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makellr
07-20-2016, 01:08 PM
370 This fish is probably about two years old. She is paired up and trying to lay eggs for the first time. The male is an experienced parent. For almost an hour now she has been making passes to deposit eggs, but no eggs come out. I hope you can see this photo well enough to help. He ovipositor is a bit larger than I have seen before, but not as big as pictures of a prolapse that I have seen. IS she just headed for a sad outcome? Is there anything that can be done?

catsma_97504
07-20-2016, 05:49 PM
Hard to say. Keep feeding the pair high quality foods to improve their conditioning. And hope for the best. Keep up updated on what happens and what, if anything, helps to get the eggs released.

makellr
07-21-2016, 06:26 AM
Thanks. shortly after I wrote this, she managed to start laying. I have never seen so many(40 or 50 at least) empty passes before laying. She seems okay and is guarding/fanning the cone where the eggs were laid. It may not be obvious from the photo, but this fish is a veil-tail that holds her anal and dorsal fins ruler-straight all the time. There is one odd thing in the diet: squished snails. Both parents were quite enthusiastic about eating a few every day. Perhaps these are part of the problem. My hope is to share the nice fin genes around with some other veil-tail fish.