F2 Queen Arabesque in 28 Months

kkorotev · Post by **kkorotev** » 06 Oct 2006, 23:34

If you've ever wondered jusy how long it takes a fish to mature to breeding size, here's one answer: 28 months.
I been raising 11 of Barbie's F1 Hypancistrus sp. L260 "Queen Arabesque" which hatched approximately 28 months ago. The only set to "pair off" were in a cave for 3 days and the male has been fanning a small eggball for 3 more. Hatching should occur tomorrow. I'm not sure I've ever had a fertile first spawn from ANY suckermouth before.
Of the original 12 fish, most are male and all have been raised together. The "lucky" male is NOT the largest of the group and is +-3".
80-84 degrees. Neutral water, minimum hardness. Mostly dry foods, but high protein.
Anything else you'd like to know?

BTW: I am assured by Barbie that the parents are probably not siblings.

Kevin Korotev
Milwaukee, WI USA

Post by **Barbie** » 07 Oct 2006, 08:55

*sniff* I'm going to be a grandma again!

I still feel bad you got mostly males. Guess that's what I got for keeping the biggest, prettiest ones for you ;). I figured at 1.5" there should still be a good ratio, since thre were more than 100 fry from the two spawning tanks in there. Oops! Sounds like you did at least get enough to have some spawn though. Thanks for posting how long it takes to grow them out to spawn!

Barbie

kkorotev · Post by **kkorotev** » 07 Oct 2006, 17:18

Barbie,
I'm not sure my male/female ratio isn't a microcosm of the true ratio. It would make sense that there are more males in any/every 100 randomly collected fry. Neither do I think your picking the "nicest" had much effect on the m/f totals.
In the end here, at 28 months, there is very little difference in their overall size that you could have 'predicted' at just a few months of age. You can also take heart knowing that it wasn't the largest male that one the prize anyway!

Kevin

bloozoo2 · Post by **bloozoo2** » 13 Oct 2006, 22:59

Congrats ! Any photos ? !

kkorotev · Post by **kkorotev** » 16 Oct 2006, 00:03

What would you like to see? The male's tail or an out-of-focus shot of SOMETHING that might be an sac-bound fry?
I tried.
I really did.

Kevin

pureplecs · Post by **pureplecs** » 16 Oct 2006, 12:22

Congratulations!!! I have a bunch of Barbie's spawn too and they are coming up on two years... so I'm thinking there is at least 6 more months or so... the wilds I have are reproducing quite nicely. Sounds like you are doing everything right! The fry once free swimming and eating on their own need more veggie in their diet. I separate mine to a container within the main tank and mix my meaty flake with my veggie/spirulina flake in a blender to feed and thus far have has success with that... you know they are doing good when there are lil poopies at the bottom...LOL

Congrats again my friend!!

Edit: P.S...

If the parents are not siblings, wouldn't that mean they would still be F1????

pureaquatics · Post by **pureaquatics** » 16 Oct 2006, 14:09

No, They would be F2s. The spawn from 2 unrelated fish are F1s any brother sister mingling after that would be F2, then F3, F4, F5 etc etc. You can normally push the inbreeding a little but I wouldn't go past F5s and expect to not start to see deformities.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 16 Oct 2006, 14:15

My interpretation of F<n> is that the number just states how many generations of captive breeding the fish has - no matter how close or remote the relationship is.

So Kevin's fish would be F2 - since the parents are F1, captive bred from wild-caught (F0).

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Mats