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Check the tank today a found a Chaetostoma fanning eggs. I have kind of gave up on them when I lost half of my colony of 6 fish a while ago due to a 3 year old son. They are 3 Chaetostoma in a 55 gallon but there tank mates are 2 6" Jack Dempseys that a friend gave me to hold for him. I haven't check water conditions yet but we did have a huge wind storm last night. I turned off all the extra current I had in the tank about a year ago and they have only been feed high meat food lately. (bloodworms,brine shrimp, beefheart,etc) I have had the fish maybe 2-1/2 years. I will move the Jacks today and set up another tank today for the fry. Any advise would be great. Being a catfish guy its fun watching the Chaets defending there area agaist the Jack Dempseys

Congratulations on the Chaetostoma eggs. Nice!

In that you are moving the Dempseys anyway (good), I'd suggest just letting the fry grow up in the tank with the parents. There are certainly worse things that could be done with the tank space.

Lee

Wahooo!!!! Any idea as to what Chaetostoma species? (I'm still looking for a group that matches and makes it home from the LFS.) I believe some of the recorded spawnings have been "accidental." If you could please keep notes as you go along, it would be much appreciated. I love watching them swim laps around the glass and skip on rocks. When they have ample room, it's a thing of beauty.
Thanks,
Amanda

day 2 and everything is going a great. looking in there its a tight fit but I would guess about 20+ eggs. I think my species is Thomsoni. Of the original 6 I know one was way different but it didn't make it to long. Any advise on what to feed the fry

If you look in Shane's World, there's an article about feeding by Mats. He gives a description about how to cook zucchini and place it in the tank. A few pieces of this in the tank might be a good idea. I find that the Chaetostoma sp. see the lump of zucchini as another "rock" in the tank. I also suggest more than one piece, since you have multiple Chaes. Rocks are one of the few things they get territorial over. Daphnia(frozen, freeze-dried, etc) is another good food. I'm not sure how that would work in a 55 gallon tank. Chopped spinach in the tank may also be an option. Anything that encourages the growth of aufwuchs would be good. If you have driftwood in the tank, aufwuchs grows on it. We're in a bit of uncharted territory here, bigd! Do you have a digital camera?
Amanda

Here is a pic link to where the male laid his eggs. He is between the 2 clay pot where they come together you can kind of see him in there. I have noticed that the female has been staying closer to the breeding area. Maybe because the male is to busy to chase her off. The other Chaetostoma has got a lot bigger in the last couple of dayts maybe other female? This is also my first pleco I have got eggs from.


http://members.aol.com/bigd762/images/aq2.jpg

Keep up the good work! Just to get this far is an achievement. I haven't bred any Loricariid species yet(having males and females would help ). Do you know what the water parameters are(water temp.,pH,etc)?
Thanks,
Amanda

Day 5 male still with the eggs. Got worried yesterday the power went out for 13 hours but everthing looks fine.

You have a lot of power outages where you are! Do you own any battery-operated air pumps?
Amanda

We normally don't have to many power outages. This winter has had a lot more storms then normal. Its day 7 and he is still with the eggs. I don't know how many days it takes to hatch.

The Mergus Wels Atlas Band 2 details the breeding of this species(although it's called by another name), but I need to translate it from German to English. The article in Shane's World approximated 4 days to hatching.
Amanda

Woke up this morning and all the eggs where gone. Male has left the sight and is eating again.

Let's hope some of the eggs hatched, and were not eaten, but I'm afraid this exciting story is over

bigd,
You got very far! And this is your first effort in breeding Loricariid species? From what I was reading in the Mergus Wels Atlas Band 2, it took around 2 days to hatching.(my translation could be completely off-please forgive me, those who speak and read German!) The Shane's World article was about 4 days to hatching. Whatever you were doing, continue to do it. It seems that it induced breeding.

It will be interesting to see how long it is before the Chaetostoma sp. try to go at it again. Also, since they're out of the cave, do you think you could get a photo of them so we could confirm the ID of the species?
Thanks!
Amanda

It is not entirely unusual for various Loricariidae to fail to spawn on the first attempt. This is thought to be caused by "old eggs" in the female.

Best of luck on the next attempt.

--
Mats

Good point, Mats. Age estimation can be difficult with wild-caught species. One never knows if you have a fish that is at the beginning or at the end of life.

How much have these Chaetostoma sp. grown since you've had them?
Amanda