Farlowella Tale

[TwoTankAmin]

A few years back I bought 3 farlos but never knew exactly which ones until recently when I finally joined Planet Catfish, having used its resources for many years. They were yenyayively ID'd as vittata. I got them because I thought they were an unusual looking fish that ate algae.

I had them for a year+ in my high tech 50 gal. planted tank and never knew what sexes they might be. That issue was resolved somewhat when I got bowled over by their totally unexpected first spawn. I knew I had at least one of each sex. Over the past 18 months or so I have had 4 spawns and managed to raise up about 5 fry. They have to be one of the toughest fry I have dealt with and for sure one of the slowest growing.

A few weeks ago I was gutted when I found the large spawning male on his back in the vals. All I knew then was I had 2 falros left and one was a fm and the other unsexed.

Last night I went to feed the 50 and I noticed that both farlows were side by side on the front glass (where all the previous spawns had occurred) and that one was clearly wider than the other. Could it be they were a pair? And, if so, were they close to spawning. I also noticed them interacting- there was some snout poking and then the presumed male would deatch from the glass, float about two inches back while remaining vertical in the water and then do a few pirouettes and return to the glass.

I was convinced this was pre-spawning behavior and I ran for my camera in the hopes of capturing courting and, if lucky, actual spawning pictures. When I moved from a farther away shot to a macro mode one, I must have spooked the female and she bolted off the glass. So I left the camera set up on the tripod in the hopes she would return and some good pics would result.

When the tank lights went out at 11:30, she still had not returned and I eventually went to sleep. Upon waking this morning I shone a flashlight on a farlo that was on the front glass but I didn't see any eggs. Oh well, I must have had it wrong.

A few hours later after the tank lights had come on I was sitting here on the phone ordering some pc bulbs and I glanced at the tank. There were eggs under a farlo dad. I had missed it all for photo purposes, but I am still excited by the event. The egg count is 30.

Pictures will be posted in this thread when I get them on the net.

[Shane]

Sounds like you got lucky. On the positive side, they are pretty easy to replace.
-Shane

[TwoTankAmin]

A few poor pics- sorry I have an old cheap 1.5 mp camera:

Here is the happy couple last night-


And here is the dad on the eggs today-

[MatsP]

Congratulations.

--
Mats

[vanillarum]

Hey TTA, just acquired my first farlos ! Hope they turn out just like yours ! Congrats !

[TwoTankAmin]

They spawned again last night- 40 eggs this time. The last spawn became lunch.

[N2Biomes]

Congrats, Chris! My farlows spawned about a month ago, and the male ate them within hours... Hopefully your male will be a good caregiver this time 'round.

[plec0]

GOOD JOB Chris!! HEY wHATS MY position on your Zebra waiting list? I was added back in March of this year... If need be I can fly out to pick mine up if that moves me further up the list for local pick up's.. Please provide me with your ewmail and I can email u my full name to se exactly where Im at on your list .. Thanks

[Barbie]

Please don't hijack this thread. If you'd like to ask Chris questions unrelated to the thread, feel free to send him a pm please ;).

Congrats Chris! Try to save a few of the poor little buggers this time!

Barbie

[apistomaster]

Hi Chris,
My congratulations on the spawns as well. It must be difficult for the male to keep the other fish away throughout the eggs' long incubation period.
Then if you can save some of the fry and place them in a net breeder they are still a delicate fry and any you manage to grow to adults will represent a great deal of luck and skill to accomplish. Nothing wrong with your photos; they are very good.

The small sidthimunki loachs maybe the egg eaters, just based on what other fish are shown in some of your photos. Farlowella are much more difficult to raise than the H. zebra fry which you already experienced raising.

[TwoTankAmin]

Actually its the hatched out fry that become lunch not the eggs.

[apistomaster]

I can understand the fry becoming snacks. In some future spawn perhaps you can remove the nearly ready to hatch eggs and place them in a net breeder. This method has always worked well for me with Sturisoma and maybe it would work well for the Farlowella.?

[TwoTankAmin]

Been there, done that. Here is a batch at 2 weeks from hatching:


Despite using the trap I was barely able to keep 3 or 4 alive longer term.