How to get Farlowellas in the mood ;)

[Mol_PMB]

Congratulations are in order maybe- for me too there's some fanning activity in one of the caves of my L397s.

Great and many thanks - fingers crossed for your 397's

[bekateen]

Congratulations are in order maybe- for me too there's some fanning activity in one of the caves of my L397s.

Great and many thanks - fingers crossed for your 397's

For both of you!

[pleconut]

Not sure exactly what it was that got the L397s of mine in the mood their certainly up to something most of what ive done ie conditions before the move -the move itself- re-scape of the tank- i would have thought would have delayed this but certainly not seemingly be triggering it.

[Mol_PMB]

So, last night my two juveniles were preparing to spawn again (pic)

This morning there are 20 eggs on the glass

I've got about 10 baby twiglets in the breeder box from the previous spawn a couple of weeks ago. I think there might be one or two more in the main tank but they're hard to catch!

[bekateen]

Amazing how "busy" they are.

[Mol_PMB]

Well, I think of them as teenagers discovering themselves... ;)

[Mol_PMB]

Here's the latest clutch.

Their parents often did the same - a second batch of eggs about a week after the first batch hatched, then a longer pause.

[Mol_PMB]

Well the second spawn of grandkids all hatched and I've caught most of them into the nursery, with their slightly older siblings.

As always seems to happen, I have to go away for a few days at a critical stage. Ggggrrr....

[bekateen]

Good for you! Now, comes the difficult part - survival and rearing.

Cheers, Eric

[pleconut]

Have you considered, or do you, grow your own algae, its difficult here in the UK during winter months - not much sunlight so instead use a very bright spotlight a UV light designed for reptiles makes for a good choice. You could do this by sitting rocks, pebbles, wood even potted plants in a glass container. Once you've got a good supply of algae going, you just rotate rocks ect into the breeder box. May help keep the fry going during the times when you go away.

[Mol_PMB]

Thanks I have tried this in the past without much success - but perhaps I wasn't doing it right. But I'm not sure the algae-covered rocks would last long.
I find they take to Chlorella and Spirulina powders very quickly, and then spinach leaves. Also repashy-coated twigs and bell peppers.
Of these, only the spinach leaves last more than a day or two before they need replacing, and the leaves last maybe 3 days. Might be enough this time.
I normally siphon the breeder box at least daily, which obviously I can't do when I'm away.
I could let them out into the main tank (they escape from time to time anyway) but it's hard to provide the required feeding density there.

One of the 2-week olds has somehow got into another tank! I can only think it suckered to my hand while I was doing some maintenance in both tanks yesterday. It's a Cory tank so I'm hoping the algae in there will sustain it!

[pleconut]

All the best luck with them looks like you may need to train someone in a crash course in fishkeeping duties for when you are away.

[Mol_PMB]

There is no-one really. All the people I usually ask will be away in the same place as me!

[pleconut]

Maybe give them a good supply of spinach leaves. Is there a way maybe with the flow from an airstone filter ect you could remove any poop from within the breeder box itself to the main tank were it wouldn't be as harmful to them.

[Mol_PMB]

Well the randy little fishes did it again last night! That's 3 spawns in a month. Having tried both front corners of the tank for comfort, this lot is on the front glass about 6" away from a corner.

At this rate the twiglet nursery is going to be rather full...

[pleconut]

You may need a bigger breeder box at this rate. Good to hear theyare doing well.

[Mol_PMB]

Well, I'm back home and a good number of spawns 1 and 2 are still alive after a week of the Popeye diet (that's the sailor, not the fish disease...). Spawn 3 is just starting to hatch.

[pleconut]

Congrats!

[pleconut]

Hi paul, i just had a re-read of the thread, an idea came to mind, you mentioned that the fry seems to spend time sucking on the glass, but not on the repashy dipped twigs and other food, and in general feeding for the fry has been a difficulty, I had a thought, in the breeder box would it be possible for you to place a small sheet of glass, although not right against the side of the box so theres a risk of fry becoming trapped behind it, you can then remove the glass and spread some repashy gel food maybe with some spiriluna powder mixed in on it, although not covering it entirely but enough so that there is a good chance the fry will be able to find it. Replacing when necessary. You may even be able to cultivate algae this way.

Good luck!

[Mol_PMB]

That's a good idea - thanks! I'll try it. They're enjoying spinach and red pepper today in addition to the usual algae powder.
I now have fry from all 3 recent spawns

[pleconut]

What size exactly is the breeder box that you put a link to earlier on in the thread, I may need to invest in one myself.

[Mol_PMB]

It's a 2 litre external breeder box, sold under a variety of brand names (including Marina) but I think they're all the same.
The kit comes with various dividers and an airlift. I modded mine quite a bit and use an electric powerhead to supply a faster water flow. I also put in a filter sponge on the outlet to reduce the number of escapees, as I found that the standard grating tended not to let the water out quickly enough, but did let out the fry!

Do I gather you have heard the patter of tiny fins? ;)

[pleconut]

Not as yet, but I do have a male L397, after a female came out the cave the other day, dancing around in his cave like he is trying to hide something and fanning, but he's done this three times now, and another males done it once, with no evidence of resulting fry.

[Mol_PMB]

I've now got three different sizes of twiglet in the breeder box, from three successive spawns. As usual, the odd one escapes and occasionally I try and round them up and put them back in. There's at least one of each size in the main tank at the moment!

In the nursery, here's a terrible pic of large and medium size twiglets on the pepper, and that black line in the clip at top left is the tail of a newly hatched one.

And in the main tank, here is the younger sibling of my juvenile breeding pair (foreground on the pepper), meeting his escaped niece or nephew (behind on the twig) from the first of the three spawns.

Breeding tanks aren't always the prettiest - sorry for the rather industrial decor in here at present!

[Mol_PMB]

Here's a better picture from the twiglet nursery showing brothers and sisters from 3 consecutive spawns from my juveniles that were themselves born in February 2015.

First spawn 22/11/15, hatched around 2/12/15 so now a month old. Approx 26mm SL
Second spawn 6/12/15, hatched around 16/12/15 so now 2 weeks old. Approx 19mm SL
Third spawn 20/12/15, hatched around 31/12/15 so a few days old. Approx 10mm SL

Cheers,
Paul

[bekateen]

Very nice!

[Mol_PMB]

The juvenile male has been guarding his favourite spot on the glass for a couple of days and his sister is looking ready to burst so I'm expecting another brood. But a surprise has come along - their adult mother (who usually hides at the back out of the way) is on the glass with them, and she looks gravid too. Now I've had 2M1F spawning but this might be 1M2F.
Games for all the family...
I'm off to bed but if there are eggs in the morning then it will be interesting to see how many. In my experience the adult normally laid 25-40 while the juvenile only lays 10-15.

[pleconut]

Hoping that you find lot's of eggs waiting on the tank glass tomorrow morning. Potentially could be more than anticipated. But it will give you the opportunity of larger brood,

[Mol_PMB]

No eggs this morning, but here's this evening's twiggy family portait

The smallest one, middle right is from his parents' second spawn. Dad is on the right, Mum lower middle. Grandma in the middle of the pic, and finally uncle on the branch in the far top left of the pic.

There are lots more little ones, both in the nursery and the tank.

[Mol_PMB]

Here are a selection of my

Farlowella vittata

twiglets. I've still got between 20 and 30 from the three spawns of grandkids, about half in the breeder box and the other half in the main tank. These are all 'escapees' in the main tank. They're good at hiding and hard to count, but seem to be keeping their bellies full