PlanetCatfish.com

• 2020-09-14: 39 eggs found.
  • (3 day interval)

Update on largest fry, now over 12 mm SL. They might be as old as 6 weeks, but are probably younger.

Trachelyichthys exilis fry 6 week update

• 2020-09-15: somewhere between 47-52 eggs found.
  • (1 day interval)

For the last 3-4 days, I've been feeding them daily with frozen "mini bloodworms" (aSan Francisco Bay Brand product). I guess the woodcats like it.

The number is a range because I was distracted near the end and lost count. It's a shame too, since this is their biggest one-night egg production yet.

Cheers, Eric

Found more eggs on 2020-09-17, but no time to collect them. Had time to collect eggs today (Sept 19), but no eggs to be found. Other eggs eaten by adults?

On better side, got some nice views of the growing fry.

Cheers, Eric

My largest fry. Starting to get the parental color pattern. And a parent who doesn't know how to hide.

Cheers, Eric

• 2020-10-04: 52 eggs found.
  • (2 day interval)

These eggs looked to be not new. "New eggs," meaning eggs laid overnight, are large and have a swollen and smooth jelly coat. By contrast, eggs a couple of days old are smaller and have a contracted, wrinkled appearance... or at least, that's what I think explains the difference. So I suspect most of these eggs (and by most, I mean over 40) are from the spawn on Oct 2. But there are some new looking eggs, so I will count this as another spawn, although I can't reliably separate how many eggs belong to this spawn vs. the spawn I observed but didn't harvest on Oct 2.

Update of calendar since first spawn: (combining all spawns from page 1 & 2 of this thread):

• 2020-07-22: First egg found, over next two days, sloppy and then careful sand vacuuming recovered a total of 5 eggs.
• 2020-07-27: 17 eggs found
  • (5 day interval)
• 2020-07-29 or 30: "few more" eggs found. (apparently I didn't count those or note date carefully)
  • (2-3 day interval, or could these have been from prior spawn, meaning no interval here?)
• 2020-07-31: 12 eggs found
  • (2 or 4 day interval, depending on whether the 7/29 eggs were a new spawn or they were from the 7/27 spawn)
• 2020-08-06: "about 10" eggs found (I was out of town from 8/2 to 8/6, but eggs looked fresh, so I think they were laid between 8/4 and 8/6, rather than near 8/2.
  • (4-6 day interval, depending on when spawn occurred)
• 2020-08-09: 19 eggs found
  • (3-5 day interval, depending on when previous spawn occurred)
• 2020-08-10: 25 eggs found
  • (1 day interval)
• 2020-08-11: 3 eggs found
  • (1 day interval)
• 2020-08-14 or 15 (I can't recall): 10 eggs found
  • (4-5 day interval since last big spawn)
• 2020-08-17: 3 eggs found (maybe from the 8/15 spawn?)
  • (2-3 day interval)
• 2020-08-18: 27 eggs found
  • (3-4 day interval since last big spawn)
• 2020-08-20: 10 eggs found
  • (2 day interval)
• 2020-08-23: 36 eggs found
  • (5 day interval from last big spawn)
• 2020-08-28: 16 eggs found
  • (5 day interval)
• 2020-08-30: 25 eggs found
  • (2 day interval)
• 2020-08-31: 40 eggs found
  • (1 day interval)
• 2020-09-04: 21 eggs found
  • (4 day interval)
• 2020-09-06: 34 eggs found
  • (2 day interval)
• 2020-09-09: 42 eggs found
  • (3 day interval)
• 2020-09-11: 43 eggs found
  • (2 day interval)
• 2020-09-14: 39 eggs found
  • (3 day interval)
• 2020-09-15: somewhere between 47-52 eggs found
  • (1 day interval)
• 2020-09-17: eggs found but not collected; all eggs gone 2 days later
  • (2 day interval)
• 2020-09-21: 53 eggs found
  • (I didn't check on 9/20, so 3-4 day interval)
• 2020-09-26: 36 eggs found
  • (5 day interval)
• 2020-09-29: 30 eggs found
  • (3 day interval)
• 2020-10-02: more eggs found, but I wasn't able to collect and count them today.
  • (3 day interval)
• 2020-10-04: 52 eggs found
  • (2 day interval)

• 2020-10-06: 2 eggs found
  • (2 day interval)

• 2020-10-08: 25 eggs found
  • (4 day interval since last big spawn)

Fry updates: My largest fry, now about 2 months old and 23 mm SL, and a smaller fry about 1.5 month old and 18 mm SL. I don't know the exact age of my oldest fry, but it should be between 7-9 weeks.

I finally started a new fry basket a few weeks ago, so I have another group growing up, away from the mouths of these hungry beasts.

Cheers, Eric

• 2020-10-19: 34 eggs found
  • (4 day interval)

I had checked the parents' tank for eggs on both the 16th and 17th, with no eggs found either day. I didn't inspect this tank yesterday, so the eggs could have been laid yesterday. But the eggs look fresh though, so I suspect they were laid last night, giving me the 4 day interval.

• 2020-10-27: 20 eggs found
  • (2 day interval)

These eggs were found today and should be a 3 day interval, but all of the eggs are uniformly small and bumpy, which is what I see with eggs that I think are a day old. So I suspect these were actually laid yesterday or the night before, so I'm reporting as a 2 day interval.

A bit surprisingly, I found my first fry loose in the tank today, and it was a decent size (about 8mm). Up till now, I've never found any fry in the parents' tank; I assume the parents will eat any fry they find.

• 2020-10-30: 34 eggs found
  • (4 day interval)

Since I reported the last batch of eggs as being found on the 27th, but they looked like they'd been laid earlier (I estimate on the 26th, then I'm counting 4 days from the 26th till today (30th) for these fresh eggs.

Cheers, Eric

This one may or may not be my largest, but it's the largest one I could catch. About 3 months old, 28mm SL. Fat because they feasted on live blackworms today... it's a fan favorite with them.

Cheers, Eric

It looks in great nick!

Jools

Thanks Jools!

More eggs seen today, and there looked to be a lot, so I took the time to pick out the eggs, and I wasn't disappointed:

• 2020-11-14: 61 eggs Biggest spawn so far!
  • (7 day interval since I last inspected, but I haven't inspected for 7 days, so this value is a meaningless value)

These are all newly-laid eggs, so for sure it's all one night's production, but with two pairs in the tank, don't know if it's all from same female.

From a total of about 20 juvies, here are my three largest . These fish are now approximately 6 months old and 40mm SL. When I bought the parents, the smallest adult was already 45mm SL (largest male, 65mm SL), so I wouldn't be surprised if these juvies are ready to spawn within 2 months or so.
Parents are still spawning, but over the fall and winter the number of bad eggs has gone really high, sometimes 100% of a night's spawn. I wish I knew why. But good spawns are also occurring. Two days ago I collected about 20 good fresh eggs.

Cheers, Eric

And here's a video review of growth to this age:

Trachelyichthys exilis fry 6 month update