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Wow! That's a huge number compared to my experience. I'd go crazy for 50+ babies. Do most of yours survive?
At the current time, my survival rate is about 15-20%. Larger ones have the best survival rate. They can come as large as pencil erasers.
Do you get any advance notice of either the release of sperm or the release of the babies?
For sperm, you look for the neck stretch of the male as it forms a chalice looking shape. Once you see this, it means that spawning time is either occurring or happening real soon. For babies, its really tricky but a lot of times, females will start to look sick or shrivel up. Some will even lose some color if they are holding a ton of offspring. As I type this right now, one of my females is rather shriveled and sickly looking but I know shes about to blow. I see a few babies at her lips, she's trying to hold them in for a bit longer it. When they are ready to release, their mouth opens up completely and dumps them.
Eggs, are very very rare to see. Here is a photo I took of a female pulling her eggs out during a spawn. You can see all the eggs piled up at her mouth.
Is it during the full moon? Is more likely at night than during the day?
It does not appear to be connected with the full moon. I have seen them spawning as early as mid-day.
Or do you spend way too much time looking at your tank so you end up seeing everything? LOL! Just kidding. But any help with this would be most useful. Thanks in advance.
Ron
I have about ~40 adults. Many are 2-4 years old in a 20 nuvo. With that many, I have a high chance of seeing things occur. Below is a picture I took earlier in January.