L244 Sexing: Now with a spawn and fry

[Mol_PMB]

Thanks guys! For now I’ll keep an eye on them with minimal disturbance and update this thread with any more news.
Cheers,
Paul

[Jools]

Great stuff. Totally off topic, sorry, but if you wish to email me some pics of your Copella, I will add them to the database so the link in your sig shows a species pic.

Cheers,

Jools

[bekateen]

Hi Paul,

There is a report today on Facebook of dumus spawning in a shelf cave:

https://www.facebook.com/story.php?stor ... 9792105029

You may find some tips there.

Cheers, Eric

[Mol_PMB]

Many thanks, Eric.
Sorry for not replying sooner, I've been away from home quite a bit and there has been nothing much interesting to report. Several times I have seen two fish near that same cave where there was activity before, but that was about it.
Just before writing this I went to glance at the tank, to be amazed to see two tails in that same cave. It looks like the big male and one of the smaller fish.
I'll leave them to it and see what transpires.
Meanwhile the Corydoras burgessi fry in the tank above the L244s are growing nicely, there are only 4 of them but they're about half an inch long now, eating grindalworms and starting to get some colour.
Regards,
Paul

[Mol_PMB]

I have been away for a few days, and have just come home to spot this while doing a water change on the L244 tank! Happy times

L244 [clog]Pseudolithoxus dumus[/clog] fry

L244 [clog]Pseudolithoxus dumus[/clog] fry

Sorry about the poor quality photos, I was in the middle of siphoning the tank and it scarpered pretty quick.

Hopefully there are some more in there too

Paul

[bekateen]

Whaat? Wonderful! Congratulations, Paul!

Cheers, Eric

P.S., as a precautionary question, are there any other plecos in this tank?

[Mol_PMB]

Thanks Eric!
There are only adults of the same species, no other fish.
Also snails and blackworms.
Cheers,
Paul

[bekateen]

I didn't expect there were other pleco species in there, but I thought it was worth asking. Again, I'm super happy for you!

Good luck and I hope you find more babies.

Cheers, Eric

[Mol_PMB]

I have seen one baby fish several times now, always in the same area of the tank (so I think it's the same fish). It's very active, grazing over the hard surfaces and occasionally a brief dash across from one to another. I have put a chunk of Repashy near it in the hope that it realises that it's food.
Here's a better photo (though still pretty rubbish!)

L244 fry, about 10mm SL

I have not seen any other babies yet, but I hope there are some more. The lights are going down now, so I'll keep a close look out for them tomorrow.

[bekateen]

Not sure if this helps, but here's your same photo auto-corrected for color. If nothing else, it's a little brighter and easier to see the baby. Cheers, Eric

[Mol_PMB]

Many thanks Eric!

[Jools]

Nice work! Think this is a first?

Jools

[Mol_PMB]

Thanks Jools!
First in the UK, I think. I think there are a couple of reports from Germany.
Regards,
Paul

[Mol_PMB]

I had one more sighting of a baby on Monday, and nothing since then. The tank has countless hiding places so hopefully the one I saw is OK and there are some others in there somewhere.
As well as repashy I have added some more branches with algae growth to provide additional grazing surfaces, plus some Catappa leaves.

[Mol_PMB]

Today I managed to see two

Pseudolithoxus dumus

fry at once, and get a photo of them. Unfortunately I couldn't get them both in focus at the same time, but this pair of photos clearly show there are at least two.

I put this fallen log in the tank a few days ago, it was covered in algae and lichen and I thought it would be good grazing ground for the youngsters. That idea seems to have worked.

Hopefully there are more hiding somewhere.

[Mol_PMB]

A few more photos of the youngsters, which are still enjoying grazing on my log, though it's been stripped of almost all the green stuff by now.

They like clinging to the underside of the log (which is still floating) - these photos are the right way up! I used a torch to illuminate them for the photos.

Tomorrow I'll go walking and collect some more green logs.

Again today I have seen two youngsters at once, but I haven't seen more than that together so far. When I do see them, they're usually actively grazing and they seem to enjoy spots in moderate to strong currents.

They look to be growing well, I'd say they're about 15mm SL now. They are showing a colour pattern developing.

[bekateen]

So cool!

[Mol_PMB]

One of the fry came near the front of the tank so I managed a few more photos.
Being closer I struggled to get the right focal depth in the available light conditions, but there is some detail visible. Am I imagining it, or are the distinctive orange fin tips of this species starting to show?

Incidentally, is there a way to update the title of this thread to something like 'L244 Sexing, now with a spawn'?

[bekateen]

Incidentally, is there a way to update the title of this thread to something like 'L244 Sexing, now with a spawn'?

Hi Paul,

To update the name of the thread, go back to the first post (here: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=44831#p304166). Open it with the "Edit post" link and change the title in the first post. All subsequent new posts will possess the revised title (although all the previous posts will retain the old title).

Cheers, Eric

[Mol_PMB]

Thanks Eric!

[Mol_PMB]

I don't see the fry (or the adults) very often, but the fry certainly enjoy grazing on 'green' wood. I have gathered a load of fallen branches and twigs from local woods, which are covered in algae and lichen. Here's one of the little ones (now about 16mmSL) having a munch!

L244 fry, grazing on branches collected from local woodland.

I swap the branches for fresh ones every few days, being very careful that they don't have any fish clinging to them.

[Mol_PMB]

A few more photos of the

Pseudolithoxus dumus

fry this evening, all of the same fish which was being quite bold on a twig near the front of the tank. I did see another one on the powerhead casing at the same time, but it scarpered. I still haven't seen more than two at once!

[Mol_PMB]

Having been away from home for 4 weeks, I'm delighted to report that at least one of my baby L244

Pseudolithoxus dumus

is still alive, as are my

Corydoras burgessi

fry. They haven't grown a huge amount but are noticeably bigger and better patterned than before. My friend who looked after the feeding will get an expensive bottle of something in return!

[racoll]

Wow ... starting to look like mini Pseudolithoxus now!

[jac]

Congratulations! And thanks for sharing, great pictures

[Mol_PMB]

Thanks Jac and Rupert! I'll keep updating this thread and the breeding report as they progress.
Sorry to have missed you at the CSG convention this year - looking forward to 2020.
Regards,
Paul

[ronaldjoift]

So far these two species seems to do very well together. Any suggestions on what else to add beside Tetras?

[Mol_PMB]

[I'm not sure of the relevance of the previous post on this thread>?]

Yesterday I made the decision to give the L244 tank a good clean and move the babies into a fry box so I could target-feed them better, as they seemed thin and slow-growing.

I had previously seen a maximum of 2 fry, and I only found 2 fry in the clean-out. They are now in the fry box within the main tank, and seem to be settling in. I am offering green twigs, chlorella/spirulina powder, and repashy.

[bekateen]

Hi Paul,

I'm glad you still have two, but I also am a bit surprised you didn't find a third or fourth wandering around.

Cheers, Eric

[Mol_PMB]

I see my two juvenile L244s quite often as a rapidly disappearing yellow flash.
This evening I finally managed to creep up on one with the camera and get a few shots before it scarpered into a crevice.
So I thought I'd post the pics here as an update to the story.
They're growing rather slowly but look healthy.