Imported as Ancistrus bodenhameri from Petra Aqua. Now spawned!

[bekateen]

Looking ahead with anticipation:

• The first spawn was Sept 22, a Thursday.
• The second spawn was Oct 20, another Thursday exactly 4 weeks after the first time.
• For the last 2-3 days, a male has been in the spawning cave alone, but he has his tail dangling out of the cave like he's trying to lure the female.

If the four week cycle holds up, I'll have more eggs Thursday night this week. Fingers crossed!

Cheers, Eric

Well, overnight Thursday came and went, but there are no new eggs this morning, and I've seen no trapping recently. However, the second male has also taking up residence in an adjacent cave, and both males are dangling their tails out trying to attract the only female in the tank. Hopefully another spawn is still on the horizon.

And unrelated, here's a recent photo of the biggest male.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

I don't know if they ever spawned two weeks ago (on a 28 day schedule), but I did find at least two young babies swimming around the tank.

Either more eggs escaped the cave on spawn #2 (although these babies were noticeably smaller than the 1 month old fry in my breeder ring), or one of the adult pairs spawned without using a cave. I'm leaning towards the former but can't rule out the latter.

All that aside, two days ago I did find the biggest spawn yet (about 50 eggs) in a cave.

And now the oldest fry (just over 2 months old) are 25 mm SL.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

Third batch of eggs hatched this morning.

[bekateen]

New spawn last night!

1st spawn, Sep 22

• 28 day interval

2nd spawn, Oct 20

• 37 day interval

3rd spawn, Nov 26

• 22 day interval

4th spawn, Dec 18

Simultaneously with each passing spawn after spawn #1, I find a few stray very small fry in the tanks about a week later. I assume the mom and dad are just sloppy and lose a few eggs. But every time? I have to wonder if the second pair of adults is spawning somewhere other than in one of the caves.

Cheers,
Eric

[seb47]

Congrats! What's the first spawn looking like now? Are there many nooks and crannies you can't see?

[bekateen]

Congrats! What's the first spawn looking like now? Are there many nooks and crannies you can't see?

There's nooks and crannies, but even worse there's a pile of Java moss. Almost impossible to see in the tank much. But here's some frame grabs from a video of the oldest fry (first spawn) swimming loose in the tank.

Cheers, Eric

[seb47]

Looking good! The fry have pretty distinct honeycomb looking patterns are they all faded on the parents?

[bekateen]

Mostly yes. On a good day you can see the pattern on adults. Actually the most notable nice feature of the adults is a green iridescence.

Sadly, the adults are very secretive and I struggle to get good photos of them.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

I left town on January 5th for vacation in New Orleans. I didn't get to any LFS in New Orleans, but we did find one when we took a day drive to Mobile Alabama (B & B Pet Stop, Inc., 5035 Cottage Hill Rd, Mobile, AL 36609), where I found some whiptails that I bought on a whim, thinking they aren't more R. eigenmanni (although now I think they probably are- dang it).

No matter, I got home last night to discover freshly hatched baby Ancistrus aff. bodenhameri. This is the fifth spawn, and based on how much yolk the fry have (pretty much all their yolk), I can estimate that the parents spawned on January 6th or 7th (since I was home on the 5th and they hadn't yet spawned).

• 1st spawn, Sep 22
  • 28 day interval

• 2nd spawn, Oct 20
  • 37 day interval

• 3rd spawn, Nov 26
  • 22 day interval

• 4th spawn, Dec 18
  • 19 or 20 day interval

• 5th spawn, Jan 6 or 7

The between spawn intervals are all over the place. I can't tell if it's just that there is one spawning couple and their spawnings are affected by semi-random activities (such as my own activity in the room, water changes, etc.) or if both adult couples are spawning and therefore there's no coordination between the spawns since they are different couples.

Attached are the new babies, plus pics of a couple of the oldest babies and the two adult females.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

They've been quiet for a while... I suspect that all the babies might become obstacles for frequent spawns by the parents. Even so, they spawned again last night. This looks like a big egg mass.

• 1st spawn, Sep 22
  • 28 day interval

• 2nd spawn, Oct 20
  • 37 day interval

• 3rd spawn, Nov 26
  • 22 day interval

• 4th spawn, Dec 18
  • 19 or 20 day interval

• 5th spawn, Jan 6 or 7
  • 41or 42 day interval

• 6th spawn, Feb 17

This last spawn is twice the interval between the last two spawns I recorded, but it's only slightly longer than the time between spawn #2 and #3. I recall with my Dekeyseria picta that they would have 3 or 4 spawns on a schedule, then skip several extra days before getting back on schedule.

Cheers, Eric

[sturiosoma]

Congrats,looks like you got them down pat

Jeanne

[bekateen]

Thanks Jeanne.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

Dad is not happy with me, but I took his eggs today, from the Feb 17th spawn #6. This is the biggest egg mass yet, with over 70 eggs.

[bekateen]

The first fry are just 2 weeks short of 6 months old and I'll be getting rid of the biggest babies soon, so I thought I'd give a 6 month update. Largest baby I see is 37mm SL. Looking just like the parents did when I first got them, but the parents were only 30-35 mm TL at time of purchase, even smaller than this one.

Based on growth of my fry and the initial size of my parents at purchase, I can see my parent stock were between 3-6 months old when I got them. And combined with the fact that they first spawned after 9 months of keeping, that puts the parents age at 12-15 months when they spawned.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

These little

Ancistrus sp(8)

are among the most camera-shy plecos I've ever kept! Here's my "big" male, measuring in at a whopping 58mm SL! Some photos taken indoors with and without flash, other photos taken outside in natural sunlight. In all cases, this dude is distressed, so his lovely green iridescence isn't visible.

Cheers, Eric