Breeding Hemiancistrus subviridis

[Farid]

Actually I believe it will turn out to be male.

havaard
i guess you should do some shopping

good luck with the 200's

another 18 are growing nicely at the moment...

farid

[Haavard Stoere]

Today my latest clutch of eggs has started to hatch. The eggs were laid on Saturday or Sunday

I used Methylene blue to prevent bacterial infections as described here:
http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... =4&t=27435

The first two have emerged and I am very exited to see how this traditional method of hatching eggs works with the sensitive L200 eggs and fry. I have reduced the amount of Methylene blue considerably to prevent damage to the fry, but I will not remove all methylene blue unntil hatching is in full progress. The fry will be siphoned out and placed in a frysaver in the main tank as soon as they hatch.

[Haavard Stoere]

In retrospect I think the eggs were laid on Sunday.

The two fry that hatched yesterday died. They were simply to early. Today 22 have hatched and have been siphoned out and put in a fry-saver with sand in the main tank. only 2 of the 22 that hatched today have been discarded due to punctured yolk sack.

I brush the eggs once in a while with a soft synthetic paintbrush to simulate the broodcare of the male. Sometimes this results in one or two hatchlings.

[Haavard Stoere]

Naturally, with my fingers, and some sharp tools my count is 106 eggs. 101 of these have hatched. 4 are already dead. 5 of them died long before hatching.
If my counting is correct (it might not be ) I have 92 fries. I will do a new count tomorrow just to be sure. Because of disturbances I may have counted 10 or 10x2 wrong, but I usually don`t
Some of the hatch lings seems to be doomed due to malformations and leakage. If I manage to raise 30 I will be happy. If I manage to raise 40 I will be very happy. 50 will make me extatic. 60 is impossible.
Cheers everyone!!
H.

[Haavard Stoere]

Tonight I counted 84 Fry's. I will have to wait a couple of days for a new count. I had some problems concentrating while counting.

Anyways... It looks promising

[andywoolloo]

congrats!

[Cristoffer Forssander]

Tonight I counted 84 Fry's. I will have to wait a couple of days for a new count. I had some problems concentrating while counting.

Anyways... It looks promising

Hello Håvard!

Is 84 fry's from one spawn???

Cristoffer

[Haavard Stoere]

Is 84 fry's from one spawn???

Correct

There will be some losses over the next few days, but maybe I can raise 50-60 of them. L200s are very vulnerable compared to bristle-nose fry. The fry will be raised in a 200 liter tank with dwarf shrimps when they are old enough to eat.
I am of course very pleased with the result. Unless any other disinfectant is recommended I will use methylene blue as standard for hatching L200s.

[Haavard Stoere]

I have siphoned out a few dead ones and counted the live ones again. I now have 79 seemingly healthy L200 fry from a single brood.

It is great fun, but it also means more money to buy pumps, electricity and more fish in 2010 The economic side of breeding is important to hobbyists with a relatively small income from real work. Gems like the L200 is easy to sell, and prices are quite constant. Quite unlike Corydoras and Apisto species that varies a lot more.
The breeding male is back in his cave waiting for a lady visit.

[jac]

Well done Haavard! Congratulations

Seems like the MB has done it's job. I also use MB for my Green Stripe cory eggs but mainly use Mycopur from Sera. Works just as well and for me it's easier to get at because MB is illegal here.

Good luck with the youngsters

[Haavard Stoere]

Thank you jac

MB illegal in Holland? I thought everything was legel in Holland, and the opposite in Norway. That being said my bottle of MB is not properly marked and bought through a private individual, and is thus illegal in all european countries, but who cares? BN has no recreational value .

[Cristoffer Forssander]

Is 84 fry's from one spawn???

Correct

There will be some losses over the next few days, but maybe I can raise 50-60 of them. L200s are very vulnerable compared to bristle-nose fry. The fry will be raised in a 200 liter tank with dwarf shrimps when they are old enough to eat.
I am of course very pleased with the result. Unless any other disinfectant is recommended I will use methylene blue as standard for hatching L200s.

Damn.... thats amazing. How big is the female? Then it's possible for this species to get over 100 fry from one spawn then... it's way many more than I thought was passible.

Congrats!

[Cristoffer Forssander]

Is 84 fry's from one spawn???

Correct

There will be some losses over the next few days, but maybe I can raise 50-60 of them. L200s are very vulnerable compared to bristle-nose fry. The fry will be raised in a 200 liter tank with dwarf shrimps when they are old enough to eat.
I am of course very pleased with the result. Unless any other disinfectant is recommended I will use methylene blue as standard for hatching L200s.

Damn.... thats amazing. How big is the female? Then it's possible for this species to get over 100 fry from one spawn then... it's way many more than I thought was possible.

Congrats!

[Haavard Stoere]

I think you are having problems with the quote thing Cristoffer Also your name does not exist according to the Microsoft wordlist I added it in my own wordlist by the way.

The number of eggs in the clutch must have been around 96, not 106. As I counted I got a bit distracted by family matters, so I probably skipped up a whole 10. I am generally very good at counting, but I can get distracted.

My breeding male is the smallest of my adult males. He only measures 14cm tl. When he first started breeding almost 2 years ago he was only 12,5 cm. That's small!!! My breeding females are 14-15 cm tl. Not really large, but I am confident that conditioning is close to as perfect as it can get in a captive environment.

To clarify the numbers... I believe the nearly correct numbers have been. I believe these numbers are correct or close to correct:

Saturday 12/8-2009 96 eggs laid. 6 of them unfertilized.
Thursday 17/8-2009 2 eggs hatched and died shortly afterwards.
Friday 18/8-2009 Totally 24 have hatched and 4 more are dead
Saturday: 83 alive. 2 new dead.
Saturday (late) 18/9-2009: 79 alive. 3 more dead

I think this is abut correct. If not it is nearly correct.

[husky_jim]

I am confident that conditioning is close to as perfect as it can get in a captive environment.

Judging by your accomplishments this is true Haavard....Keep up the good work!

[Farid]

hi folks hi havaard,
also my paiir is in the cave again tonight sooner or later i goot a rhythm found to make them bree more or less once a month until now...

this is the 5th spawning this year!

farid

[jac]

Thank you jac

MB illegal in Holland? I thought everything was legel in Holland, and the opposite in Norway. That being said my bottle of MB is not properly marked and bought through a private individual, and is thus illegal in all european countries, but who cares? BN has no recreational value .

MB is not available in any fish store anymore. But if you really want something, everything is for sale in Holland

[Farid]

...even switzerland with it's million rules for this an for that...i just went and got it in a drugstore...(thats why it's calles like that )

FARID

[Haavard Stoere]

4 losses today, so I am down to 75 live ones.

Farid... Do you loose any fry after they start eating? What do you think is the best food items the first few weeks?

[bronzefry]

Wow! Nicely done. I hope you have some survivors. It's tough finding your way with a new species. Are you finding more aeration helps with the eggs?
Amanda

[Haavard Stoere]

Are you finding more aeration helps with the eggs?

I would not consider hatching any eggs without aeration.

[Farid]

...no eggs this time ...but the females belly must be still full

@havaard
i just make powdered food mix. all mixed with a small electrical coffee mill:

SeraTabs:
-viformo, O-nip, Plancton, Spirulina

-Decapsuled Brine shrimp
-Nori Algae (sushi algae)
-Sturgeon Sticks

i mixed until i got dust!! like this the youngsters dont have to bite...they can just suck it in!! i think this is more efficiant ,than feeding any bigger peaces of any food...

Sometimes freeze fresh hatched brine shimps alive in Ice cube forms...so i can take little brine shrimb-cubes out of the fridge when i need any...

i find sometimes a dead body of young catfishes...also L200...but mostly i know why...
in the maintank i still make feedings incl. the dust and tabs who fall into dusty parts like viformo or O-nip so the adults spread the food allover the place...the next morning all babies have a round belly...i think out of the 28 babies i left in the adult tank might be 20 left...and some smaller ones are sometimes really not well fed. they look even skinny! so this should be watched...that they always have (must have) a full belly...as they fall into a hole...ant it takes them quite a while to regain bodymass...

for example i took the L204 out of the baby tank...and placed them again in a inhanging tank ...to have better control...and this really helped!! they are now 2,5cm and well fed !! so sometimes it is really better to keep the smaller ones in a well fed tank, so they keep their bodymass...

i still have around 50 or more L200...slowely growing

farid

[Haavard Stoere]

Thank you for the information Farid. I will have to google some of the ingredients

[Haavard Stoere]

Today I moved the 72 fry to a 200 liter tank that will be their home the next 2-3 months or more. They still have a large yolk sack, but they are all developing at the same pace.

I am really looking forward to the next few spawns now that broods are large, and losses are minimal.

[lealea]

Do any of you have a good clear photo of a male L200 and female L200 to show the differences. Am I right in thinking the male will have more odontone growth on pech fins and thinker pec fins. I love this thread. lealea

[Haavard Stoere]

As with most pleco species the best is to compare headshape/size and bodyform. Amount of odontodes can be used when fish are in breeding condition.

Female left:


Female:


Male:

[Stuey]

Hi there Haavard,

Just like to say thanks for posting the great L200 pic showing the different morphology of the male and female.

Best pics I have seen to demonstrate this, definitely pics to refer to when sexing such species

Cheers
Stu

[Haavard Stoere]

Thank you Stu:)
They are in CateLog in the L200 profile.

The fish in the examples were almost in breeding condition, and that makes sexing easy. You usually won`t find fish in that condition in your lfs. L200 not in breeding condition are nearly impossible or very difficult to sex.

The distribution of sex should be around 50-50 if you buy fish less than 10cm. If you buy fish around 13-16 cm there are mostly males, or even all males if you are unlucky.

[lealea]

Thanks so much for the photos. They were great I hope one day I am successful like you both have been with this amazing species.

[DJ-don]

for the past few days i've been reading this topic. and can i say that your doing a marvellous job haarvard! and you too farid.
i haven't even managed to breed my Common bn yet. but then again im a breeding novice. but this topic is just inspirational! i hope i can follow your guys example