Finally, it's about time...

[bekateen]

Congratulations TTA. Wonderful news.

@Jobro, if it's the atmospheric pressure drops of winter storms, someone forgot to tell my fish. Three storms in two weeks and nothing...

Cheers, Eric

[TwoTankAmin]

Bummed- there eggs are gone. One of three things happens. Either I was wrong and there were none, or I spooked the dad doing water change and he ate them or else either I or hunger made him slip out of the cave and a female ate them. I still have another male acting interestingly in a cave.

But I did see a number of fry zipping about the tank. My experience has been that very recently free swimming fry get curious when the flow in the tank is greatly reduced or stopped altogether during water changes. Then they come out and zip around. Usually this stops after they reach 14-20 days free-swimming.

[TwoTankAmin]

No false alarm this time. I just confirmed I have two new spawns. They are in the same two caves as before and are likely the same two males. I also have some number of recent babies hiding around the tank. I am able to see into one of the more favored fry hiding places and have been seeing two to four fry every time I look.

I have no clue how many fry I have in either this tank or in the F1 tank where they are also spawning. I will only find out when I do a fry hunt.

[bekateen]

Awesome! Congratulations, TTA!

Cheers, Eric

[TwoTankAmin]

This is nuts, they are in spawning mode. I saw a trapping yesterday with a couple of the free swimming fry still in the cave, I have another cave where the dad looks to be on eggs but he wont let me see. I have 7 just free swimming fry in a trap, I spot fry zipping about during water changes and I have 10 from previous spawns in growout.

I have no formal training at all, I am basically a hobby fish keeper who knows enough to feed good food and keep the water clean. I also seem to have well water which apparently contains a natural fish aphrodisiac. Most soft water fish and some others as well just seem to spawn in my tanks.

With any luck I should be able to get a number of folks who want to spawn this species (assuming it is one) supplied with what they need. Considering this is a Big Bend fish, aquarium spawning is likely the only way it will survive on the planet.

[Coldhands]

Good luck!

[magdalo]

Great!

[TwoTankAmin]

I am now up to 9 in the trap, there are more in the tank and a dad is on new eggs And there are fat females lurking. Do we think this Queen song was really about plecos? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOTEErZXvAo

[TwoTankAmin]

I am now up to 11 in the trap. Missed nabbing two others yesterday as well. The babies tend to come out during water changes and tank maint. I normally remove the filter intakes and/or Poret cubes and unplug powerhead and pumps as I work and do not reactivate them until refilling. This results in a great reduction or elimination of the flow in tanks. I believe this makes the tiny fry curious.

Add to that they are not all that experienced in the ways of avoiding becoming part of a lunch menu to curiosity about the change in flow, and they come out to "explore." This mostly appears to occur during the first week or two after they go free swimming. However, I had one which for two month would emerge and then swim laps around the tank until the new water went in.

I have seen this behavior in bristlenose, all the Hypans I have kept as well as P. compta. I used to be willing to break down a tank and remove fry even when I had dads on eggs/wigglers. I stopped this practice when I lost two zebra spawns as a result. Because the 173 are in spawning mode, I have pretty much had one or two on offspring pretty much for the past 4+ months, so I have limited myself to nabbing curious fry when I could do so without injuring them.

My big worry here is I will be away from this Thursday through Sunday evening at the NEC event. I have been feeding BBS and other growth type foods twice a day and also vacuuming the trap at least twice a day. I cannot trust my brother to do this, so I plan to move the babies to the grow tank. He will feed prepared packets of commercial foods I leave on the tanks. I have fry from 450s, 236, 173b as well as the 173 which must be fed. But, bro will only feed once/day.

If you are attending the NEC event, please stop by my tables in the vendor room to say hello.

[bekateen]

Hi TTA,

You are having great success. Enjoy the NEC event.

Cheers, Eric

[TwoTankAmin]

An update, I had 10 not 11 in the trap. For sure some have survived I saw several during water changes yesterday. The male on wigglers above now has close to free swimmers and there is a lady parked next to the cave. The other trapping now has turned to wigglers. I am still able to spot free swimming babies in the expected hiding places in the tank.

I have active spawning in both 236 tanks, the 450 and 173b tanks and there are several males caving in the old zebra breeder tank since I added the six fish about 12 days ago. So it seems to be the season.

[bekateen]

Congratulations! This is indeed the season for new life!

Cheers, Eric

[Addicted]

Success!! TTA!