HI all. Well I'm not sure what's going on in my tank. I have 3 orandas. I know for a fact I have 1 male (he was trying to breed with Turtle, the little female I had until she died). 5 days later I got my "Squirt" I assumed he was a he, because CB lost his urge and his breeding stars. Weeks later I got Smudge, I thought at first was a girl, then decided probably not. CB's breeding behavior or stars didn't return, along with the INNIE, OUTIE technique, Smudge is an OUTIE.

Sorry about all the non - right terms, I'm still very naive to this.

Now, upon inspection (tonight is tank cleaning night), I see little round egg looking things. There is probably about 10 -20 of them throughout the tank, they are on all the plants. Some are whitish, some are a white, clear color and some have a fuzz on them.

My question...... are these eggs? If they are,oh no, how can I tell who the girl is? I 'm not ready to do the breeding thing. It doesn't bother me, I know they'll just eat them. My main issue is, who is the girl. Is there a way to tell? I haven't seen any spawning behavior.

The only thing different is I added a Bristlenose pleco 3 days ago. He or she is 1 inch long. Could the eggs be from it?

Sorry the post is long, I'm trying to learn as much as possible. Someday I would like to breed, and knowing who is who (God granting my babies being with me a while) would be helpful.

Any feed back would be nice. Also if you need additional info just ask. I've tried to think of everything you would need to know.

Thanks Laurie

i suspecct that they are eggs
after a few days you will see a black dot
appear inside the clear eggs as the fry are develop
the white fuzzy ones are infertile eggs that have gone bad (fungus)
by far the easiest way to tell the sex of the fish is during their breeding period
usually it occurs in the early morning or late evenings
when you suspect they are going to breed(that is when they are chasing each
other hour upon hour)
you should wake up early and watch them( the ones being chased are the the females , its as easy as that )

Thanks Slippery, I to think they are eggs. It kinda threw me, they were not together. They were scattered all over. 1 here 2 there and so on. I hope you won't think I'm cruel but I won't know for sure because I went ahead and cleaned the whole tank. Everything got a scrub down. So the eggs went. I hope no one gets upset. I am not ready for breeding and have no where to even attempt it. It was exciting to learn that 1 of my males is actually a female. I'm still not 100% certain which one. I looked further into the innie and outtie thing and I had it backwards. It is the female that has an outtie anus, correct????
If this is true my female is definitly Smudge. That would please me she is soooo cute.

None of them have been showing any type of spawning behavior. We are up at 5am and evening is when we watch them the most. I have not seen anything. The only chasing they do is at feeding time. Then the 3 of them circle each other where the pellets drop. Once the food is gone the chasing is done as well.

If you have any other suggestions I would love to hear them. I
m so excited to have this happen even though I'm not ready yet.

Laurie

I thought you were teasing when you said that you had to go post in the breeding section!!!!! LOLWell,at least you know what to look for now.... I don't think people are going to be mad,I would rather see you try and clean them out,rather than fry get born and slowly die off one at a time-couldn't handle that! Only you will know when and if you are ready for that kind of commitment. You got a girl,you got a boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!Woo-Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Devs, Yeah when I saw them myself I thought someone was playing a trick on me. Thanks for your support.

Laurie

Thats correct
its the females have outties and males and innies
its seems like CB is male, Smudge is female
do you think you could post a pic up so we
can get a better look
another good way is to compare their waist-line
when Smudge was laying eggs did you notice that she
was more fatter than usual???


that wasnt a bad thing to do
its better to leave the eggs alone if you are not ready
to care for the frys
they require a lot work and care

Thanks for confirming that for me. Smudge is definetly my girl. I will try and get a picture of her backside (it might be difficult). As for her waistline that is hard as well. You see CB and Squirt are the slim orandas (they are not anywhere near the oranda look). Now Smudge is, she is a fat little egg shaped perfect little specimen. So her belly always looks fat and round because I have nothing else to compare her to. It would be like comparing Rosanne Barr to Cameron Diaz. She always looks fat.
I do keep an eye on their bellies, for other reasons such as sbd and dropsy. And I haven't seen anything unusual.

Thanks again
Laurie