(I considered adding this to Jacob’s ‘opallios breeding’ thread, but in the end didn’t. I don’t think it deserves its own thread, so I’m tacking it onto one of my old ones! Please move if necessary)
A while ago I moved a pair of opallios into a 15-litre compartment in a row of similar tanks that share the same water. It had been an unusually long while since I last saw either, so at this week’s water-change I thought I’d have a hunt for them.
I began removing wood, moss etc. starting at the front of the compartment. Within a few seconds the female appeared, shocked and disillusioned from underneath a pile of leaf-litter. I continued the search for the male …
Lifting up a bamboo cave I came across what I presume to be a bubblenest (pictured here) :
I say “presume to be” because, although previously I’ve had several spawnings of opallios, I have never noticed a bubblenest before : eggs were ‘bare’ and simply stuck onto the roof of a coal cave.
Was I therefore previously unobservant ; or do opallios in fact sometimes use bubblenests and sometimes not? I can’t see any eggs in this bubblenest, incidentally. Having taken the photo, I immediately put everything back as close as I could to where it was before. Even so, I assume that I’ve ruined any potential of this particular nest.
The question that follows on from this is : would I be justified in resuming the search for the male in due course, or can I take it that the presence of a bubblenest is sufficient evidence that he’s lurking there somewhere?! (EDIT : it’s OK – when I returned downstairs there he was, stationed at the front of the tank wondering what on earth had happened!).