PlanetCatfish.com

Hi Everyone,
After a couple years of waiting, I finally have a spawn but there are only 2 servivors. I am wondering how you guys take the eggs out from the guarded cave to hatch artifically. The male would not come out and I am afraid I would damage the eggs.

Any one could help????

Regards,
S Wong

If this was the first ever spawn, you've done well. Quite often the first spawn is completely infertile [or so I've read anyways].

Further, once they have spawned, they should spawn again, so take heart in that.

There are several articles on spawning H. Zebra in Shane's world.

Moving the eggs can be difficult, but it's almost certainly better than moving the fry at a very early age.

I have only experience in breeding Ancistrus, and I just leave them in the spawning tank. As long as there's nothing in the spawning tank that will eat small fish, you should be fine...

--
Mats

GREAT JOB!!!!!
When I had my first spawn I left them in with the father. I think you should do the same and after they leave the cave than maybe you can get them out and put them in a fry trap, or leave them in if they dont have any potential fish that might eat them. Leaving them in will give the father practice and your second spawn should produce better results...IMO..

Congrats on your 2 survivors!!!

I have similar success with either route, counting eggs/fry when artificially rearing, or counting fry yield when naturally hatching. The important issue is to get the fry into a rearing setup quickly. Once the yolk sac is gone, the fry will only last a day or two without appropriate feed.

A neat trick is to keep some driftwood around the breeding caves, leaving very small gaps between the wood and the substrate. The fry will gravitate towards the tiniest gap possible, and they usually hang out in a group. With a little practice and observation, you can arrange things so that the fry emerge on their own and end up in the same secluded spot, in a little group, waiting to be rescued by a swoop of the net.

Thank you for all the info.
I'll let you know if I have any future sucess.
Wong