Breeding Geophagus sveni

Breeding Geophagus sveni “Rio Parana” and raising fry for in 5-ft 80 gallon aquarium. Collection of video clips and photos which slow adult male and female, sveni eggs, parents mouth brooding wrigglers (larvae) and progression of the fry over a 2-month development.

Estimated spawning date was August 1, 2024.
I was away for a few days and didn’t see the spawning. I discovered the female holding babies (wigglers/larvae) on Aug 5. Sveni can be skittish and I suspect that my absence gave the sveni needed privacy to spawn and start mouth brooding.
The fry were released Aug 11 and were fed bbs for several weeks. Then 100-200u golden pearls followed by Purina aquamax 100 (0.8mm) crumbles.
The cloud of fry significantly diminished over a 2 month period. During this time many new young tetras appeared from dense susswassertang adjacent to the matten filter.
Both sveni parents swam with their fry for 16 days protecting them from the adult emporer tetras who were chased and stayed away. As mouth brooders, the adult sveni would occasionally collect and hold babies in their mouth and then release after many minutes (shown in the video). When fry were around 17 days old (do), only the male was out with and protecting the babies. Female mostly hid for the next several weeks.
Eventually the sveni babies were large enough so tetras were not perceived as a threat and all fishes swam and fed together.
When baby sveni were 40do, I moved approximately half of the 55-60 remaining babies to a 10 gal grow out tank which also contained adult emporer tetras.
On Sep 20, I counted 21 left in the tank with the sveni parents. Interestingly, the female came out of hiding a few days later and resumed interaction with the male! Perhaps getting ready to spawn again.
Over the next 3 weeks, the babies kept with the parents continued to decline until only 4 remained. I never saw the adult sveni eat or kill their babies. Nor did they chase any baby tetras which continued to appear in the tank.
The ~25-30 babies in the 10gal tank received the same feedings several times daily and seemed to grow similar to the ones left with parents. But their numbers did not seem to decline. Thus, perhaps no predation by emporer tetras. At least 25 sveni in the 10g could be counted on October 9 when they were 60do.
Much of the above was recorded with a webcam which I set up on Aug 9 and ran 24/7 for over 1 month, conveniently providing a complete daytime digital record. The other images used an iPhone 15 pro.