Pterapogon Kauderni

[Andrey Grodno]

The male Pterapogon Kauderni has been carrying fry in his mouth for 32 days. The norm is 25. Has anyone encountered such incubation times? Do the fry have a chance of not starving to death?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

The male Pterapogon Kauderni has been carrying fry in his mouth for 32 days. The norm is 25. Has anyone encountered such incubation times? Do the fry have a chance of not starving to death?

I've never seen that with mine. Could the fish have "double clutched" that is, had eggs for a few days, lost them, and then picked up a second batch? Also, low water temperatures can slow egg development quite a bit. Then, with mouthbrooding cichlids, if the holding fish feels that there are predators in a tank, they try to hold their fry longer than they should, to avoid releasing them into an area with predators.

Finally, do you have an urchin in the tank? I seemed to find that having an urchin made for a better release of the fry, to the point where we made fake longspine urchins for them.

Jay