenile age for these fish? He/she was 5 inches long.

Aren't they just so cute and innocent looking in your pic. I love it!!!!

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3436

They reach maturity at about 2" so I guess yours probably was a female.

-Chelle