[Frigid Blue]

My 6" male lost his left eye in a fight a while ago, but he seems to be doing fine. Today, I noticed my 5.5 " spilonotus female is holding eggs... any ideas? There are 3 possibilities...

1.Male Spilonotus spawned with her and fertilized the eggs.(Is this even possible with one eye? He can only see what's on his right side... :-? )

2.One of my other species in the tank crossed with her could be Lethrinops Intermedius, Sciaenochromis Fryeri, Copadichromis Chrysonotus, Otopharynx Lithobates, or Placidochromis Johnstoni...(highly unlikely, they are courting their own females as I type this, completely ignoring the spilonotus)

3.She lay the eggs by herself, meaning they will pop in about 3-4 days. (also highly unlikely, because she has a full mouthful of eggs - without a male to protect her, my other fish would've snatched the eggs in a second)

Which would be more likely to occur? Will update in a couple of days to see if the eggs are duds.

 

[DJRansome]

Haps do crossbreed easily which is why people keep all male very often. I'd say likelyhood is in order of the #s you listed...most likely it was "her" male but could have been any other hap that was more dominant than him.

 

[Frigid Blue]

Ok, thanks for the reply. Pretty sure it was "her" male, saw him displaying his fins in front of her. Most of the other species spawned with their own females this week, almost a day apart from each other! The only other males who are more dominant than the spilonotus are the Lethrinops and the Copadichromis, but they completely ignore her...