Dragonet pregnant??? How do you tell?

[buzjerry]

Mandarin goby. Her stomach is huge.
I've been feeding them frozen food and her stomach gets big. But lately her stomach just gets bigger and bigger.

So I didn't feed her for a whole day and her stomach remains huge. I'm worried b/c her stomach looks like its going to burst. Is she sick? Does this mean anything?

 

[buzjerry]

pictures

 

[billsreef]

She does look gravid. If you had a male, they would likely spawn. Without a male, she will likely reabsorb the eggs after a while.

 

[buzjerry]

I do have a male in the tank w/ her. Every time after they eat or later at night he kind of attacks her w/ his dorsal fin all flared... Sometimes she puts with it and sometimes she leaves....

 

[billsreef]

When the lights in the tank go out is there a room light that's still on? Reason I ask, they spawn at dusk. So if there is enough light to give the tank a twilight period after the tanks go off they will do a spawning dance.

 

[buzjerry]

I have room light on sometimes. Haven't seen the spawn dance, I think. I do have the LED lights on the tank that are on after the atnics go off. Would that work?

 

[billsreef]

Those LED lights should work. What you want to do is pull up a comfy chair and nice cold beer or two and settle in to watch just before the main lights go out. The couple of spawning pairs I've had over the year would typically begin the spawning dance rising up the surface of the aquarium within minutes of the main light going out. Pretty cool to watch even if your not collecting eggs to attempt rearing.