[Charles]

I just measured my fish. I always thought my largest female was 4-5". I was wrong. She is measured from nose to tail at 6.5"... Now the alpha male is at least 2" more than her so he is about 8.5-9"

Well, the reason why I pull them out is that there were spawning going on. She dropped her tube 2 days ago. And this afternoon, she did lay her eggs. Here is a picture of her holding.

This is almost exactly a year after I bought the group from Steve Perryman. She has total including this time 5 spawns. The earlier 4 spawns were not full term. She split her eggs from 2-10days. So after a 5 minutes debate inside my head, I decided to strip her. Here is a picture of her eggs.

I crushed a few eggs cause my female jumped out from my hand while I was striping her and damage a few eggs. And some eggs appear to have some white stuffs on them. They are not fungus. They are actually some string like stuffs attaching the eggs while she lays them. They do come over after a gentle rocking back and fore in the water.

Well, I still have to take the damaged eggs out but I don't want to bother the fish anymore tonight. I will take them out first thing in the morning. What an exciting night.

Wish me Luck, I will keep updating this thread.

 

[suppadabest]

wow good luck.....and this is my first time seeing front eggs out of the mom's mouth

 

[Charles]

The eggs are actually quite big... like the size of a corn.

And I just realize mom is still holding some eggs in her mouth. I am going to let her have those. A good way to see if she is going to hold full term.

Eggs count at 15 per tumbler.

 

[Manus]

Good luck with those eggs!!

I've had a group of wild Bismarks for about 10 months now and like you I have always let the females hold them and they end up spitting or swallowing them. 7 spawns I've been patient!! I've decided next time they get stripped and tumbled.

 

[Charles]

this group i have consists of 2m/3f wc. this is the 7 spawns of the group. largest female spawned 5 times total n 1 for eah of the other females. none held full term so i striped this time.

i have a floating container in the tank when i strip the mom. then i just pour the eggs with the water into the tumblers.

 

[senorh]

good luck with the eggs.

senorh

 

[Charles]

Looks like mom lost all her eggs in her mouth again. It was only a few left though.

Eggs count #1 tumbler 13, #2 tumbler still at 15 July16 morning.

 

[Gandalfslair]

I am crossing my fingers for you Charles that the tumbling will be seamless...Congrats!

 

[rusthebuss]

Man i need to get my kigoma to breed but i have 1 male and a female. I need to get some more females. How do you strip them and how long do you wait. Have you been bitten while stripping them?

 

[Charles]

I waited a day to strip... just hold the fish firm upsidedown, use ur nail to open the lower lips and eggs will come out.

 

[Charles]

2 tumblers have 15/15 eggs to start

July 17

tumbler #1 = 9 eggs
tumbler #2 = 13 eggs

On the other hand, my smallest female measured at 5.5"+ is holding this morning... Still deciding if I want to strip her. This is her second hold since july 2004

 

[Charles]

Finally got a tumber and return home around 5pm. Realize the female (the one with eggs) 's mouth is very small compare to this morning. I strip her right away and gotten only 8 eggs. Oh well... perhaps the male is too tired for all this spawning. Or she just released some or swallow some.

Got 3 tumbler going now.
#1 has 9 eggs. I can see half of them starting to show a line in the middle.
#2 has 13 eggs. Some as #1... half of them starting to show a line in the middle
#3 has 8 eggs. Still very fresh from her mouth. And no white on any of them.

 

[Charles]

Here are the pictures.

3 tumbler with the first 2 from the left by the largest female, and the right one (biggest tumbler) by the smallest female.

Close up on the eggs of the middle tumbler 13/15 eggs

In this close up, you can see one of the egg is developing a line in the middle. And you can also see the end part of 2 eggs.

Picture of the left tumbler. 9/15 eggs

 

[frank1rizzo]

Very cool!!! Keep the pics comming.

 

[Gandalfslair]

Agree with Frank...great shots!

 

[ben_cichlid]

Congrats and best of luck Charles....hope to see some Kitumba babies soon...

 

[Charles]

July / 18

After the filter died last night, I have to take it all out and clean it. All the dirt and junks and craps spilled into the main tank. I am not sure this will affect the eggs but it sure seems that way tonight.

As of today

Tumbler #1 went from 9 to 6 /15 eggs
Tumbler #2 went from 13 to 8 / 15 eggs

Total 8 bad eggs in a day. And all of those were looking good before the filter died.

Tumbler #3 is still 8 / 8 eggs and they are pretty fresh... I guess too soon to know. However, 3 out of 8 eggs developed a hole in the middle of the egg.

Not a good day in my tank today..

 

[senorh]

sorry to hear about your loss.

Senorh

 

[suppadabest]

sorry to hear that...

 

[Charles]

July / 19

Now I can tell the different between unfertile egg and fungus attack. With 10 bad eggs per tumbler, some were attacked by fungus, some were just unfertile, it will be more clear on the next time. Anyway, here is the report at day 4.

Tumbler #1 5 /15 eggs
Tumbler #2 5 / 15 eggs
Tumbler #3 7 / 8 eggs

At the very least, this little spawning can provide us some information about the 3 tumblers I am using. They all seem good for tumbling eggs...