Breeding Royal Whiptail Catfish

Grimace · Post by **Grimace** » 15 Nov 2005, 15:23

hey there,

There are a pair of these that i can buy off a private seller for a low price, but do u fink they'll breed? I'm gonna adjust water to their liking and the tankmates at the moment are just S.Nigriventris, maybe 1 S.eupterus later. Otherwise they'll be on for show only! I'd love to breed them tho...

tips anybody?

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 15 Nov 2005, 15:35

I think there's an article on breeding Sturisoma and Farlowella species in Shane's world.

Looking up the specie in the Cat-eLog should give you some info too.

--
Mats

flash · Post by **flash** » 15 Nov 2005, 20:04

hi
ive bred them in a community tank (100 gallon) and had no probs at all.they share a tank with loads of corys, tetras ,and varius other cats .i found they like to lay the eggs on a large internal filter im not sure if its the current or vibration that they like but they spawn every two weeks or so and have done all year .i remove the eggs when they turn dark and hatch them in another tank.i have a lot of filtrationin the tank .two ehime external thermo filters (the bigest one they make each one turns over 130 gals ph )and a 1260 ehime internal.the tank is full of rock,bogwood and plants i feed catfish pellets frozen bloodworm and courgettes peas etc .why not give them a try there well worh the effort
good luck

flash

Grimace · Post by **Grimace** » 16 Nov 2005, 05:59

Wow!!

So at least it's doable lol. My tank is only a 150L tank, i think that's around... 40 or so gallons... but yeah they hav lots of space. I'll get them some rocks as well, make em feel at home! I'm sorta doin heaps on research on the water chemistry... do u fink u could tell me wot ur water dimensions are?

Good news, the person wanting to sell them to me will hold em til i'm finished examming!! Haha, yayyy, so once i get research down then ill go and get them (well, final exam tmr so yeah lol)

Ty!!

pturley · Post by **pturley** » 16 Nov 2005, 17:07

So long as your water is reasonably soft, water chemistry isn't much of a concern.

It's current and water cleanliness that directly affect the spawning in these fish.

Also, they will preferrentially spawn where the current is moving down a subtrate. This means, if you have a power filter on the back of the tank, they will either spawn on the intake tube (where the water spills over) or on the front glass of the tank. Intake tube is more likely due to the fact they are fairly exposed on the front glass.

And feeding... ...feed veggies predominantly (zucchinni (courgette), cucumbers, sweet potato slices, algae disks, etc.) but also include clams, shrimp and krill once in a while. They seem to love clams and mussels!

Lastly, I disagree with Shane's article on these fish. IME they are MUCH easier ("your mileage may vary") than most other Loricariids though raising fry can be a challenge without a few tricks.

einstein-a-go-go · Post by **einstein-a-go-go** » 16 Nov 2005, 22:25

Grimace wrote:hey there,

There are a pair of these that i can buy off a private seller for a low price, but do u fink they'll breed? I'm gonna adjust water to their liking and the tankmates at the moment are just S.Nigriventris, maybe 1 S.eupterus later. Otherwise they'll be on for show only! I'd love to breed them tho...

tips anybody?

Hi

I've just accquired a pair of Sturisoma Aureum from a local private fish keeper, who is closing down his fish house. Althoug I've been breeding tropical fish for many years, this is the first time, I've bred Sturisoma Aureum.

My water is hard and alkaline, ph 7.8+. I purchased this pair on October 22, placed them in quarantine in the fish house, Oct 29 moved them into separate breeding tanks, 24"x15"x15" Approx 60l, this is heavily filtered with a Dennerle 400C, so there's lots of fast moving current, some bogwood, no decor, no substrate. November 2nd they spawned for the first time, I currently have approx 100, 10 days old, and the parents spawned again yesterday.

I've been experimenting with foods, if you want to follow my progress and breeding projects in the fish house, please check my blog http://andysworld.org.uk/, which has daily updates.

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Post by **Shane** » 16 Nov 2005, 22:40

Einstein,
Can you post a pick of your adults? they do not look like S. aureum from the shot above.
-Shane

bedwetter · Post by **bedwetter** » 17 Nov 2005, 03:27

I've had no trouble getting my S. panamense to spawn in our my local tap water (very hard and alkaline). In fact, I can't get them to stop! I am having some trouble getting the young to live though

einstein-a-go-go · Post by **einstein-a-go-go** » 17 Nov 2005, 06:52

Shane wrote:Einstein,
Can you post a pick of your adults? they do not look like S. aureum from the shot above.
-Shane

This is what they were sold to me as, but I must admit, I'm still finding it difficult to indentify them. The breeding tanks in a difficult (quiet) location in the fish house, I'll see if I can get more pictures.

http://andysworld.org.uk/aquablog/?postid=117

Have a quick look here, pictures aren't very good, but there is a picture of male and female.

Andrew

pleco_farmer · Post by **pleco_farmer** » 21 Nov 2005, 00:21

A few tips on raising the young...

1. Reduce the current. I eliminated my small powerhead, and the remaining current from the power filter alone is enough to encourage the adults to spawn.

2. Let the tank get dirty. I reduced water changes to 25%, once every two weeks.

3. Feed frozen collard greens. Drop a weighted leaf into the tank every other day, removing a leaf that has been in the tank for two days, if there is anything left to it.

4. Supplement with spirulina powder on a daily basis.

5. Keep an eye on filter intake sponges, which will clog fairly quickly with this regimen.

The fry need a calm tank with plenty of easily eaten plant material. My best yields came from a tank where the powerhead and power filter had failed to recover after a power failure. The tank got really grungy, but the fry did well. Changed some water to drop the nitrite, and replaced powerhead/filter with a seasoned sponge. Was rewarded with over 100 fry making it to two inches. Adults stopped spawning however, until I replaced the power filter, which is an aquaclear 300 in a 29 gallon tank.

Of course, the next problem is finding homes for the fry, since the adults will be continually spawning for most of the year.

(And...I agree with Paul, Sturisoma is at the the top of my list for easiest to convince to breed!)

bedwetter · Post by **bedwetter** » 21 Nov 2005, 16:19

pleco_farmer:
why do you think reducing the current helps? Do the young become more active and are more likely to find the food? I find my fry tend to spend most of their time in one place, and only a small portion of them actually end up on the greens.

Jeff

pleco_farmer · Post by **pleco_farmer** » 22 Nov 2005, 01:16

They may get exhausted trying to stay in one place, which may be a defense strategy, staying small and inconspicuous in an environment where food is plentiful and always nearby. I have observed that adding some powdered spirulina directly to the tank seems to lure the fry to the bottom. They eventually migrate toward the collard leaves. Are they finding algae on the glass? I have seen them picking at diatoms along the gravel line, and bruised/broken plant stems also appear to be desirable.

My initial observation is simply that removing the powerhead seems to have dramatically improved the survival rate. The tank is now overcrowded with the offspring from three separate spawns. Tonight I have been moving the fry to a stock tank, and stopped counting at 120. All are safely over 3/4", which is usually when the significant dieoff occurs.

Another setup that I have used in the past consisted of shallow "tupperware" plastic cake pans, overgrown with algae. We would rack these in a wheeled cart used to hold cafeteria trays, and slowly pump water up to the top, allowing it to cascade through each pan via overflows. Again, a similar situation, the fry would calmly cling to the sides and casually munch on algae and collard greens.

Also, the adults, which usually spawn every ten or twelve days with regularity, skipped several weeks during the incident. This may have been due to the decrease in water quality however, and not related to the drop in current. This is supported by the fact that they have spawned again with the new setup, which is dirty only in terms of particulate and vegetable matter. Ammonia count is nil, but the nitrates are climbing. I had increased the water changes to 25% every other day due to overstocking, but then decided to move the fry instead.

Alas, the demand for these fish is low in my area. This is why I reduced my efforts and just let them breed without supervision. I would net out the odd bunch of fry and take them to auctions, club meetings, etc...Hopefully, with our new storefront, we can push them a bit as a perfect inhabitant for a planted tank. Calm, stately with an unusual body shape, they never fail to impress me with their grace. I just need to convinvce people that BROWN is a color too!

einstein-a-go-go · Post by **einstein-a-go-go** » 06 Dec 2005, 23:02

Shane wrote:Einstein,
Can you post a pick of your adults? they do not look like S. aureum from the shot above.
-Shane

Okay here's a picture of male from below if it helps.

More info on my fish house blog

http://andysworld.org.uk/aquablog/?postid=163

Breeding Royal Whiptail Catfish

Breeding Royal Whiptail Catfish

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