Chaetostoma eggs

[shoegazer]

Hi All,

I don't know how common this is or anything, but thought I'd share. I purchased two rubber-nosed plecos from PetSmart about 5 months ago. I have them in a 55g tank with White Clouds and Cherry barbs. Orginally, it was to be a hillstream loach tank. I waited weeks without seeing any good loaches to buy, then my daughter saw these and had to have them...well anyway, let's just say I did nothing special for them and was barely aware of their presence in the tank.

This is from underneath the tank. She's under a few large river stones.

[Dave Rinaldo]

Congratulations!
Here is thread that might be of interest.

[Acanthicus]

Hey,

great pics. Do you know which species it is?

[Shane]

I don't know how common this is or anything, but thought I'd share.

It is not very common at all. In fact, it is quit an achievement. Any chance you can post a few pics of the parents to help us determine which species you have spawned? Also, any information about the tank (filtration, water changes (frequency and volume), water chemistry, lighting, tank size, decor, etc) would be great.
-Shane

[grokefish]

Well done you!

I have bred Chaetostoma and my only advice is that you put at least some substrate in the tank. Mine were wiped out within weeks when I removed mine, I thought it would be 'cleaner' but it was worse

[apistomaster]

Congratulations on the spawn and I hope you get lots of fry.
I briefly dabbled in attempting to keep and breed Chaetostoma and Dekeyseria brachyura around 1996 but I had to move and sell most of my fish.
But I still have a warm spot for Chaetostoma. Instead, I dived into warm water Hypancistrus and Peckoltia. My house simply gets too hot during the summer for Chaetostoma.

[shoegazer]

@shane: Well, as mentioned before, this tank was conceived for Sewelia loaches. Loricarids never entered my mind. The tank is all “Mexican beach pebble” of varying size. I’d say the smallest ones in there are still ping-pong to golf ball sized. There is no substrate, and the plecos can swim just about everywhere under the pebbles. Plants are all java fern and a couple sad little Anubias.

The main filter is an Eheim Ecco 2232 with uptake on the far left, behind the largest java fern. The outtake then blows across the left bubble curtain to the center of the tank. There is a Duetto DJ100 (with a DJ50 canister) in the middle of the tank which furthers the current flowing to the right corner. There is a bubble wand on the right side, but it was the very fine kind and has essentially clogged up now. I need to get off my arse and replace it someday. Finally, a DJ100 on the far right blows current to the front right corner of the tank and around. The result is essentially a circular current swirling around the outer edge of the tank, back to the Eheim intake. The currents are quite strong, and there are always fine little bubbles throughout the water column.



Tank = 55g
Lighting = One 48” fl. Tube. PetSmart variety of some kind.
Inhabitants = 3.2 White Clouds, 3.2.2 Cherry Barbs, and apparently 1.1 Chaetostoma sp.
Temp = 74-76°F usually….lately 78-80F with our heat wave.
Water chemistry = unknown. City tap water treated with Amquel, generally 7.8 pH out of the tap. I don’t even own any test strips, sorry.
Water changes = Roughly once every two months, approximately 20%. Between water changes, I just top off to account for evaporation loss. Not kidding.
Food = flakes for the barbs, algae wafers for the plecos. Roughly 1-2 times a week.

I can't get photos of the plecos themselves...I get within 3 or 4 feet of the tank and they dash under rocks. They look essentially like the animals in the thread that Dave posted a link to.

@grokefish: As for survival of future offspring, they wont receive any special measures from me. But I’m pretty sure at least a couple will survive because the root masses on those java ferns are massive below the pebbles. I make my tanks for small bio-loads for my criminally low care levels. The barbs spawned in there and a couple fry survived. Hopefully it will be roughly the same with the plecos. Honestly, I don’t look forward to finding homes for ~75 little Chaetostoma.

[shoegazer]

Hah, got one!



That's the male I guess, the one that's guarding the eggs.

[apistomaster]

A tank set up properly for Sewelia is also perfect for Chaetostoma breeding.

[davidkozak]

good luck with the fry if they hatch.. David

[N0body Of The Goat]

Looks like a L444 to my amateur eye.

Lovely fish that I would dearly like to try again and be succeessful with, your tank setup and tankmates are very similar to what I had in mind if I'm ever brave enough to give them another try.

Sounds as if you managed to get them feeding without using the "rock painting" technique?

Good luck with the youngsters!

[grokefish]

It was my adults that bit the dust along with ALL the other loricarids and the coriies got some weird disease, I have a topic somewhere detailing it. It cleared up in the cories within days of putting a substrate in.

[sidguppy]

This is from underneath the tank. She's under a few large river stones.

as said, it is HE that takes care of the eggs.

most Loricariids have paternal breeding care, some have none (Otocinclus for example), but so far no maternal breeding care in L-numbers has been discovered
;)

a very great result! this is NOT a commonly bred specxies; Chaetostoma breeding attempts are still quite rare.

[shoegazer]

Starting to sporadically see the youngsters...for a while, I thought they had all been eaten, but they just seem to be extremely secretive.

[dconnors]

Super cool! Congrats...

[biotope69]

nice job! your daughter must be excited with the new arrivals.

[naturalart]

I know through little effort of your own but congrats! I only hope you can maybe get some of those offspring into the hands of some other dedicated aquarist. This will increase the chances that more can be bred.