The Sarassas were spawning like crazy this morning. I netted out the couple I like the most and that were the most interested in spawning. She was very ripe so I decided to hand spawn them in to petri dishes. There were about a tablespoon of eggs and the male provided ample milt. It's extremely easy and does not harm the fish.
If a female is ready her stomach will be mush. I hold her in one had at the head end of her ovaries and apply firm pressure with your thumb and forefinger from both sides moving to the tail, eggs just come spilling out. If you only get a few and you're pressing give her another day to ripen. I look for eggs and find the female they are coming from.
Same process for the male just requires a bit more pressure.
I collect the eggs first, then squeeze the male on them then add a bit of water to the dish and swish around. If there are to many eggs for one dish I pour them into another dish back and forth and as they start to adhere they get a fairly uniform distribution.
Milt and Eggs
Put them in a small tank with aeration and I add Methylene Blue about 6 hours after they are fertilized. The benefit of hand spawning is that you get all the eggs in a small area in a short time so they all hatch together and make it easier to give them lots of food and water. They can be upwards of and inch long at one month.
The Female
The Male
The Result
A video of them after I put them in the tank. I might have to isolate the females because he still wants more eggs.
