Christmas gift from the leaf fish.

[Sea-agg09]

Last night I was finishing up dinner with my girlfriend, when she tells me one of my leaf fish is turning upside down. I take a look and my largest leaf fish is laying eggs under my ornamental dragon! This is a big surprise because I didn't think my other fish were mature, but I guess that was wrong. To be honest, this isnt exactly the best time because I'll be moving monday. The eggs incubate for 60-90 hours, so it should be sunday or monday when they are hatching. Pics will come later once I get some time to post them!

[Somefishguy]

Cool and congrats

[Mzungu]

Awesome! Congrats! Can't wait to see pics.

[Sea-agg09]

So bad news. I am virtually positive that the eggs are not fertilized. I am not surprised because the male is very small, and I honestly doubt is sexually mature. It has been over 48 hours and the eggs have not changed size or color at all. They are still completely clear, and they should only be incubating for another 12-30 hours. Here are some of the pictures I took. You'll have to excuse the terrible quality, but my camera can't focus quick enough for these kinds of events.

Pre-spawning : The male is the smaller one under the dragon's chin. The female is much larger and more plump, but is facing away in this shot.


Egg-laying: You'll see the larger female upside down laying the eggs.


Eggs: This is the best I could do for a close-up. My camera won't focus on the translucent eggs to save my life. I've read they can lay up to 300 eggs, but in this case it was maybe only 50. It makes sense because this is her first batch of eggs and the female is very young. Some appear to be attached directly to the surface, while others appear to be dangling by something. I won't venture to guess what...


Male guarding eggs: The male guards the eggs until they hatch. Because I had no idea this was going to happen, I didn't move them into a breeder tank. It works out in this case because the male is suppose to scare the female off. Because this female is so much larger, I doubt that would have happened. In my 75 gallon tank, she just swam away after she was done.


In the end the eggs are falling off the fixture. Possibly because it is an artificial structure, or maybe they are suppose to. I'm not really sure. Whether any hatch or not I am still excited about this. There really isn't a definate way to tell male from female leaf fish, other than that females are more plump. Now I know I have at least 1 male and 1 female. I also know that they will at least attempt to breed. In the future I can prep for this more and give the eggs a better chance.

[Mzungu]

Well, regardless of what happens with the eggs, that's a great write-up and some awesome pictures! Thank you for sharing this info with us!

[armthehomeless]

Thanks for sharing! Be sure to give us updates!

[Sea-agg09]

This is my first experience with egg layers, not to mention it isn't a well documented species. Im going to be doing a good bit of research on these guys, so hopefully things will go much better next time. Having sexually mature males might help as well. :)

[Sea-agg09]

Even when only 5 or 6 eggs are left, the other males are already getting ready for another bout of breeding. I cought them showing off to each other just now, so I figured I would share. I really like the second picture, because you can see the two males with their jaws extended.

[Fire_chair]

Very cool fish. Good luck.

[Darbex]

Congrats