New Dark Angel Pair

[EverythingAquatic]

After fighting off disease in my planted tank I was left with a single Smokey Pinoys and a pair of Blue Smokeys.  And as 3 is a crowd, even in a 90G tank, I moved in 6 DD Blacks to reduce the aggression toward the only Pinoy.

Fast forward a couple of months.  The Smokey Pinoy paired off with a DD Black.  And the fighting started again.  So I moved the new dark pair to their own tank.

They spawned 24 hours after moving!  And ate the eggs before hatching.  And a few days later they spawned again!  But this time they are caring for them.  The spawn hatched yesterday and they were moved to a new location.  Very hidden.

Fingers crossed they can raise their progeny.  My first dark pair.  Exciting to watch.

[wsantia1]

Congratulations on your new pair/spawn.  I hope they raise them good for you.

[Mugwump]

Aren't some pairs just devious as hell..?....drive ya nuts too

[EverythingAquatic]

Aren't some pairs just devious as hell..?....drive ya nuts too

Yep!  I have one Gold Marble Ghost who cannot be trusted around other males.  But the bigger issue in the 90G was that the Australian Rainbows started picking on the Smokey Pinoy as well.  They ate away at his beautiful fins; and I had to get him out of that environment.

I am trying to figure out how I can tell the D/+ from the D/D in the offspring.  No idea as yet!

Dad is the Smokey Pinoy (D/+ - Sm/+ - St/+)  I cannot tell if he is a Ghost as he is so darned dark I can't even see his Smokey half.  He simply looks BLACK!  Although now that he isn't so stressed from harassment his colors are starting to show a bit.

Mom is the DD Black.  I know nothing about her genetics.  Not even convinced she is really a DD.  But I will soon know as I should only have dark offspring in this spawn if she is.  But at day 2 of wriggling, it is too soon to know.

[Mugwump]

I hope you get a real good representative spawn....then the fry counts by genotype/phenotype will tell the story

[LizStreithorst]

I'm sorry you had disease.  I've been there.  It can be a big kick in the head.  At least it was only in the one tank.  It sounds like you will have nice variety in that spawn.  Forgive my ignorance but what is St?

[Mugwump]

I'm sorry you had disease.  I've been there.  It can be a big kick in the head.  At least it was only in the one tank.  It sounds like you will have nice variety in that spawn.  Forgive my ignorance but what is St?

streaked

[EverythingAquatic]

Yes, the male is a Streaked Smokey Pinoy.  You can see the white streak in his anal fin.  In watching them this afternoon, I noticed stripes on him.  He is definitely not a Ghost.

They moved the spawn back to the marble slab they spawned on.  So, I tried to get a video.  Parents didn't like me being there so I had to be very careful since this is the farthest this pair has ever managed a spawn.  Enjoy...

[Mugwump]

Good to see that they're coming along well.....soon the mutiny begins 

[EverythingAquatic]

There are still many fry on day 3 of wriggling.  Just a couple more until free swimming; and the new parents are doing a great job.  I can tell the fry are developing their dark coloring.  And as the entire lot now looks like a brown mass, it does appear that the female is a DD Black.

[EverythingAquatic]

I believe the fry have been free swimming for about 10 days now.  And the die off rate is unbelievable.  I've always heard DD Blacks called lethal with that gene combo, so not sure if that is what is happening or not.  Numbers have dwindled down by half if not more already.  I am feeding them napuli, Repashy with flakes and pellets for the parents.

Is there some secret to raising DD Blacks that I am unaware of?

Here's a photo of the male with some of the fry.  Taken with flash to draw out his coloring as to the eye he appears solid black.

[Mugwump]

DD to DD is always dicey...occasionally you'll find a pair the don't have as many issues...but to get some much healthier fry, use D/+'s....only a percentage will be DD, but you don't lose as many loses, if any...

[EverythingAquatic]

That is what I have.  Male is D/+ - Sm/+ - pb/pb - St/+ and female is D/D.

[Mugwump]

That is what I have.  Male is D/+ - Sm/+ - pb/pb - St/+ and female is D/D.

Actually I meant a D/+ pair...no DD's.....I'm trying to get one of my F2 mana crosses to mate with one of the DD black super veils....so far, no cigar....that'll give all D/+ +/v.....any sibling cross will bear some real nice DD's...

[EverythingAquatic]

Think I've figured out what is happening.

I know my tap water is changing.  It happens every year!  But with the high volume of rain on top of switching from a natural spring to river water, my pH has gone through the roof!!  It is now too high for the standard pH kit to measure.  And I don't own a high pH kit since my water typically runs around 6.5.

There are maybe 50 fry left.  Hopefully these guys can survive the changing water chemistry.  And, if not, the female is getting ready to spawn again.  I need to move the fry out before she spawns, but am very nervous as that would be an even great increase in pH from what's in their tank.

Ugh, I hate when my water changes.