# 3rd time the charm... i hope



## andakin (Aug 10, 2009)

i have spawned the same male 3 times this month. the first two attempts have been epic fails. i will share my findings so that others wont make the same mistakes as i did.

spawn #1 Oct 27 (OrchidM x MgF)
~24 hrs after hatching, some were swimming freely but not all. concerned that the babies would starve, i removed the male at this point. the remaining fry never made it to swim horizontally. they kept darting upwards and hung around the nest. they stayed there til death. i had one survivor that was strong enough to eat bbs from day one. since then, i threw in the cheapest aquarium plant i could find and stopped hatching bbs. the lone survivor was able to live off of infusorians for over a week. i have since culled him because raising one fry was not worth the effort.

conclusions: leave the male in longer (i am hypothesizing that the fry benefits from being in the father's mouth, perphaps feeding off of something in there too. crazy, i know.) also, if youre going to breed, have a live plant in there because the fry may not eat bbs from day 1.



spawn #2 Nov 4 (OrchidM x MgF)
thats right, i have spawned the same pair a week later. where is the conditioning? will the female have more eggs after a week? can the male handle another rigourous workout after only a few days of rest?

the pair spawned happily producing about the same amount of eggs as last time. the eggs hatched and things looked good. this time, i left the male in extra long to see if i'll have more survivors. the next day, i woke up to zero babies. the father had eaten them all.

conclusions: CONDITION! males need conditioning too, just not as much as the female.



spawn #3 Nov 12 (OrchidM x OrchidF)
i woke up and saw them embracing. excited, i ran for my camera to only find the action had ended. what bad timing. so, no pretty pics this time. 

i know i dont do as i preach. i am very impatient and didnt wait to fully recondition the male. perhaps i will feed him while he tends the nest.



here are a few pics from my failed attempts:


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## Lethbridge (Nov 8, 2009)

well i hope all goes well and this time you dont have any more problems but just remember those mistakes you made in the past will make you a better breed later on


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## doggyhog (Apr 30, 2009)

WOW!! AWESOME pictures!!! That is an epic bubblenest...! I like the last pic.


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## k stiles (Aug 29, 2009)

whope this time goes well andikin, and thanks for the tips for when I breed cobalt and luna


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## AlexXx (Aug 23, 2009)

i love the embracing pic, so sick! 

I hope the spawn goes well!!


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## k stiles (Aug 29, 2009)

AlexXx said:


> i love the embracing pic, so sick!
> 
> I hope the spawn goes well!!


 I know right!!!


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## andakin (Aug 10, 2009)

perhaps you pervs would like to see a video of them mating. jk.

http://s30.photobucket.com/albums/c319/andakin/2nd spawn/failed/?action=view&current=Movie.flv


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## CodeRed (Jun 11, 2009)

Haha. I'm the type of person who would've kept raising the first survivor and most likely would've kept him too, just to make his effort worthwhile.  Good luck with this new spawn! Watch out though, while 3rd time is a charm, bad luck also comes in threes.


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## doggyhog (Apr 30, 2009)

Awesome video!


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Wow!! Great video!


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## k stiles (Aug 29, 2009)

nice video!!!!!!!!!


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## ChristinaRoss (Sep 4, 2009)

very cool, good luck!


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## Vikki81207 (May 27, 2009)

Great pics. I really need a camera like yours lol.


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## andakin (Aug 10, 2009)

my camera isnt all that special. it was top of the line... five years ago. any camera with a macro setting (flower icon) will do the trick. if yours dont have that, you should invest in a new camera or something second hand.


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## Vikki81207 (May 27, 2009)

Hmmm let me go check mine lol. I think mine was top of the line like 7 years ago, hahaha.


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## Vikki81207 (May 27, 2009)

I DO HAVE THAT SETTING!!! lol. I'm so excited. Maybe I'll have good pictures when I breed them next week! Woot! lol. Does is take better pictures of the adults too on that mode?


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## doggyhog (Apr 30, 2009)

YES!! I always use the macro mode!


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## k stiles (Aug 29, 2009)

oops, guess I forgot to use it


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## ChristinaRoss (Sep 4, 2009)

hes been a busy boy this month, lol 3 times?


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## andakin (Aug 10, 2009)

bad things do come in threes. there mustve been close to 100 babies and the male ate all but 4... probably gonna kill them off. im gonna stop breeding for a while because the work is overwhelming and im slowly losing interest.


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## CodeRed (Jun 11, 2009)

Sounds like it's a problem with the male. Maybe you could try a different one when you feel like you want to, and see if that works better? Sorry about the bad luck comes in threes, hope I didn't jinx you! It's just my personal motto, strange as it sounds.


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## AlexXx (Aug 23, 2009)

Dont get down on yourself dude! Your last successful Frye grow out was great! You had such amazing babies! You can do it again!


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## k stiles (Aug 29, 2009)

You can do it!


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## Lethbridge (Nov 8, 2009)

for every time you have failed you learned something new to make your next spawns successful


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