Six line wrasse breeding

[Elder1945]

So I don't breed fish at all but seem to have luck in sexing fish when I buy pairs. I picked up two 6 line wrasses and they are breeding........ The female is holding eggs? now her belly is huge and the male is sticking around...

So my question is how rare is this and is it worth me going down the road of breeding... This is a hard question as I also have a sexed pair of black cap jawfish that are living together.. So knowing my luck they will breed.. The thing that scares me even more is I have a sexed pair of naso's in my tank........ they sleep in the same cave every night, laying on top of each other.... its quite interesting considering i have never seen this before.

I have in the past have cardinals and clowns mate in my tanks just seems to be less and less info on other species.

Just want some insight from anyone who breeds fish..

I will get pic's if I can of them, but from what I have compared on the photos that I have seen I would say she is pregnant.

 

[Greenstreet.1]

Following very interesting. But you should hit up @eatbreakfast @evolved

 

[eatbreakfast]

Wrasses will spawn in captivity, but it is the female releasing eggs and the male sperm into the water column to be fertilized and carried away. They will provide no care whatsoever.

As of now I believe only one or two species have had fertilized eggs actually hatch and their fry make it to a post larval stage. Melanurus for sure and maybe one other species if my memory serves me right.

 

[Elder1945]

Thank you for the information.. I will see if anything happens.. Is there a time they release eggs, mid day, night, morning... or do we not know? I suspected that the wrasse was just eating a lot and had a expanded belly but she (i think) has had the belly now for a few days. I will keep posting to see what happens.. Just extremely interesting to see in my tank.

 

[Eckolancer]

Following as I have a melanurus wrasse that once a month has a huge belly. I don't have another one but maybe it would be worth adding and hope for a male.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Thank you for the information.. I will see if anything happens.. Is there a time they release eggs, mid day, night, morning... or do we not know? I suspected that the wrasse was just eating a lot and had a expanded belly but she (i think) has had the belly now for a few days. I will keep posting to see what happens.. Just extremely interesting to see in my tank.

If they were to spawn it would be around dusk. Though females usually aren't obviously egg laden. The most usual causes of a swollen abdomen are overeating or an intestinal blockage.

Following as I have a melanurus wrasse that once a month has a huge belly. I don't have another one but maybe it would be worth adding and hope for a male.

Unlike sixlines, melanurus wrasses are sexually dimorphic, so you wouldn't need to 'hope' for a male, they are easy to identify. I would recommend against adding another. Melanurus wrasses are eager to transition from female to male in aquaria. And having two melanurus will pretty quickly lead to having only one melanurus.

 

[lazcub]

Never knew you could breed them??

 

[eatbreakfast]

Never knew you could breed them??

Currently they have not been bred in captivity. Spawning may occur, but care for the larvae is difficult.

 

[Cal]

updates?

 

[Elder1945]

yes sorry for the lack of updates have a lot going on..

In short I think I saw the female releasing at the same time the male was swimming quite erratically around her. I am not schooled in the art of breeding fish or what to look for in breeding pairs. I do however have a strong feeling after observing the 2 fish that one is female and did release something as the bulge soon went away and has not come back. The fish was releasing something in the top 3" of the water column when the blues on my lights were at there max. It looked like tiny tiny pebbles (the best thing I can think of right now) they kinda floated near the top but some did sink. I also saw some of the smaller fish in my tank eat them.

They both live in a large hammer colony and travel up and down my tank. After this episode they seemed to stay in the colony for a few days. I also did not see the male eat for a few days after.

I don't know what any of this means but was cool to see. I am also guessing that one is male and one is female.