Pseudohemiodon Spawning

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 01 Jul 2007, 20:02

Just thought I would share some pics of my spawn.

Originally had two (no spawning activity) adults, but recently added two more.

They spawned the night the latest two were added.

Spawning took place at night.

The eggs took 3 weeks

to mature at 26/27C. I had to pop them manually in the end.

Conductivity was about 250us and pH about 6.8.

Feeding young on pre-soaked and crushed Tetra Prima.

Fry in net breeding trap with two filter outlets directed at mesh (one with UV).

Lost five out of twenty-four fry (1 week old).

Male is now brooding another clutch of eggs.

Here are pics:

Male with egg-mass:

Fry at 1 week old (15mm):

Fry net:

Set up:

Post by **Janne** » 01 Jul 2007, 21:25

Congratulations for the success, mine took around 14-15 days to hatch with similare water parameters...in my tank I kept them in a little higher temperatur around 28-29 C. The youngsters is very qute and look identical to the adults, they grow quite fast too but can be a little tricky to care for the first week.

Janne

Kenneth Wong · Post by **Kenneth Wong** » 01 Jul 2007, 21:33

How do you tell males and females on these? A local store has a few and I would like to get a trio or 4.

Congrats on the spawn.

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 01 Jul 2007, 21:42

How do you tell males and females on these?

To tell the truth I have no idea.

Now I know I definitely have at least one male and female, I will whip them all out and take some photos from above, so I can see the body shape differences.

A local store has a few and I would like to get a trio or 4.

I would just buy as many as you can, and hope you have a good ratio of male to female.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 02 Jul 2007, 11:42

Congrats.

--
Mats

YouTube · Post by **Jools** » 02 Jul 2007, 20:43

That's a pretty top effort, good luck raising the fry. As ever, if you have pics to share for the catelog, those that you've posted here are excellent.

Jools

Post by **Shane** » 03 Jul 2007, 16:57

Great job Racoll! Kenneth, they should be able to sexed just like any other lip brooder. The males should have a greatly elongated lower lip.
-Shane

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 03 Jul 2007, 19:11

Hi Racoll,
Congrats are in order.
A source I trust has them but my spending has to be undercontrol soon! I still am learning about Sturis anyway.
I am a little surprised by the small spawns but I'm sure the eggs are rather large.
Good luck and may they continue to be fruitful and multiply.
Are these guys any good at algae eating? If they are they might make good Discus tankmates unlike Sturis.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 04 Jul 2007, 18:13

I don't believe these will eat much in the way of algae - closer to Peckoltia diet than Ancistrus, if you see what I mean.

--
Mats

Shaun · Post by **Shaun** » 05 Jul 2007, 06:32

Amazing, I love the shot of the babies! Yet another catfish I wish was available in Oz...
Congratulations

Shaun

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 05 Jul 2007, 10:47

Thanks for the kind words.

No more losses, fingers crossed.

I shall try to get better photos of the fry for you Jools.

Larry, they don't touch algae or do any scraping of surfaces. They stick to the sand and eat pretty much only invertebrates. This picture of their mouth shows they are very much geared up towards sifting in sand for morsels.

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 06 Jul 2007, 14:49

Great photos, Racoll. Sweet!!

Amanda

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 12 Jul 2007, 01:34

I see what you mean. More of a worms and bugs eater's mouth. different mouth than Peckoltia but with similar dietary leanings.

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 12 Jul 2007, 11:28

Probably even less so than Peckoltia.

Peckoltia have pads that will do some scraping of aufwuchs (biofilm).

These guys do no scraping at all. They are suckers!

Hemiodon was their original genus name which meant "half tooth" (refering to their greatly reduced dentition).

The "Pseudo" part was added later, as Hemiodon had already been bagged for a genus of snail.

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 12 Jul 2007, 22:15

Some photos of the latest young......

I fear I have pulled these fry too early, as their yolk sacks are very large and they did not burst from the egg sack as readily as before.

I think waiting until the yolk is almost gone is better. I was just a bit worried that they were hatchling and being eaten.

The other young are all still alive and growing. They are in their own tank now, so lets hope that works out........

.

Tommi · Post by **Tommi** » 13 Jul 2007, 21:29

I had two adults looking same as yours and now several spawns later I have dozens. Fry seems to be easier to take care of than Sturisoma or Farlowella frys I had. Most spawns have only one or two fatalitys.

Now my oldest babys become mature and I'm afraid they might spawn with their parents, should I get rid of youngsters or let them be?

Ugh, http://sv.aqua-web.org/kuvat/lattakutu.jpg

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 13 Jul 2007, 21:34

Best practice in breeding is to avoid breeding parents with children and children with each other, so splitting them up might be a good idea.

--
Mats

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 14 Jul 2007, 14:26

I don't disagree with MatsP about inbrreeding it has been shown to also be over-rated as a husbandry mispractice.

Establishing captive, aquarium breeding populations of rarer fish through inbreeding is not unprecedented.

A few generations later, new stock can indroduced into a line to prevent genetic problems.

I guess I would rate the benefits to risks to be within my tolerances. Benefits such as selectively breeding those young that adapt best to captive life are a fair trade for relatively small risks. It is just a step in an overarching long range plan.

Jon · Post by **Jon** » 14 Jul 2007, 17:15

Holy moley. I haven't visited for a while, but what happened to your tank? I thought it used to bear some huge blackwater vine tangles?

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 15 Jul 2007, 21:06

Holy moley. I haven't visited for a while, but what happened to your tank? I thought it used to bear some huge blackwater vine tangles?

Fear not. That tank is still running, but is now a proper blackwater setup containing five wild green discus, cardinal tetras, Apistogramma bitaeniata and six .

Here is a poor photo....

I now have five tanks.....

Fry seems to be easier to take care of than Sturisoma or Farlowella frys I had. Most spawns have only one or two fatalitys.

Tommi, I think your fish are either or Pseudohemiodon sp. "Peru II".

Either way, I would be very grateful if you shared some of your techniques in getting such a good survival rate with us......

Thanks.

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 16 Jul 2007, 13:52

I fear I have pulled these fry too early, as their yolk sacks are very large and they did not burst from the egg sack as readily as before.

Well the young from this spawn have consumed their yolk sacks and are still alive.

Unfortunately I have lost some more of the original spawn (got 13 out of 24 now, plus the 13 new ones). The latest deaths seem to be be from overfeeding. The dead fry's stomachs were bloated and the food clearly visible inside. I don't think they can cope with the gorging that the adults seem to enjoy....

I will now feed in much smaller amounts and more frequently.

The male is also brooding ANOTHER spawn which was laid the night I removed the previous spawn and posted the egg pics.

This is despite the tank being electrified for several hours due to a broken heater. I got a few shocks trying to fix that!

And before anyone recommends an RCD, I used to have one on the tank, but I arrived home one night to find the tank had no power due to the RCD tripping for some unknown reason.

I removed it....

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 16 Jul 2007, 14:16

Here is a picture of the fry tank..........

Tommi · Post by **Tommi** » 17 Jul 2007, 18:31

We have our Pseudos in 560 litres community tank with fine sandplastsand in it. Tapwater is very soft here and pH in tank is just under 7. Temp 26C.

We've stolen fry from father as eggs and put them in plastic frybox in same tank. We have been bit lazy with making any fryfood and most of the time just used Sera Viformo crumbled in dust, JBL NovoTom and New Life Spectrum Grow. Twice a day.

Once we tried putting fry in same frybox with L66 fry but that was a bad idea, only one baby left in next morning but many fat Hypancistrus's.

We have succesfully mixed Pseudohemiodon, Sturisoma and Farlowella fry in same frybox and all eat same food, plus some vegetables for last two species.

Stuey · Post by **Stuey** » 24 Jul 2007, 13:49

hi there Racoll

I am an avid keeper of catfish of all kinds, but have never been able to locate these to buy before. I was just wondering where you got these?

Or if when they are a suitable size you may offer some babies for sale??

Many thanks
Stuey

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 24 Jul 2007, 17:59

Hello Stuey.

I got them from Maidenhead Aquatics at Oxford, but they were £50 each !

If mine make it to a decent size, then you can have some for nowt. (That goes for anyone else too).

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 08 Aug 2007, 19:49

Quick update.....

Of the last batch of 15 born on the 27th July I have lost none yet. Of the second batch born I have also had a 100% survival rate.

I am now sure that overfeeding and bloating was causing the initial deaths to the first batch. I am now feeding in very small quantities.

The original batch are pretty big now at about 40mm and are looking more like adults.

Here are some pics:

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 12 Aug 2007, 22:24

Hi Racoll,
They are looking good. It does seem that continuous light grazing is the best feeding method to use on the these and the other non-pleco Loricaridae fry. My Sturisoma fry never over eat but they also never stop eating.

I would like to know what the device that appears to be part of your fry tank filter system is?
It is always interesting to learn about the different aquarium technologies used on your side of the Lake.

Nice new avatar, my friend.

Norman · Post by **Norman** » 15 Aug 2007, 07:27

Hi,

Shane wrote:Kenneth, they should be able to sexed just like any other lip brooder. The males should have a greatly elongated lower lip.

I am sorry, but that is not right !
There are several species of lip brooders where males have a elongated lower lip, but the species of the subtribe Planiloricariina do not !
In some genus (for example Apistoloricaria) the males can divided from females by the length of the Maxillarbarbels.
The best method to divide both sexes is to get a closer look on the genital papilla. If it is nearly round it will be a female. When it is pointed it will be a male. By this way, I can divide all of my keept Planiloricariina.

best regards
Norman

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 15 Aug 2007, 15:36

I would like to know what the device that appears to be part of your fry tank filter system is?
It is always interesting to learn about the different aquarium technologies used on your side of the Lake.

Larry, that is a Vecton UV sterilizer made by TMC.

Its linked up to my Eheim external.

I think this equipment is one of the reasons I am successfully raising these delicate fry. It reduces the bacterial load in the tank down to an acceptable level.

Nice new avatar, my friend.

Indeed. The acará-disco makes a good avatar. Its the right shape.....

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 02 Sep 2007, 11:22

Well they've spawned again (30th Aug).

Assuming it was the same female who spawned first time around on the 7th June, that make the conditioning period about 11 weeks.

I'm pretty sure I have three females and one male, as the same fish broods the eggs, and there where three successive spawnings followed by a period of no activity.

I'm running out of room now...........

Pseudohemiodon Spawning

Pseudohemiodon Spawning

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Where did you purchase these beauties