The First Spawn

[Speedy1985]

In the experiences of those here, do you find that the first spawn of any given species usually does not go well when you allow the parents to attempt to care for the eggs naturally? With the Hypans that have spawned for me, it seems to have been the case every time with the latest being my L-404 group.

[bekateen]

Funny you should ask today of all days - sometimes true for other genera too, as in my case over Saturday with Peckoltia lineola: (viewtopic.php?p=325579#p325579)

Success! ... but not.

First spawn of my Peckoltia lineola occurred between Friday night and Sunday morning. Dad has a few eggs in his cave, but they don't look good. The yolks are solid yellow color.

Also, the tank looks like it exploded with eggs outside his cave. He was actually kicking some out of his cave when I discovered him today, and there were a dozen or more eggs scattered nearby, many of them partially disintegrated, all of them with solid yellow colored yolks.

So specifically, this spawn was a failure. But bigger picture, I think it was a great success. The females have been trapping on and off for almost 4 months. The females were huge (still are big). I suspect their eggs were old and nonviable before being oviposited. But... now they have shown they can do it, so I hope they'll do it again, next time with good eggs.

Final note, while one dad sits on some bad eggs, another dad in the cave nearby is trapping a female.

Cheers, Eric

[Speedy1985]

Funny you should ask today of all days - sometimes true for other genera too, as in my case over Saturday with Peckoltia lineola: (viewtopic.php?p=325579#p325579)

Well let’s hope we both have better results going forward!

Success! ... but not.

First spawn of my Peckoltia lineola occurred between Friday night and Sunday morning. Dad has a few eggs in his cave, but they don't look good. The yolks are solid yellow color.

Also, the tank looks like it exploded with eggs outside his cave. He was actually kicking some out of his cave when I discovered him today, and there were a dozen or more eggs scattered nearby, many of them partially disintegrated, all of them with solid yellow colored yolks.

So specifically, this spawn was a failure. But bigger picture, I think it was a great success. The females have been trapping on and off for almost 4 months. The females were huge (still are big). I suspect their eggs were old and nonviable before being oviposited. But... now they have shown they can do it, so I hope they'll do it again, next time with good eggs.

Final note, while one dad sits on some bad eggs, another dad in the cave nearby is trapping a female.

Cheers, Eric

[Baardman]

I think the hardest part is to get that first spawn,once that's done they will keep going. Hatching eggs and raising fry different ball game

[Speedy1985]

I think the hardest part is to get that first spawn,once that's done they will keep going. Hatching eggs and raising fry different ball game

This is true on all accounts. The excitement of getting that first one is only topped by successfully raising the fry.

[Baardman]

The struggle is real trying to stay away from a new species spawn so you don't bother the male to much

[Speedy1985]

The struggle is real trying to stay away from a new species spawn so you don't bother the male to much

That’s an understatement. There should be an announcement....”put the flashlight down and step away from the tank”!

[Baardman]

My leopard frogs and my L387 get checked daily

[TwoTankAmin]

I have almost the opposite experience. Most of my first spawns work out OK. I regularly flahlight caves, sometimes several times a day with no ill effects. But then that is why this hobby is so interesting, evrybody tends to have their own specific experiences, some good and some not so good.

But to quote that old gambler's saying. "I would rather be lucky than good any day."