Re: spawning cave colors

["gkadar" <gkadar@idirect.ca>]

>I've used halved and cleaned coconut shells with success...just cut a small
>V for an opening after they've been cut in half...I'm even thinking of
>siliconing a piece of slate or glass to the coconut shell, so they have a
>flat egg laying surface...just a thought.


As far as coconut shell preparation, living in the Caribbean for about 2 1/2
years came in handy for this.  If you take a hammer to the coconut and don't
just smash it to death, but use increasing amounts of force gradually,
around and around the coconut, you'll find that the shell will separate from
the meat and you'll have really big conical pieces of shell with slightly
irregular edges.  (One of our 'competitions' was to see who could get all
the shell off in the minimum number of pieces and yet keep the meat part
intact with the juice still inside......takes patience, equally insane
company and a few 'rum and oranges'.  You should sit out in the garden
enjoying a few rays.)  Those pieces require no modification whatsoever.
Just place them in the tank in such a way that their is a small gap in one
area for the momfish to slide in.  Mine get into their 'bunkers' by laying
on their sides and wriggling in.  No problems with fertilization either.
The male can get in with effort or just fertilize from just outside by the
gap.  Then once the eggs are fertilized, the mom piles up the gravel at the
opening so no one will bother her.

The first time I ever had apistos spawn, it was a pair of wild caught blue
cacatoides.  The Mrs. figured out what the coconut shell was for within a
few hours of bringing her home from the store.  She definitely wasted no
time in doing what comes naturally and in overwhelming me with a cloud of
fry.

Gabriella




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