L201 eggs, time to hatch?

[mattlamm]

Hi guys,

So I've lurked on this site for a couple years now but haven't really posted much. I did post once asking for help to sex my L201s. Well after more than 2 years wait it turns out I have 2 males and a female and one of the males is currently on eggs at the moment. He has been guarding them since Friday 10 June.

My question is, how long will it take before the eggs hatch and how long will he keep the fry in the cave for?

Thanks guys!
-matt

[CharlieM9]

Matt,

It will slightly depend on what temperature the tank is at? I think the average time from egg to wiggler is around 5 days, but this can vary. Hope this helps!

[mattlamm]

Thanks CharlieM9. The temp is 25C. This is my first spawn ever so quite exciting, hopefully some of the fry make it.

[CharlieM9]

Congratulations on the first of many hopefully! I'd say day 5-6 they would start to hatch around that temp? So may be worth using a flashlight to take a look past the male and see if you see tails! ;)

[mattlamm]

Thanks! I just had a look now and things are still looking very much like just eggs. I didn't want to bother him too much so I could only see 2 of the eggs in the short peek thag I had. The one egg still looked yellow but the other seemed a mottled brown colour. So I assume that one is developing atleast.

[bekateen]

Congratulations! Good luck with your fry.

Cheers, Eric

[mattlamm]

So I had a look in the cave yesterday and I thought all the eggs were gone as i couldn't see a single one. He was hiding one corner quite well and I had a little hope he had some fry in the corner but had accepted they were probably all gone. Had another look this evening and managed to spot a wriggler. . So now I guess I just wait and see how many get kicked out once they ready. Quite chuffed to have atleast got wrigglers on their first spawn.

[mattlamm]

I guess my next question now is how long does the father keep them in the cave? 1 week or so?

[bekateen]

Hi mattlamm,

Have you read the breeding reports for

L201

? One or more of them might say. Also, have you used the Advanced Forum Search page (located by selecting the Search tab across the top of this page).

As one suggestion, I searched the forum for "L201 fry" (but without the quotation marks) and I received a lot of hits.

Here is one thread which might be helpful: Hypancistrus sp. L201 spawning [large pics!]

Cheers, Eric

[mattlamm]

Hi Eric,

Thanks for the info. I did try reading the breeding reports in the L201 page but gave up after a while as all the ones I clicked on mentioned everything but time to hatch and time before the fry get kicked out. I had tried searching the forum too but had no luck, that was when I made this thread.

I didn't know about that advanced search tab so much search must have been in the wrong place. Hadn't noticed it before. Thanks man! I'm sure I'll find all I need via there then.

Sorry to have asked questions that have been covered before but I just wasn't having any luck with my search.

[bekateen]

No problem.

If you don't find an exact answer, I suspect you can get a close estimate by looking at breeding logs for H. contradens or other hypans. I've spawned only a couple of plecos, neither a hypan, and both of them kept the fry in their caves about 5 days before most babies started leaving, and even then the babies kept going back in with dad for a long time.

Good luck,
Eric

[plecoboy]

at wiggling stage, i would expect them to stay in the cave for another week, but sometimes they drift out so keep an eye on them.

[mattlamm]

Thanks guys. Today is day 5 so I guess I should expect them soon then. Father won't let me see a thing in that cave. He has guarded them very well. Has them right at the back and I hardly even see his tail poking out the cave. Wish I knew how many he has back there! I have a fry saver ready.

[mattlamm]

Managed to have a look inside now. I see one fry that has consumed it's yolk and then another that still has quite a long way to go. Does the father let out the babies one by one as they ready, or does he keep them all in until they all ready then kick them out in 1 go?

[CharlieM9]

Sounds as though you have had more than one spawn if there is a fry without any yolk sac at this stage! Sometimes young fry will go back into the cave with dad until they feel safe and large enough he gets tired of them.

[mattlamm]

Quite possible. The parents took 10 days in total to spawn. First 2 nights she was in and then out the next day. Then from day 3 to 10 I didn't see here leave the cave. Perhaps the eggs were laid over the full 10 days and the most developed fry had 5 or so days head start?

[CharlieM9]

It usually takes 7-14 days an average for the fry to completely absorb yolk sack and 3 weeks for female to be able to spawn. So if you have one that has no yolk sack and wigglers there most likely was a spawn roughly a month before the wigglers currently in the cave.

[mattlamm]

It usually takes 7-14 days an average for the fry to completely absorb yolk sack and 3 weeks for female to be able to spawn. So if you have one that has no yolk sack and wigglers there most likely was a spawn roughly a month before the wigglers currently in the cave.

I think she must have spawned multiple times while she was in there for the week then. Reason I say this is during the first 3 days they both left the cave at times and I didn't see any fry or eggs in there when they were both out.

I just checked in on the tank now as I moved in some other 201s last night. The male has another 201 in with him, along with the fry I assume. I thought I had 2 males and a female as the 3rd one has been sitting in a cave for the last 2 or 3 weeks, but today I noticed it was looking very round all of a sudden so it must have been loaded with eggs and gone in to the cave today. If they keep going in to spawn with him and he doesn't get a break could he starve to death? Or will he sneak out for some chow at some point and just leave the fry and eggs in there?

[CharlieM9]

He will sneak out and grab a snack if you feed at lights out. Also be careful as females may eat eggs/fry so that the male will let them in so they can spawn....

[mattlamm]

Ok cool. Yeah that is what I have been doing since the spawn, making sure to feed near the cave. He has a female in there now so hopefully the fry he did have still make it.

[YSR50]

Like others have said, they probably have had a few batches.

My L201 tank is under my 125 gallon tank so other than water changes, filter changes and feeding, I don't pay much attention to them. No fun lying on the floor with a flashlight trying to see into a cave. But the other day I noticed a clutch of eggs in a cave. A few days later I went in to grab the wrigglers and only found one. However I did find a dozen fry throughout the tank. You can see the difference in size, and like I said above, these guys grow super slow, so I know they're probably at least a month old.

[mattlamm]

Cool pic. Well I have no fry left in the cave. Not sure if they are somewhere in the tank or if they didn't make it. The last spawn attempt yielded no eggs so will have to just wait a while for the next round. Hopefully some youngsters just pop up around the tank in a while, but I have a feeling they didn't make it as I have searched for them.

Thanks everyone for the help and info!