Finally another first "for me at least"
Posted: 25 Oct 2014, 18:45
I'm going to start by saying this was completely accidental, and the fish had even less care than if I were going to try to get them to spawn. This one is strictly luck.
Three and a half years ago, I bought a group of eight tank raised from Dr. Stephan Tanner of Swiss Tropicals. I know they're regularly raised, but a lot of people still tend to have trouble with getting them to spawn. Of the eight, I lost two during grow out for unknown reasons. Since they were a bit beaten when found, I've always assumed it was because of territorial dispute. At any rate, I ended up with three pair which are housed as such in five gallon tanks on a 100 gallon central system which I normally use for breeding tetras. Even in larger tanks they don't tend to stray far from the caves the males tend to inhabit, and I've never seen either males or females more than a couple inches from the males caves even during feeding since they've become mature enough to sex.
In March of this year, I found eggs in all three tanks. However, the eggs were VERY small for an Ancistrus, and closer to the size of whiptails. They also weren't sticking together as I would expect and just rolled around the tank floor individually or in pairs. Since I had been told they didn't mature till around five years, by Dr. Tanner when I bought them, I chalked it up to immaturity and continued to simply maintain them in clean water expecting I would need to wait at least another year even though they were already full size, males are five inches and females are slightly larger than four.
Fast forward to this past week. I've been down with a bit of flu all week this week, so the tanks haven't received much more care than the normal twice daily feeding and twice weekly fifty percent water change I do on their rack. My water changes are, for the most part, automated, so I only had to stand there while the system drained and then re-fill. On Wednesday, I ran out of my pre-mix water for this rack, so it was drained and then re-filled with only enough water to cover the pump. This is apparently the water change which triggered them to spawn. I haven't given the tanks any real search since because I really haven't felt up to doing more than just throwing them some food and going back to bed.
This morning, I woke up early (probably because I've slept the vast majority of the time since Wednesday evening) to go out and do another set of water changes. As usual, I started on the opposite end of the garage from the tetra rack, and slowly worked my way over as the tanks drained. I do this because the tetras usually start spawning about the same time I turn the lights on and they're usually done by the time I get to them, and can be removed to allow the eggs to hatch peacefully. While siphoning a bit of waste from the tanks, I spotted a batch of about a dozen, HUGE for an Ancistrus, eggs on the tank floor. One of them appeared to have either ruptured, been eaten, or hatched. Since the others had clearly visible eyes and body inside the eggs, I figured I would pop them back in with the male. He wasn't happy about it, kicked them out the first attempt, but kept them after I lifted the end of the cave straight up and they fell past him to the front.
Apparently, this was enough commotion for them to break free a couple hours later. The male has been kind of half-hearted about fanning since the eggs went back, so I was worried he may have been eating them. However, six hours after placing them back in the cave I can clearly see movement if the male moves just right.
I'm a bit skittish to post my water values here because of flames which have happened in the past, and I'm fully aware they're not the normal for any fish tank. However, it wouldn't be a complete record of the event without them.
pH 7.0
NH3/4 0
NO2 0
NO3 0 (yes...that's a zero) There hasn't been a detectable value in over a year and a half.
temp. 81
TDS 35
DO 7.2
VERY strong current provided by airstone
Filtration HMF, settling tank (cleaned daily), DIY protein skimmer, Kaldness reactor with a mix of K1 and bio chips, 5 micron canister, and purigen reactor. The HMF has only been on the system for three weeks. Prior to that, I simply used aquaclear sponges over the overflows.
Since I'm sure these likely hatched prematurely, because it happened so quickly after placing them back in the cave, I'll have to wait a few days to see if there are any problems with the fry. However, after doing this for so long, it has became extremely rare that I get to have a personal first. For that reason, I'm quite ecstatic.
Larry
Three and a half years ago, I bought a group of eight tank raised from Dr. Stephan Tanner of Swiss Tropicals. I know they're regularly raised, but a lot of people still tend to have trouble with getting them to spawn. Of the eight, I lost two during grow out for unknown reasons. Since they were a bit beaten when found, I've always assumed it was because of territorial dispute. At any rate, I ended up with three pair which are housed as such in five gallon tanks on a 100 gallon central system which I normally use for breeding tetras. Even in larger tanks they don't tend to stray far from the caves the males tend to inhabit, and I've never seen either males or females more than a couple inches from the males caves even during feeding since they've become mature enough to sex.
In March of this year, I found eggs in all three tanks. However, the eggs were VERY small for an Ancistrus, and closer to the size of whiptails. They also weren't sticking together as I would expect and just rolled around the tank floor individually or in pairs. Since I had been told they didn't mature till around five years, by Dr. Tanner when I bought them, I chalked it up to immaturity and continued to simply maintain them in clean water expecting I would need to wait at least another year even though they were already full size, males are five inches and females are slightly larger than four.
Fast forward to this past week. I've been down with a bit of flu all week this week, so the tanks haven't received much more care than the normal twice daily feeding and twice weekly fifty percent water change I do on their rack. My water changes are, for the most part, automated, so I only had to stand there while the system drained and then re-fill. On Wednesday, I ran out of my pre-mix water for this rack, so it was drained and then re-filled with only enough water to cover the pump. This is apparently the water change which triggered them to spawn. I haven't given the tanks any real search since because I really haven't felt up to doing more than just throwing them some food and going back to bed.
This morning, I woke up early (probably because I've slept the vast majority of the time since Wednesday evening) to go out and do another set of water changes. As usual, I started on the opposite end of the garage from the tetra rack, and slowly worked my way over as the tanks drained. I do this because the tetras usually start spawning about the same time I turn the lights on and they're usually done by the time I get to them, and can be removed to allow the eggs to hatch peacefully. While siphoning a bit of waste from the tanks, I spotted a batch of about a dozen, HUGE for an Ancistrus, eggs on the tank floor. One of them appeared to have either ruptured, been eaten, or hatched. Since the others had clearly visible eyes and body inside the eggs, I figured I would pop them back in with the male. He wasn't happy about it, kicked them out the first attempt, but kept them after I lifted the end of the cave straight up and they fell past him to the front.
Apparently, this was enough commotion for them to break free a couple hours later. The male has been kind of half-hearted about fanning since the eggs went back, so I was worried he may have been eating them. However, six hours after placing them back in the cave I can clearly see movement if the male moves just right.
I'm a bit skittish to post my water values here because of flames which have happened in the past, and I'm fully aware they're not the normal for any fish tank. However, it wouldn't be a complete record of the event without them.
pH 7.0
NH3/4 0
NO2 0
NO3 0 (yes...that's a zero) There hasn't been a detectable value in over a year and a half.
temp. 81
TDS 35
DO 7.2
VERY strong current provided by airstone
Filtration HMF, settling tank (cleaned daily), DIY protein skimmer, Kaldness reactor with a mix of K1 and bio chips, 5 micron canister, and purigen reactor. The HMF has only been on the system for three weeks. Prior to that, I simply used aquaclear sponges over the overflows.
Since I'm sure these likely hatched prematurely, because it happened so quickly after placing them back in the cave, I'll have to wait a few days to see if there are any problems with the fry. However, after doing this for so long, it has became extremely rare that I get to have a personal first. For that reason, I'm quite ecstatic.
Larry