Scleromystax barbatus eggs

Jeff · Post by **Jeff** » 15 Oct 2005, 14:58

I've recently acquired a group of these beauties and they have started breeding in their aquarium. I've had three spawns and the frst two spawns never hatched.
The eggs were removed and put in a hatching tub with gentle aeration and a drop of methylene blue. After a few days the eggs, actually kept them in the plastic container for a week, and they just fell apart, resulting in a soup like mixture. None hatched.
I have another spawn and this time I am trying with a darker container, covered with no methylene blue.
Tap water pH is 7.3 with a hardness of 120PPM.
I recently read that barbatus eggs require soft acid water to hatch. I have a few aquariums filtered over peat for my West African species. Can I put that water in with teh eggs to help them at hatching time, then acclimize them back to the regular tap water.

Sorry for the lenghty post but I am looking for any ones elses experience with this species, they are not very common in Canada and I really adore them.

Thanks for any information

Jeff

Post by **corybreed** » 15 Oct 2005, 15:31

Jeff it sounds like the eggs were not fertile. What color were they? Did they all turn white? If the eggs were fertile they would be very light brown(creamy) in color and hatch in 3-4 days. Check the sticky on breeding Corydoras/scleromystax.

Mark

alga · Post by **alga** » 16 Oct 2005, 01:13

Also, what is your water temperature. The collection of these has been reported in water as cool as 58 degrees and mine only spawned during the colder temperatures, 65-72. Not fertile also is a great possibility, give them time, they will get the hang of it.

Post by **corybreed** » 16 Oct 2005, 02:58

I spawned barbatus for a number of years at 74-75 degrees.

Mark

alga · Post by **alga** » 16 Oct 2005, 04:41

Corybreed, mine too would spawn at warmer temps but really were productive in terms of eggs and fry at the lower end of the spectrum.

Jeff did not mention a water temp and I thought if it was too warm, maybe fertilization rates would decrease with increased temperature....I guess if the fish are spawning the temp is at least in the range so maybe this isn't it at all, just my experience with them.

Jeff · Post by **Jeff** » 17 Oct 2005, 02:28

The temperature of the aquarium flucuates between 68 and 72 degrees F. I do a 20 precent water change every second or third day and feed them well. Lots of worms, brine shrimp (frozen) and a high quality flake. They are in 35 gallon with 5 Laetacara curviceps, another cool water lover.
I just checked the eggs and most are a creamy colour with a white center, two are translucent and one is dark brown.
I think you people are right, maybe I should just give them time and they will come around, it took a pair of m Apistos eight times until they got it right and I had fertile eggs.

Thanks for all the info.

Jeff

fishnut2 · Post by **fishnut2** » 17 Oct 2005, 07:52

Hi Jeff,
I've had well over 50 Barbatus spawns, so I had plenty of opportunities to experiment hatching the eggs. The methylene blue is just a dye, so it won't harm the eggs, unless you add WAY too much. Then it tends to stain the egg membrane. Basically; light promotes fungus. The methylene blue darkens the water to prevent that.
I started out having terrible hatch rates as well. Try hatching the eggs out, in pure RO water. As the eggs become wigglers, you can add some water from the spawning tank.
For more info...check out my video clip! It shows 2 spawns of barbatus (at the same time) in adjacent tanks. It shows feeding/courting/T-position/female carrying eggs/and laying the eggs. http://fishnut2.com/BarbatusSpawns.mpg
Also; here's a pic of what good Barbatus eggs looks like.

They don't always cluster spawn,like in this pic. But it's very common.

Jeff · Post by **Jeff** » 23 Oct 2005, 01:03

Thanks for the information everyone. Just to let you know that two eggs hatched, hopefully the numbers will increase with more spawns.

Thanks

Jeff