A few weeks ago flood waters flooded some ditches out where I grew up. When
they recede fish are usually trapped in the remaining puddles. So, as I have
done for years, starting out on my bike when I was a kid, went to "rescue"
the fish from these puddles. My youngest daughter came with me, and we
caught a number of fish. I released most of the stuff back in the main body
of water down the road, but kept the mudminnows for feeders for my monitor
lizards and bichirs.
I had two large males and a large female in a five gallon pail that had two
oak leaves and a blade of dead grass in it. Today I seen a bunch of
infertile yellow/white eggs floating around when the fish would dart around
under the leaves. I decided to scoop some out in my hand and look at them.
What I didn't see until I did that were clear eggs that appear to be
fertile. I put a couple of these in a dish to incubate and see what happens.
The firmer egg had what looks like cell division going on it, a less clear
ball inside its center.
The eggs are very much like killifish eggs, for those familiar with that.
The very fresh ones are soft, the bad ones turn white, and the good ones are
sticky and easy to handle.
I will have updates on what happens to come. This makes me think, maybe I
should go get some more and put them in a tank with some java moss in it and
see what happens. I know its cheating, but they are still spawning and
seeing what happens would be interesting. I had this happen years ago in an
aquarium that the muds were free roaming feeder fish. After the spawn, the
muds were eaten, and I gave no more thought to the eggs or fry.
Ray W.
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