Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Fishes Part IV
Here's an update on the 'eggs' that turned black. As I was mentioning, some of the eggs (larvae) were wiggling. Today, I managed to get a close up picture on the larvae......
They are so very tiny! But you can see two eyes, a body and a tail. They looked like tadpoles!
10:45 PM
Monday, February 12, 2007
Fishes part III
As I was sharing, the 3rd batch of eggs was layed on Thursday. This time round, there were ALOT of eggs layed. I didn't know Discus fishes are so productive. Read from the web that apparently they can lay eggs weekly for consecutive 11 times! That is one cycle. In the life-time of the fish, it can have two of such cycles (meaning they will lay eggs 22 times)!
My dad decided not to put the wire gauze to see if the chances of the eggs developing into frys are higher. We tried not to alarm the fishes, so we had to creep slowly towards the tank when we need to satisfy our curiosity (the wonder of nature, I now can also sit in front of the tank and stare for hours!). Luckily the fishes did not eat up the eggs! Also, thank goodness for my super zoom camera! I actually took these photos about 1 metre away from the tank.
I think this time round we may be able to get some of the eggs hatched as we noticed that some of the eggs turned 'black', which is a sign that the eggs are fertilized and developing into frys! Also, I noticed the parent fish will fan the eggs very vigorously, especially towards the 'blacken eggs', such that they actually fall to the 'catchment' area of the breeding cone. 
Then the parent fish will pick up the fallen egg and try to stick back to the cone (see picture below, I managed to capture a photo of the fish doing it. The blackish dot in between the fish's mouth and cone is the egg). So far, none was successfully stuck back onto the cone. Nevertheless, I saw the 'blacken' eggs wiggling on the catchment area once every few seconds!! So exciting! I counted about 17 of them so far!
After the frys break out of their eggs, they will get hungry and latch themselves onto the parent fishes' body to receive nutrients! Will try to capture a picture of it to share!
2:05 AM
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Fishes part II
OK, further updates on the Discus fishes. As seen in the picture below, one of the pair will 'guard' the eggs in the process. I still can't figure out whether this is the male or female Discus who is very 'on' with the guarding. Accordingly to what I read off the web somewhere, both male and female of the pair will take turns to 'fan' the eggs. I am not sure if this is considered 'fanning', but only this one of the pair is doing all the 'work'.
A closer look at the eggs. Most of them turned white and dropped off the cone! So sad, that means the eggs were not fertilized successfully. In the end, we didnt get frys from the eggs. Procreation failed!
BUT, the good news is that the same pair of fish layed eggs today again! Looks like there's still hope! I can't take any pictures this time round because my dad had covered the fish tank with newspaper ......to give the fishes more privacy? Haha... don't know what my dad had in mind, but probably to avoid scaring the fishes.
11:09 PM
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Fishes!
I used to rear a Luo Han fish at home. The fish was a baby about 2cm in length when I first brought it home in the year 2002. It had since grown to a size of about 12 inches in length! Although it didn't give us any 'numbers' to strike, this Luo Han had brought a lot of joy to us as it behaved like a dog and would response to us each time we go near it. For example, it would swim backwards or round and round the fish tank to entertain you. My mum would call it 'Ben Yu'.
We had to let go off the fish some time late last year, as the fish was growing old. It didn't eat much and would always stare upwards towards 'heaven'. It was also very much less energetic than before. One day, I stood in front of the tank and said to the fish, "if you would like to be released, swim one round in the tank to signify a 'Yes'". Amazingly, it did.
After we released the 'Ben Yu', my parents started rearing Discus fishes. In fact, this is very much a craze now with my parents, my aunt, my uncle and my cousin. There's 4 families with more than one tank of Discus fishes at their house! 
What keeps them so interested in these fishes is that they are beautiful, shy and challenging to rear. In addition, they procreate quite easily, so the interesting part is to see how you can get the fishes to mate and lay eggs. Funnily, though they procreate pretty easily, they are not cheap to buy. So far, 2 families had successfully gotten baby Discus fishes. The next one would be my family as a pair of our Discus fishes just layed eggs! See the eggs below!
And below is the pair of proud Discus parents-to-be. Apparently you need to spend time watching the Discus fishes and seggregate an amiable pair to mate. You will notice that some tend to fight while some live in harmony. So far, we only have this pair that is able to stay in the same tank in harmony. The rest tend to fight by biting each other!
Can't wait for the tiny fishes to break out of their eggs during the next few days. I hope I will be able to capture those moments down in photos in time to share with you! Any of you want to rear Discus fishes please let me know. I can pass some to you. Ursweetlullaby interested?
12:49 PM
I am The Emperor