My BLogs Right Breeding report for Parotocinclus jumbo by Comradovich

Down Basics
Overview The first spawn was on Thursday 13th of April 2023. The breeding group consisted of 0 males and 0 females. Additionally, there were 6 unknown individuals present. The youngest adult was approximately 9 months old. The individuals were obtained from Dan's Fish.com.
Further spawns Thursday 13th of April 2023, Friday 14th of April 2023, Wednesday 19th of April 2023. 3 in total.
Feeding
1.Hikari Frozen Daphnia (frozen) few times a week
2.Fluval Bug Bites Bottom Feeder Granules (dry / prepared) few times a week
3.Repashy super green (dry / prepared) few times a week
4.Top Fin Tropical Flakes (dry / prepared) daily
Down Water Parameters (at time of spawning)
pH 6.80 to 7.20
Conductivity 300µs to 300µs
Temperature 20.0°C to 20.0°C
Current Medium
Other Water Params KH 80-120ppm. Water is off of a home water softener system, so buffering is provided by mineral salts while actual hardness is kept low. TDS is just below 200ppm, but GH is still in the very soft testing range.
Down Aquarium
Dimensions The aquarium dimensions were 610mm x 305mm x 406mm (24" x 12" x 16") all Length x Width x Height.
Furniture Heavily planted edges with java fern (wendelov and tridens) attached to driftwood and some amazon swords in the back corners. Plenty of stones for algae growth. You want plenty of green spot algae for the adults to graze on between meals. Design the tank so that there is a clear channel through the middle, simulating the center of a river or fast moving stream.
Filtration Aqueon 20G HOB variant. Bog standard filter that came with the aquarium kit. Only special equipment used is an ACO coarse sponge pre-filter.
Lighting Hygger HG 957 to promote plant/algae growth.
Heating None. Kept in bedroom heated off standard furnace set at 74F.
Down Breeding
Behaviour Breeding is triggered by doing a deep water change, (70-80%), right as a storm front is rolling into the area. You will notice movement as a group of adults gather in a cleared portion of the tank. You may notice T poses, or you may simply see the female depositing eggs, followed by the male passing over. As they generally avoid being seen while doing this, you're much more likely to find eggs than actually catch adults in the act. 1st spawn was on glass just above substrate line, in a quiet portion of the tank off the main channel. Spawn size was about 30 eggs. 2nd spawn was later the same night, on the other end of the main channel on the back glass. Spawn size was also around 30 eggs. 3rd spawn was triggered two weeks later when another storm front rolled in by doing an additional deep water change. This spawn was much smaller, only 9 eggs. It may be the females did not have enough time to produce more, or I got the smallest female to finally produce. Against black substrate, it is very hard to tell if the "saddles" noted in the species report are present. All of my adults have darkened to match the substrate and look functionally identical.
Eggs There were 30 clear eggs laid which were 2.0mm in diameter.
Time to hatch 7 days
Number: 8
Free swimming: 7 days
Segregation Eggs were removed using a plastic gift card or keychain tag and a pipette. Eggs then received a dip in a methylene blue solution in a urine-specimen sized cup. Following removal of eggs and their anti-fungal bath, they were placed in a HOB breeder box of the Fluval/Marina type with a small air pump attached. The methylene blue concentration used in the first two batches must've been too weak, as most of these eggs fungused over and only 8 hatched out. Hatching occurred a full week later during the night, and one wiggler did not survive. The remaining 7 did all progress to the free-swimming stage over the next week. On the third spawn, only 9 eggs were present, so I used a bit stronger concentration of methylene blue. I had six initially hatch after only 24 hours, but all 9 had hatched within another day. The correct concentration of methylene blue should give you a color one shade darker than a sports drink. (Think like a darkened Hi-C or Powerade). They only need to be soaked long enough to obtain an anti-fungal coating.
Fry sizes 7 days: 7mm
14 days: 12mm
21 days: 14mm
7 days
14 days
21 days
Juvenile sizes 1 month: 15mm
3 months: 23mm
6 months: 0mm
1 month
3 months
Fry and juvenile feeding As wigglers began reducing the size of their yolk sacs, I attempted to add infusoria to the breeder box. This was supplemented by a clump of Süßwassertang, (although java moss or the like would also work), which provided an additional source of infusoria as well as a potential algae grazing surface. They did not seem to be particularly live-food focused. I also attempted to blow in very small amounts of both Hikari First Bites and unmixed Repashy Super Green. (Dip tip of pipette in powder to coat just the tip, then pump vigorously a few times to spread it around). After a few days, I graduated them up to walter worms, (which occasionally get a response), and pencil eraser sized blobs of mixed Repashy Super Green. I gave up on the First Bites around this time. They seem to be all over the Repashy after a few days. Generally waiting until the gel has decayed a bit over night, before hitting it hard in the early morning hours. I think the live foods are more of an occasional food source, while the algae and Repashy make up their main diet. You will notice immediately if they have started eating, as their bellies begin to take on a greenish-brown hue and you'll start seeing poop. Having larger fry in the breeder box with newly transitioning wigglers seems to make the move over to prepared foods easier. I notice the newest fry seem to mimic the older ones. You'll notice a lot of grazing behaviors in the free-swimming fry, and they'll start to show their schooling behaviors once enough of them are together in the box. The youngest fry do not seem to bother eggs, which does make it easier to mix age groups. Somewhere around the 2.5 wk mark you may need to increase feedings to twice daily. Repashy will quickly be added to the "clean plate club" in roughly that time. You can increase the initial feeding amount or increase the feeding intervals. Repashy simply decays into dust, and they'll eat the dust before it really breaks down. Every other attempt to add banana worms meets with a positive response, so mark that as an occasional offering.