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Posted: **11 Feb 2004, 20:04**

Hi Barbie!

Really great pictures....
Strange that other one not developping at the same speed than the other, I never witness such thing with mine...

I am not totally sure that some might be "monogamus", it is possibly something in the tank or around the tank that make them behaving that way...
To check that the same group should be place in different situation and see how they would react... too much work to worry about that...
Cheers
Yann

Posted: **13 Feb 2004, 00:43**

Great pics Barbie!!!

Am in need of an update....

Herman63

Posted: **13 Feb 2004, 00:45**

yes, an update would be great

I love hearing about peoples experiences with spawning and raising fry. Hows the runt of the litter doing, the one that is developing slowly?

Posted: **13 Feb 2004, 10:22**

I've been slacking! I'm sorry! hehe

The runt has all but stopped developing, or is at least developing much slower than the other one in the box with him. I took these this evening. I added a ruler to the container, so you can get an idea of size. The color surely didn't do much for the look of the fry, but you get the idea! ;) (the numbers listed are cm's, btw)

Here is Dad, with 3 or 4 of the munchkins you can see under his "wing". They're getting really active now. I would assume they'll be trying to get out by Friday or Saturday.

I'll try to keep up the daily updates from now on!

Barbie

Posted: **14 Feb 2004, 18:22**

The dimensions Larry stated in his lecture were twice the width of JUST the males body, the same height, and 1.5 times as long as the male for the interior dimensions of the cave. Mine is a bit off of that, and the male used it anyway, so I'm honestly not sure it has to be exact. I had had tile strips cut previously and just made it as close as I could get it, with what I had.

I definitely do not think the smaller fry is using his yolk sac, but he also doesn't seem to be able to eat. Last night he didn't seem quite as energetic, but I've been adding a small amount of bbs twice a day and turning off their flow for 10 minutes or so to see if he'd show a feeding response and he isn't. I would assume that means his stomach isn't fully developed and there's a problem, but I keep hoping it will suddenly solve itself. I can't find any information on ways to help him in searches, and assume I have to just let nature takes its course.

I will probably be taking the fry from the male today or tomorrow, depending on how the yolk sacs look. They were all but gone yesterday, and I don't want to have to try to net them all out of the tank once he turns them loose. I'll keep you updated

Barbie

Posted: **17 Feb 2004, 06:30**

Hi!

Hippiguy: to keep this topic clear your questions about breeding King Tiger have been moved here

Cheers
Yann

Posted: **17 Feb 2004, 21:14**

Thanks, Yann!

Barbie, Did you pull them? How they all doing. How many? Details! Pictures!

Don

Posted: **18 Feb 2004, 11:10**

I did pull the fry yesterday. Dad was displeased, to say the very least! I lost the one that wasn't developing correctly, but pulled 8 from the cave, so I have 9 healthy fry, total. They're attempting to eat bbs and frozen cyclopeeze, some with more success than others. They all still show a bit of yolk sac, to varying degrees. They're so cute and active now. I tend to have time just slip away when I get started watching them.

Barbie

Posted: **18 Feb 2004, 13:54**

Very cool!

Posted: **22 Feb 2004, 22:48**

So, How are the little gravel gnats doing?

Don

Posted: **23 Feb 2004, 16:07**

Barbie, This is simply marvelous!
I hope you get a nice article out of this so we can hope for similar successes.
Congrats and hope for more great pics!

Posted: **23 Feb 2004, 19:59**

Thanks! They're all doing great, and really starting to fill out. They went NUTS for the grindal worms I gave them the other night, but I don't think they're supposed to get THAT round at a feeding! I'm feeding them newly hatched bbs, cyclopeeze, spirulina wafers, the grindals, and occasionally a bit of NLS growth pellets. I need to find a new ruler, and its hard to see the amount of growth difference from the pictures 5 days ago, but they've really packed on the weight and noticably grown since then. The hanging box seems to be working well for focussing food to them and keeping their water quality up. They love to hang out directly under the inflow from the sponge filter.

Dad has been on strike and refusing to go back in his cave, since I stole his children. Hopefully the onset of the rainy season will change his mind!

Barbie

Posted: **23 Feb 2004, 22:35**

They look great! I'm wondering if you see any difference between the one that was raised in the box and the others that were left with Dad. I remember you saying you wanted to pull them before the father released them and they scattered. Understandable. Just curious if there is an advantage to leaving them with the male until just before release over pulling them earlier.

Posted: **24 Feb 2004, 08:06**

The one that was released early is no longer distinguishable from the others, that I can tell. I tried to keep track of his markings, so I could tell them apart, but there were two others very similar and as of yesterday, I could no longer figure out which one was him.

Sometime last night they made a break over the wall of their container. I evidently got the main tank just a bit too full, and the bubbling of the sponge filter made it very convenient for them to swim upstream. Oops. There were only 4 left in the box when I went down this morning. I rounded up 2 of them, but the other 3 have obviously discovered some nice snug holes in the bog log in the tank to hide in. I guess in a month or two I'll be able to compare the differences in growth rates to the ones fed heavily, if I'm not able to track the others down. It's a 55 gallon with 7 zebras plecos and 6 LDA08 growing out, is all, so I'm sure they aren't in danger, but boy was I disgusted with myself. Oh well, live and learn, I didn't think that extra 1/2" of water in the tank would make THAT much of a difference!

Barbie

Posted: **27 Feb 2004, 17:41**

wow.. great pics and detailed updates on the spawning/raising of fry.. i totally missed this post, but am glad i found it.. any updates on the little ones???

Posted: **08 Mar 2004, 00:07**

Hi Barbie, Any new pictures? How's everyone doing?

Don

Posted: **08 Mar 2004, 14:43**

I've been slacking on the progress reports, sorry about that!

One of the ones that went over the wall in the jailbreak was lost to the filter in the tank, but I did recover all of the rest of them and get them back in the container. That leaves me with 8. They're starting to really look like little miniatures of their dad, and they eat til they're just round. Still feeding frozen foods, bbs, and spirulina wafers (little tiny pieces of them every night at bed time). Here's one picture of them for now. I took more, but didn't have time to sort through them yet. I'll work on that this afternoon.

Dad has finally gone back to his cave, as of two days ago. Hopefully he and the female are doing more than cooking up a plot for world domination in there ;).

Barbie

Posted: **08 Mar 2004, 15:16**

that is great they are doing so well barbie.. they look great.. hope those two are going to be leaving u a present in that cave.. and no i don't mean something u put under the christmas tree

Posted: **08 Mar 2004, 18:05**

Nice looking fry there Barbie glad to see a few more Pics of them
Bill

Posted: **19 Mar 2004, 08:23**

Hi Barbie, any more updates ...................... ?

Posted: **25 Mar 2004, 19:24**

Sorry I've been slacking! The babies are doing great. They now have two new roomies, the S. petricola fry that survived from the spawn about a month ago. They all seem to be doing great. The QA's have really put on quite a bit more body, but haven't grown all that much in length in the past two weeks. The ruler in front of them in these pictures makes them look a bit smaller than they actually are, but it gives you an idea.

http://www.fishaholics.org/barbie/qafryday51c.jpg
http://www.fishaholics.org/barbie/qafryday51b.jpg
http://www.fishaholics.org/barbie/qafryday51.jpg

They're going to have to be moved out into a tank within the next month I'd say, but their appetite is definitely up to the task of finding food now. I'm really enjoying them! Dad is back out on the front of his cave, fanning his fins at the girls. They're on their 2nd day of rains now, so hopefully next week I'll have something new to report

Barbie

Posted: **26 Mar 2004, 00:11**

Wow, they look great! Congrads and good luck with the next batch.

Posted: **26 Mar 2004, 15:21**

awsome pics barbie.. thanks for the update

Posted: **30 Mar 2004, 17:24**

Hi Barbie!
Love the story

thanks for sharing

Congratulations with the nice fry(youngsters).

Regards

Posted: **31 Mar 2004, 12:20**

Hey barbie,
What do you mean by this?

They're on their 2nd day of rains now

Regards,
Michael.

Posted: **31 Mar 2004, 16:20**

Bilby junior,

Barbie is using the method that I outlined for spawning plecos in the online lecture. You can find it in the Shane's World reproduction articles.

Larry Vires

Posted: **17 Apr 2004, 09:02**

They've done it again! The male is currently guarding eggs, and again there is a female desperately trying to get in the cave with him, after he spent 2 days with one trapped in there. I couldn't tell how many, for sure, but I'm definitely excited that they've spawned again. I guess I DIDN'T need the RO unit we just ordered last week! *happy dance*

Hopefully this spawn will go better than the starry nights. The male was guarding two huge egg masses and steadily ate them over the days it took to hatch out and now has 6 wigglers from this second batch. Then again, at least he didn't eat them all!

I'll keep you updated if he kicks any out before full term again. I may prop the front of the cave up a bit. That seems to have worked well for a couple of the other types that were fanning so exuberantly they were kicking out eggs.

Barbie

Posted: **18 Apr 2004, 03:29**

Yay! Happy happy joy dance! They've done it again!

Please keep us updated. I'm especially excited now I have a QA myself... Already I'm thinking when s/he grows a bit and can be determined male or female, maybe I'll start searching for a likely tankmate and see if I have anything close to the luck you're having! (And I know it's only partly luck, you're also doing a fine job!)

Posted: **18 Apr 2004, 22:49**

Excellent news!!! Hope you got some spare space. hehe!

G.

Posted: **03 May 2004, 08:27**

I just pulled 11 nice healthy fry from Dad's cave this evening. They are almost out of yolk sac, and all look healthy. Dad has definitely figured out how all of this works. He didn't kick out a single fry this time. He was still just as mad when I swiped his children though

Barbie

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