Things to be aware of when wanting to raise loricariidae fry

[Dr.UltraScarlet]

Hi all!

I am hoping that, I can get some tips from the people in here who have experience with raising frys, what is the best way to go with loricariidae? I guess it best to take the eggs if the aquarium is to large for feeding the fry´s right. After the yolk sac is eaten, artemia is the best initial food? then go gradual over to something like algae wafers etc.
What about how the eggs hatch using ionized water compared to more calcium containing tab water? Do you any form of anti-fungus?
I know that water quality comes first when talking fry´s and that introducing some pooh from the main tank can bring benficial bacteria to the fry´´s. I would really be thankfull for some tips especcially from Barbie, Yann, Klaus Groenhoej, Plecobreeder and everone else who is plecowise!

Kind regards

(Moderator note: I changed the picture to a hotlink due to size and problems it might cause for our dialup users.)
http://www.imagestash.com/uploads/6284.jpg (It´s not a L114 but a L25)

[Barbie]

I personally take the fry after they've absorbed all of their yolk sac and hang a specimen container in the main spawning tank with a flow through system from a sponge filter. That keeps me from having to stress the fry with new water conditions and allows me to keep a large volume of water flowing through the small area where I concentrate food to the fry without worries of fouling the quality. I don't add medications of any sort, just do water changes. With the L260 fry, I keep a small piece of spirulina wafer in the tank most of the time, and feed supplemental feedings twice a day with artemia, daphnia, or cyclopeeze. I personally think water quality and the presence of good quality food is the most important part of raising the fry. Hardness of the water is unchanged from the levels that are used to get the parents initially spawning with this method, and once the fry are 3 or 4 weeks old, its been no problem whatsoever to acclimate them into harder water.

With Ancistrus fry, I sometimes just leave them in the tank with the parents, depending on how overstocked I am at the moment, but they also do well moved into smaller containers with a large volume of water flowing through. I feed them mainly veggies that I dry during the summer and then clip to the side of the growout tank, along with a constant supply of algae wafers. It definitely seems to drastically increase their growth rate and I rarely lose even one when raising them this way. Hope that helps

Barbie

[Janne]

Most of the fry from Loricariidaes are quite big after they have consumed the yolksac so they can eat almost everything, I give mina shopped frozen artemia and croshed tablets food from the beginning until they are around 4-5 weeks and after that they will eat everything like the adults...but smaller, I do like Barbie...move them to a rearing container hanging into the breeding tank but I dont feed the fry with daphnia or cyclops before they are a couple of month old because I think they easily can overfeed on this type of food.
Fry are very sensitive to the water quality the first weeks so keep it on a high level and you will not lose any fry...you mean yours L-114 have breed? Good luck, I have 4 adults all males

Janne

[pleco_farmer]

A general methodology that is working for us...

1. Remove eggs from the cave two days after spawn and place in a rigid net breeder hanging in the breeding tank. (Gives the male a chance to dispose of infertile eggs.)
2. Add an air stone as surrogate parent
3. Newly hatched "omnivores" are fed frozen baby brine shrimp, while"herbivores" are fed frozen collard greens, with an occasional dollop of powdered spirulina.
4. Fry graduate to chopped frozen bloodworm/hikari algae wafers respectively. Both are provided with frozen zuchinni rinds, which are eaten by a surprising array of species. Using just the rind, actually a curly peel, helps with maintenance.

All foods are frozen to ease preparation and storage. Freezing also reduces the possibility of parasites and other contaminants.

ALL breeding traps contain a stick of Malaysian driftwood. It is eaten by some, but for all provides security and also helps to trap food where it is more easily eaten. Also, our herbivore tanks are "power-fed" so they generally support a plethora of snails. If you don't have them, get them. (Feed hikari wafers, you 'll have them whether you want them or not.) All the species we raise, ancistrus and sturisoma in particular, greatly benefit from their presence at birth.

If you fail to notice the spawn, beware that moving a clutch that has been incubating for several days may induce premature hatching. Generally, if they haven't "eyed-up" they are safe to move. Move the breeding cave to the breeding trap, and tilt it in the corner, with opening down. If papa has tagged along, he will dislodge the clutch for you. Otherwise, a few squirts with the ubiquitous turkey baster will suffice. (For the stubborn L-046, the top slate of the breeding cave is left unglued. We wrap two nylon cable ties to secure it. These are easily clipped off, once the cave is in the trap.)

Unfertilized eggs should be promptly removed from the clutch. I use two pair of long stainless steel medical tweezers, one straight-tipped, one angled. The angled pair is used to hold back the clutch while the straight pair is used to pluck out the offender. As in the above, don't mess with a clutch that has "eyed-up". They are close to hatching anyway, and if a bit of fungus appears there usually isn't enough time for it to do major damage.

Keep in mind that most of these procedures have been developed over the years to streamline our operation. Hobbyists may have other opinions which will work better in your case. However, our experience has shown us that in the long run, removing the eggs results in much better numbers. Plus, you don't have to chase down and transfer fry. I would say that fewer than one in twenty clutches is ever fungused, and of those, only about one in five is lost. (An inexperienced pair will sometimes produce a clutch that is infertile.) After the hatch, you can also track dead fry which would normally be lost in the big tank. This helps in the evaluation of your process. We monitor numbers from birth until transfer to rearing tanks, and are constantly tweaking our methods in regard to individual species.

[Janne]

I'm curious how it has gone with your spawn?..of L25?

Janne