Syno Petricola fry

[winbill]

I am new and in need of some help

While I was cleaning my 70 gal tank today, I lifted up a flowerpot that is in the tank for shelter, and I found a single synodontis petricola fry . It is about 5/8" long, so it probably has been in there awhile. This tells me two things: the first is that my group of petricola are actually old enough to spawn, and also that there must be some amount of husbandry from the parents. My question is what do the eggs look like so that I can find them and hopefully raise up more than one? Also any idea of how old this one might be?

Thanks for any help

[Richard B]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTvlZN7EFVY this vid will show you what the eggs look like although these fish are actually Syno lucipinnis

Are yours Petricola or Lucipinnis? (Lucipinnis is much mis-identified are is sold as petricola all over the place). If you are unsure check cat-e-log details or post a pic of the adults here. There is no parental care in any syno species (i'm not including any form of cuckoo spawn in this statement) .

[bristlenosedude]

The eggs are clear and very small. The adults will eat them all if they can get yo them. I had 6 show up with a young group I was growing out that somehow managed not to get eaten. The eggs hatch after 18-24 hours and take a few days to abosrb the yolk sack, also still clear at this point. They need very small foods, can't eat brine shrimp yet. They start getting some black at 1/4" or so and grow pretty slowly. They are awsome to watch if you get a big hatch, I had about 300 and they would all go in a flower pot and I could catch the whole lot in one scoop. There are lot of breeding articles about them on the net.