Metallic CTPK Spawn (CTPK color 072115)

If you've noticed, I am running two parallel lines of CTPKs now. One is focused on form - these guys have great primary branching (which in my opinion gives a much cleaner appearance than CTs with greater branching), decent webbing reduction, and carry DT which contributes to broader dorsals.  However, this line has uneven color and some have marbling and red wash. The other line is focused on color - these have beautifully clean metallic coverage, and come in metallic copper, royal blue, and turquoise (my favorite!). Both lines originate from two half brothers from Jamie, but the form line came from a brother/sister cross, and the color line came from an outcross to a female from Gastone Tomei. You can read about the beginning of the CTPK project here.  

This Spawn is at Spawn CTPK color 072115. Crossing my fingers!

The initial pair...

Male from Spawn CTPK form 031814. I LOVE HIS COLOR. It is just like his mother! And he has a complete mask. His form leaves much to be desired - hardly any webbing reduction, long ventrals and a slanted anal, and rounded outer rays on his caudal (although still 180). However, I just love his color so much that I want to use him for sure!

Pretty copper lady also from Spawn CTPK form 031814. I like her BIG strong body, even metallic coverage and color (except for the traditional black head), her 180 spread (which you can't see here, but trust me lol), and her relatively tight anal fin. Her webbing reduction is minimal but even all the way around.

I was super excited for this spawn, but worried as well. The male was on the smaller side, and the female is definitely a big girl. I decided to try it anyway, since I have had gymnastic males able to tackle much larger girls (case in point - Big Mama and Beautiful Idiot from Spawn RY 020114). 

It was funny - as soon as I released the female, she IMMEDIATELY headed over to the bubblenest and started signaling that she wanted to spawn! Her head was down, barred, and displayed submissive body language. Unfortunately, the male was a bit of an idiot and chased her around for about 20 minutes, but soon he got the hint and they started to try spawning.

You can see how large and round she is here...

She actually started to drop eggs in her container!

Unfortunately, the male was too small for the female. They tried multiple times to spawn, but there was never a successful wrap. I removed the male after 24 hours and let the female rest for a day.

Second attempt with a different male

Same male from Spawn CTPK color 020815. He has beautiful copper coverage, a strong smooth body (big!), and some reduction in the dorsal and anal. Although he has great D-shaped outer rays on the caudal, the webbing reduction is minimal and he displays secondary branching.

Same female from above!

The male, who I have spawned before, took over the nest left by the previous male. I only left her jarred for another day before releasing her, and she immediately went under the nest again. I was really happy that I was actually home for this spawn and was able to get some awesome spawning pictures!

Action shot!

Some fun acrobatics

That's a wrap!

Doing a dance :)

Wow so many eggs!

Another egg catching shot :)

Interestingly, after they spawned successfully, the male was a terrible father. He could not keep any of the embryos in the nest, which is unusual since he had successfully reared fry in his previous spawn. I transferred all of the embryos to the red male next door, and he raised them like a champ :) It's great that red/yellow traditional PKs are easy to tell apart from metallic CTPKs!