 Basics | |||||||||||||
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| Overview | The first spawn was on Friday 21st of February 2020. The breeding group consisted of 3 males and 2 females. Additionally, there were 1 unknown individual present. The smallest male was at least 90mm SL and the smallest female was at least 90mm SL. The individuals were obtained from Imported by Pan Ocean Aquarium, Hayward, CA. | ||||||||||||
| Further spawns | Thursday 5th of March 2020, Friday 20th of March 2020, Saturday 28th of March 2020, Thursday 2nd of April 2020, Monday 6th of April 2020, Saturday 18th of April 2020, Wednesday 29th of April 2020, Thursday 30th of April 2020, Tuesday 19th of May 2020, Wednesday 10th of June 2020, Wednesday 31st of January 2024. 11 in total. | ||||||||||||
| Feeding |
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| Water Parameters (at time of spawning) | |||||||||||||
| pH | 7.00 to 7.40 | ||||||||||||
| Conductivity | 200µs to 400µs | ||||||||||||
| Temperature | 22.5°C to 25.0°C | ||||||||||||
| Current | Medium | ||||||||||||
| Other Water Params | Tap water dechlorinated with Aquavitro Alpha at 1.5x strength | ||||||||||||
| Aquarium | |||||||||||||
| Dimensions | The aquarium dimensions were 919mm x 464mm x 329mm (36.2" x 18.3" x 13") all Length x Width x Height. | ||||||||||||
| Furniture | Manzanita, bamboo pipes, clay pipes, a few large flat cobblestones, small oak branches with leaves, and pool filter sand. | ||||||||||||
| Filtration | Two sponge filters and also a sponge prefilter on an Aquaclear 50 powerhead | ||||||||||||
| Lighting | Fluval LED bar on 14L:10D light cycle with ramping light intensity at on/off. | ||||||||||||
| Heating | Fluval E100 set to 76F. | ||||||||||||
| Breeding | |||||||||||||
| Behaviour | Male and female were in 7" long x 1" diameter bamboo pipe for two days before spawning. Male and female were "single file" within cave (male in front of female, not side by side). Egg laying occurred overnight between 11:30PM and 5:00AM. Both parents remained in cave after egg laying... does this mean they aren't finished? Male observed sitting on a layer of green eggs attached to the bottom of the pipe. First spawn occurred on 21-February-2020. Fourth spawn occurred on 28-March-2020. Details of the spawns are presented in the forum, here: https://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=49059. | ||||||||||||
| Eggs |  There were 110 green eggs laid which were 1.5mm in diameter. | ||||||||||||
| Time to hatch | 8 days Number: 100 Free swimming: 3 days | ||||||||||||
| Segregation | SPAWN #1: Initially, eggs left with parents. Later the entire breeding tube was removed and placed over the outflow of a sponge filter. I suspect the air flow was too strong, as after 24 hours some of the eggs seemed to have broken. But good eggs were visible for 6 days. Meanwhile, the other eggs fungused. On the seventh day all the eggs, including the good one, disappeared into the tank and I could not find them. SPAWN #2: Left with dad in community tank. About a day before last day of incubation, eggs seemed to hatch early and die. Dad left pipe. There were about 3 good eggs remaining in cave, so I placed that in a fry basket. One egg hatched. SPAWN #3: I immediately took pipe from dad and put it in a fry basket, aimed at powerhead outflow. All eggs fungused. SPAWN #4: Dad abandoned pipe on day 1 during a water change. I immediately took pipe and picked 104 eggs out. One egg popped. The remaining 103 loose eggs look good. I placed them all in a fry basket near water flow, plus a sponge filter dumping water into basket. (Sadly, these eggs failed or fungused over the next 4-5 days). SPAWN #5: I left eggs with dad in tank for 8 days. Then I moved the bamboo pipe with dad inside to a fry basket with a cluster of oak leaves inside, positioned in front of powerhead outflow. A few eggs hatched at the end of day 8. Most of the eggs hatched on day 9, and the last of the eggs hatched overnight between day 9 and 10. In total, I counted 135 fry, plus more which I didn't attempt to count as they were hiding in a cluster of oak leaves. SPAWN #6: The parents were messy and most of the eggs they laid fell out of the pipe and onto the sand. I gathered these loose eggs and incubated them in a fry basket. Most hatched. The few eggs which were laid in the pipe with dad stayed with him for a week. A day or two before hatching, I removed the pipe and carefully picked out the eggs and added them to the basket. Many of them hathched also. SPAWN #7: I left eggs with dad in tank for 7 days. Then I moved the bamboo pipe with dad inside to a fry basket with a cluster of oak leaves inside, positioned in front of powerhead outflow. A few eggs hatched on day 8. The remaining eggs hatched on day 9. In total, I counted 150 fry, plus more which I didn't attempt to count as they were hiding in a cluster of oak leaves. | ||||||||||||
| Fry sizes | 7 days: 10mm 14 days: 14mm 21 days: 16mm | ||||||||||||
| 14 days |  | ||||||||||||
| 21 days |  | ||||||||||||
| Juvenile sizes | 1 month: 20mm 3 months: 46mm 6 months: 0mm | ||||||||||||
| 1 month |  | ||||||||||||
| 3 months |  | ||||||||||||
| Fry and juvenile feeding | Spawns #5 and #6 were hatched in large numbers. Eggs were hatched in fry basket, then dad and pipe were removed. Fry were fed live microworms 2x daily for the first few weeks. After a few days of feeding, Repashy bottom scratcher powder was also offered as food 1x-2x daily. For later spawns, I switched from the net-style fry box to a 6"-long rigid plastic Fluval hang-on breeder box. The solid box retained the microworms and I had nearly 100% survival of fry. | ||||||||||||
