Tonight I removed a couple of Wild Aulonocara Kandneese females to strip.
The first one released a decent amount of fry,,,about 30+ so I thought that this was a bit above average,but never thought of counting them.
The other female was a bit more elusive and I thought that when I went in after her that she was the one I got,,,but after returning the first one to the tank,,,after feeding the group,I noticed that the girl I had taken out was not the one now holding in the tank. :unsure:
Oh well,so I netted her out into a 2 gal bucket and opened her mouth!
The fry just kept coming out wabawhat??
There were so many that I just could not count them all!
Sat there for 10 minutes or so,but they all kept swimming around the bucket and there was just absolutley no way to get a count.
Finally I drained off most of the water from the bucket and counted them as they spilled over into a small tank,some stopping on the way cause they ran out of water to swim in,,,,I flushed a few over the side with a turkey baster and got an accurate count of 61!
That is the tops for me with Malawians although I did have a "Hap Burtoni" spit 63 about 25 years ago!
So who's up for this one? Good Job

I'd love to hear!

Cheers!!! Larry 4larry

Larry awesome topic!

I get the normal 30 out of my peacocks I one had a lemon jake produce 40 or so for me but the most I ever had was a Cop Mloto Likoma produce over 60 !

I miss that group!(PH problem)

Derek

As a beginner at this with still-immature fish my record is a lowly 14. :unsure:

The most I had from one brood is 51 from a seasoned female Kenyi.

My old Cobalt female (Priscilla) used to have huge clutches of 60+, and we had two female fuelleborni that would have 60+ each time. We also had a female auratus that would have 50-60 per spawn.

I think it comes with maturity and experience, and alot of times we don't hang on to them long enough to see it happen!

I have one of Priscilla's daughters now who cannot manage to hold more than 10 full term. She will produce a normal amount of eggs, but somehow manages to get rid of them all along the way, and will be holding so few at the end that you can't even tell by looking at her. We've got a female Mbamba that does the same thing.

Hey, maybe these two are the only ones listening to me when I say that I'm sick of all the fry???

Kim

On the Floor Laughing Kim that probably is the case!!!

Wow Larry, that's impressive! My WC Mbamba spit out 63-66 the other day. I must say though I counted 4 times and got a range...so I was satisfied with that!!!

My phenochilus on her 2nd go spat out over 40, so we'll have to see how she does this time! I generally leave them in the tank with the rest so she has to battle it out for herself!!!

I believe it was 62 or 63 from my Wild-Caught Placidochromis sp. Phneochilus Tanzania female. :D

Pseudospecialops hang in there,things will improve! Good Job
Well I see that I'm not the only one counting! On the Floor Laughing
These wild caught fish are only youngsters themselves,,,,the males came in while starting to color up and I can't say for sure that the girls haven't spawned in the wild but they are small.
So with this fish still being relatively small,even for wild fish, I found this combination to be some what rare,,,61 for a yound fish,,,hmmm.
Oh well saves on tank space! I have the two spawns in a 2 1/2 gallon tank for the next couple weeks! It's going to be quite a big load to raise On the Floor Laughing
Some one was just asking me the other day,,,hey,when they spawn I want some of THOSE! I guess I'll have to start taking names now and writing them down so I'll remember who to call,,,,because their wish is going to come true On the Floor Laughing


Cheers!!! Larry

My largest spawn was 51 from a calliptera. Normally my high range is in the 30s, but my flavus and demasoni don't hold that many.

The only way I can get an accurate count is to take a picture, from above is best. Then you can take your time and count them all with ease. Good Job



There were 32 in this batch.

Isn't it amazing when you keep finding more fry in the mouth, though?

I also find it amazing how some moms tend to shift the fry back further in their buccal cavity, and hold with such ease.

I think I'm going to read this thread to my Cobalt and acei females and see if I can intimidate them into producing larger clutches! (It's the ones I don't want that tend to reproduce like rabbits!)

Larry, I agree with you that younger fish don't seem to have large clutches in general. Those wild White Tops we got from you are growing daily, the dominant male is getting huge, larger than I thought he would be. I'm sure the female had probably held before we got her, but I was pretty impressed with her first clutches being around 20 each.

Any theories on why some clutches are larger than others, other than experience? Could it be better maternal instincts that make them hold more?

Kim

Aura,did these fry come along right now or was this a previous photo?
Was well timed if it was recently!
Nice shot. Good Job

The amount of eggs and resulting fry are mainly due to how often they spawn and the types of food offered,,,the more they spawn the less eggs are produced between spawnings.
I don't think food is questioned here! (LOL!)
Another reason would be who is grabbing the eggs away from them while spawning is going on,its not unusual for others to swing in for some eggs for lunch. Boo Hooo
Some may get lost in the rocks,but I never had this happen.

Cheers!!! Larry

78 from my WC fossochomis rostratus. female is 7"

Larry, that picture was from a few months ago.

I take a lot just like it though. I take a picture because I can never get an accurate count if there are more than a few babies and even then, I forget if I don't write it down.

With a picture, I can look back and see when and how many. fishy

Great trick, Aura -- I'm going to follow your example!

SorryI forgot about my Wild Calvus spawn. There was roughly 150 fry after a couple counts.