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Koji™ · 05-05-2005, 04:11 AM

Courtship
In April of '92 I knew something was happening. My female P.endlicheri began to develop noticeably heavy abdomens. At this point the males wasted no time in pursuing the females. The male spreads his anal fin and begins to nip at the body, tail and anal fin of the female. There may even be some soft nipping at the female's head. Overall, the male's actions are quite gentle, and do not pose a threat to the female. This behavior was quite similar to that I observed when i bred P.ornatipinnis.

The First Spawning
Over the course of three days, 13-15 June 1992, my fish spawned for the first time. A pair consisting of a male 19 inches (48cm) long and a female 21 inches (53cm) long had gotten together. They kept some distance between themselves and other fish. As mentioned previously, the male had an anal fin much larger than that of the female. Even without the size difference, it was easy to tell the sexes apart. Spawning was quite protracted, taking place from about 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM. As i said, this was repeated three days. Hundreds of eggs were laid; I count not tell how many. Unfortunately, they all went bad. Obviously, they had not been fertilized. Was the male too young? I thought this could have been the case. The conditions in the spawning tank had been optimal: temperature, 82°F (28°C); pH, 5.8-6.0; hardness, 5.0 dGH. Since I could not fault the water as far as I could tell, it seemed logical to assume that the problem was with the fish, which led me to my theory that the male was not ready.

The Second Spawning
I would have to wait over two years before there was any more spawning activity. Over that period of time conditions were fairly stable, but a few small changes were made---some by me, and some by chance. I had added a small floating island to the tank, plant semi-aquatic and emersed vegetation. In other words, I had created what you might call a very wet aqua-terrarium. Also, there was a bit more filtration and aeration than before. I used two large canister filters, and airstone buried in the gravel beneath a funnel, and a large side box filter. The water had a moderate current and was very clean and well-aerated. Finally, most of the time the water temperature was a little warmer because we had a very warm summer in '94.
On 16 and 17 August 1994, there was more spawning. The water temperature ranged from 82 to 84°F (28-29°C) over the two days. The pH was 5.8-6.0, the hardness 3.0 dGH, and the conductivity 230-280 microSiemens. The tank was planted with Java fern (Microsorium pteropus) and also contained rocks and driftwood. Light was provided by two 40-watt fluorescent tubes that were on a 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM timer, and the tank also received some daylight through a window.

Courtship proceeded as before; at the end of these maneuvers, the male actually cupped his anal fin over the female's anal fin and vent. The eggs were laid directly into the male's curled anal fin, I can presume that this is an adaptation to concentrate the sperm as much as possible to ensure fertilization. One spawning act would take about 3-5 seconds, during which the female would lay about 3-8 eggs. The fish would pause momentarily and then repeat the action. As before, spawning began at about 9:00 AM and ended about 7:00 PM, but the peak of spawning activity was in the late afternoon. The first day, they laid about 300-500 eggs, and on the second day their production was down to about 100-150. After that, they were apparently done.

05-05-2005, 04:11 AM	#3
Koji™ Account Disabled Join Date: Jul 2001 Posts: 57,626	Courtship In April of '92 I knew something was happening. My female P.endlicheri began to develop noticeably heavy abdomens. At this point the males wasted no time in pursuing the females. The male spreads his anal fin and begins to nip at the body, tail and anal fin of the female. There may even be some soft nipping at the female's head. Overall, the male's actions are quite gentle, and do not pose a threat to the female. This behavior was quite similar to that I observed when i bred P.ornatipinnis. The First Spawning Over the course of three days, 13-15 June 1992, my fish spawned for the first time. A pair consisting of a male 19 inches (48cm) long and a female 21 inches (53cm) long had gotten together. They kept some distance between themselves and other fish. As mentioned previously, the male had an anal fin much larger than that of the female. Even without the size difference, it was easy to tell the sexes apart. Spawning was quite protracted, taking place from about 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM. As i said, this was repeated three days. Hundreds of eggs were laid; I count not tell how many. Unfortunately, they all went bad. Obviously, they had not been fertilized. Was the male too young? I thought this could have been the case. The conditions in the spawning tank had been optimal: temperature, 82°F (28°C); pH, 5.8-6.0; hardness, 5.0 dGH. Since I could not fault the water as far as I could tell, it seemed logical to assume that the problem was with the fish, which led me to my theory that the male was not ready. The Second Spawning I would have to wait over two years before there was any more spawning activity. Over that period of time conditions were fairly stable, but a few small changes were made---some by me, and some by chance. I had added a small floating island to the tank, plant semi-aquatic and emersed vegetation. In other words, I had created what you might call a very wet aqua-terrarium. Also, there was a bit more filtration and aeration than before. I used two large canister filters, and airstone buried in the gravel beneath a funnel, and a large side box filter. The water had a moderate current and was very clean and well-aerated. Finally, most of the time the water temperature was a little warmer because we had a very warm summer in '94. On 16 and 17 August 1994, there was more spawning. The water temperature ranged from 82 to 84°F (28-29°C) over the two days. The pH was 5.8-6.0, the hardness 3.0 dGH, and the conductivity 230-280 microSiemens. The tank was planted with Java fern (Microsorium pteropus) and also contained rocks and driftwood. Light was provided by two 40-watt fluorescent tubes that were on a 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM timer, and the tank also received some daylight through a window. Courtship proceeded as before; at the end of these maneuvers, the male actually cupped his anal fin over the female's anal fin and vent. The eggs were laid directly into the male's curled anal fin, I can presume that this is an adaptation to concentrate the sperm as much as possible to ensure fertilization. One spawning act would take about 3-5 seconds, during which the female would lay about 3-8 eggs. The fish would pause momentarily and then repeat the action. As before, spawning began at about 9:00 AM and ended about 7:00 PM, but the peak of spawning activity was in the late afternoon. The first day, they laid about 300-500 eggs, and on the second day their production was down to about 100-150. After that, they were apparently done.