Rock nems, 4th spawn, something cool happened!!

ahiggins · Feb 20, 2017

hey y'all! I've known for some time that I have 3 males and at least one female rock nem but I've only ever been able to ID the males.
Last night about 11:30pm I noticed my biggest one super inflated and I had to investigate-it was pitch black but I turned on the lights, below are my findings!! How awesome you can actually see them moving!! @saltyfilmfolks im such a proud mama!

saltyfilmfolks · Feb 20, 2017

Holy Smokes! What are you feeding over there? Is there a Barry white loop you play for them?

ahiggins · Feb 20, 2017

hahahaha I have no idea...Im starting to think its reliant on temp changes because the temp in that 10 gallon fluctuates so much from week to week.
Its incredible to see though! I feed whatever the fish get: fish eggs/mysis/cyclopeeze.

ahiggins · Feb 20, 2017

You'll like the end of this one lol

saltyfilmfolks · Feb 21, 2017

Ahahahaa.....

ahiggins · Feb 21, 2017

She HAS to be near me when I'm working in the tanks lol

Mini Coop · Feb 21, 2017

VERY cool!!!

zachxlutz · Feb 21, 2017

I'm admittedly uneducated on rock nems and their spawning habits... Can you ELI5 what I'm seeing here?

vertigo01 · Feb 21, 2017

Are Rock Nems sexuually dimorphic?
How can you tell which is which, without actually seeing them give birth.

Will Air Supply work as well as Barry White?

ahiggins · Feb 21, 2017

zachxlutz said:
I'm admittedly uneducated on rock nems and their spawning habits... Can you ELI5 what I'm seeing here?

The green dots are baby nems being "born" out of the females mouth. You can see them traveling from the outside (near the tentacles) to the inside (the mouth) to be released.

ahiggins · Feb 21, 2017

vertigo01 said:
Are Rock Nems sexuually dimorphic?
How can you tell which is which, without actually seeing them give birth.

Will Air Supply work as well as Barry White?

You can't tell. It's that simple lol
Males will release sperm into the water column. Females will catch it and make baby nems inside of them. Then when they're mature enough they will be spit out into the water column. This is the first time I've been able to capture the female spitting them out. I know there was at least one because I'm getting babies but I have only been able to ID males up to this point.
I'm currently researching how to get the best yield per spawning event. Usually I get 10-15 that survive. The 3rd round I had about 25 but as you can see, there are hundreds of babies being released. This process went on all night and into the morning hours.

zachxlutz · Feb 21, 2017

ahiggins said:
The green dots are baby nems being "born" out of the females mouth. You can see them traveling from the outside (near the tentacles) to the inside (the mouth) to be released.

Now I see. Thanks.