# Pork Chops Spawning



## freydo (Jan 7, 2006)

just have to share this with everyone...

to my surprise today after coming home with a bag of Amano shrimp, i noticed my pork chops behaving oddly. especially one of them, that was swimming up against a leaf, almost upside down. my first thought was that it was soon to be a goner. so i was about to reach for the net, when i noticed another pork chop curl against it.

it was at this point i figured they were spawning. i was really shocked, because for one thing i can't sex them to save my life and i never expected them to spawn in my tank. so i watched them for a while, seeing two pork chops chasing another around the tank like mad. when i eventually saw the female pause on a leaf, and a male curled up against it. she must have released about 10 eggs.

i just watched them float off into the current. where they landed, i have no idea. they did this a few times, so i'm not too sure how many eggs she's released so far. but i give the eggs a 5% chance of survival, given the inhabitants and conditions of the tank.

in the end, it was cool to know they were capable of spawning in my tank.


----------



## Mud Pie Mama (Jul 30, 2006)

> in the end, it was cool to know they were capable of spawning in my tank.


How nice. I think this is one of the more satisfying aspects of having a heavily planted tank: the fish being so healthy and more secure can exhibit many natural behaviors. Whenever I've been lucky enough to witness some more difficult to breed fish spawning, I often imagine they are giving me two thumbs up and a fishy stamp-of-approval for all the hard work and time I lavish on my tanks.


----------



## youjin (Apr 1, 2006)

that is wonderful... freydo.

"pork chops' as in harlequin rasbora ?


----------



## freydo (Jan 7, 2006)

actually a slightly different species, they're Hengel's Rasbora:
http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_Trigonostigma_hengeli.php

mud pie mama: i totally agree with respect of the fish showing natural behaviors. i had to remove a high-fin molly from the tank, because it kept going after my male cherry barbs, keeping them from doing their dominance "fighting".

hopefully in a few days i do see some fry, and if i do, i'll have to set my 10 gallon up again PDQ for them


----------



## yoink (Aug 31, 2005)

I often see espei rasboras labeled as porkchops. Damn common names.


----------



## benjavan (Dec 10, 2006)

Hengels are often labeled espeis as well


----------



## freydo (Jan 7, 2006)

WOOOHOOO!!!

it looks like some of the pork-chop eggs survived. i just saw 1 or 2 fry swimming about. so i'm hoping more survived. they appear to be yellowish in colour, so they're tough to pick out, especially against flourite. they're hanging around the back of the tank where the majority of the plants are.

of course i seem to have a couple of baby platties as well, hiding out in the L. sessiliflora forest  so those could be what the fry are. but here's to hoping!


----------



## ihooklow (Sep 20, 2006)

I have about 24 "Gold" Rasboras in my 29-gallon (heavily planted). I never noticed any spawning behavior, but every once in a while a few fry start to come out of the stem jungle. I have had nearly half survive (I don't try to feed them - figuring if they got that big (1/4" by the time I notice them) they probably already have a food source and all I am doing is poluting the tank). The first few are now nearly full size. So far I have had four surviving fry in less than six months.


----------



## freydo (Jan 7, 2006)

that's great to hear 

i'm kind of the same mindset at the moment. i'm not looking at breeding fish, instead it's survival of the fittest. i've got more than enough plant mass for any new fry to hide, and there should be enough "stuff" for them to feed on.


----------



## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

freydo, cool! I always equate spawning with optimal conditions for the fish.

A well-established, heavily planted tank is supposedly capable of keeping new fry alive. They seem to find plenty to eat, which is pretty cool if you ask me. I've raised lots of angels to maturity, but I've always removed the eggs to a hatching tank. It's definately a fun side of the hobby. One of my goals is to someday get wild-caught angels to raise a group of young in an aquarium.


----------



## Ownager2004 (Apr 18, 2006)

Hey freydo, congrats. I was wondering if you were feeding your porkchops any special food regimine or just standard flake.


----------



## freydo (Jan 7, 2006)

guaiac_boy: i definitely don't disagree. i would love to one day start breeding fish, but the logistics of living in an apartment just doesn't lend itself to that part of the hobby. but one day 

ownager2004: i really don't have a strict regiment of feeding. i do however make sure that the different feeding types of fish i have get food. because of the amount of fish i have, i feed once a day, but every other day is different. one day i feed them standard flakes for the surface feeders, some sinking pellets (they're really small pellets) for the mid and bottom feeders, and i drop in a couple food tablets for a mad frenzy.

on the other day, i feed them a couple pinches of dried daphnia and a pinch of dried bloodworms. and if they're lucky, a couple pinches of brine shrimp.

it sounds like a lot, but i'm careful to not overfeed. just enough so that all the fish have something to eat.


----------

