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Hi all,

Our Hoplosternum littorale spawned 1-1-08



The bubble nest


The eggs on the 3rd day


I was to get a picture of the babys when they were hatching but miss it, they hatch 5-1-08.

I'm always amazed by the bubble nests. Quite a set up you have there. Please keep us posted on the fry.
Amanda

That floating disc they put the bubbles under. Is that something you made or something readily available to buy?
Did you leave the eggs where they were? Did you leave the parents in with them?
I know nothing about this breed but they are intriguing.

cool pics! Did all of those eggs hatch and live? Can we see some pics?

The floating disk is a bucket lid from a bucket of fish food. Approx size 10" diameter

My hubby only left the eggs with the parents for about 24 hours as the male seemed to lose interest and the female was eating the eggs and we didn't want to lose them all

He put the eggs (still on the lid) in another tank with about 6" of water, put the lid in the water with the eggs facing up so we could see them and tricked water over them using a sponge filter

Looks like all the eggs hatched and non have died yet as i can not see any little dead bodies

Will be feeding them a little microworm later today

Here is a picture of them, now 2 days old

I didn't realize the eggs were actually stuck onto the lid. That makes it a whole lot easier to relocate them.
They look good sized babies. I have to wait 2wks for my cory babies to get that big.

I've noticed you've had good success with breeding hoplo type fish.

I'd really be interested in your breeding setup and process? Thanks!

I've heard of people spawing them, but the father losing interest. Good thinking. Please keep us posted!
Amanda

Brengun wrote:I didn't realize the eggs were actually stuck onto the lid. That makes it a whole lot easier to relocate them.
They look good sized babies. I have to wait 2wks for my cory babies to get that big.

Yes, they just stick them to the lid just like a Cory would do to glass or plant.

They are a good size when born, not sure what size they were but I've just been and measured them and they are about 6-7mm

zenyfish wrote:I've noticed you've had good success with breeding hoplo type fish.

I'd really be interested in your breeding setup and process? Thanks!

Hi,

Yes we (my hubby & i) have been breeding hoplos for about 18 years now.

Mostly Thoracatum but we were breeding the Littorale first 18 years ago.

I will make a new post about all the hoplo types we have and try get some pictures of them too. We nearly have them all .

Well i gave them their first feed yesterday of microworm, most of them seem to take to it straight away.

All doing well, non have died yet but i can see some weak ones that look like they will not be with us long, if they can eat something soon i think they could pull through.

Well i have bad news

All but 2 babys have died

I think my hubby gave them live brine shrimp too early as they were doing fine on microworm.

(men )

sorry to hear that Vicky

Vickey,

From the small size of the bubble nest it may be a first spawn and a lack of experience for the fish. Set them up again and see what you get. Here is the size nest I would expect to see: http://www.gcas.org/forum/viewtopic.php ... ubble+nest
This nest filled as least 1/3 of a 20 gallon long tank and produced at least 500 fry (I raised out that many) and some sources say in the 10's of thousands per spawn.

Hi All,

My Hoplosternum littorale have spawned again on the 27-4-08.

So far so good, eggs are fertile.

I have taken the eggs away from the male as the females were trying to eat them.

He has gone and spawned with both females this time.

I will try to get some pictures but the batteries in my camera are flat, charging them up now.

Vicky xx

Baby's are now free swimming and eating Banana Worm.

Little update 21-5-08.

Baby's are going great, eating lots and growing, they love frozen cyclops.

Vicky. xx

Here are some pictures of my Hoplosternum littorales. I got them two days ago and the male has already built a floating nest. He has gathered a huge pile of java moss and pieces of plants. The diameter of the nest is approximately 20 centimeters and the height is about 5 cm. The nest is filled with bubbles. Hopefully there will also be eggs soon.

No success so far. The male littorale built two bubble nests, but the female didn't lay eggs there. However, here is a video about H. littorale building a nest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eed4hETJOLg

Fantastic video - hopefully a bit of further success soon!

That just might be the coolest thing I have ever seen, Well done Mr Hoplo!

Ditto
Amazing
Wishing you well!

My H. littorales spawned today. I put a large ketapang tree leaf into the tank. The male quickly picked it up and transported to his nest. Soon the fishes spawned and the female stuck eggs on the surface of the leaf. When they finished spawning, I removed the nest and took the eggs still attached to the leave into a container floating in the tank.

That is the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life and I have seen some amazing stuff.
I am finding myself with an immediate urge to get some of these so I can watch it my self for real.
I first got interested in this species when I saw my first big one in pier aquatics late last year, how long does it take for them to get to this size? are they fast growers? Until I saw this big one in pier I had only ever seen really small ones.
I also didn't realise how big the nests they build are.
Thanks for enlightening me to this amazing spectacle.
Amazing, believe it or not I am speechless.
Oh no I feel another tank coming on...................

Matt

I don't know the growth rate of H. littorale, but the not too distant cousin goes from 2" to 4" TL in less than a year - then it slows down a bit, like most fishes.

They had some mid-sized ones in MA @ Oxford.

--
Mats

Oxford is a bit far away from me at this time of economic crisis but thanks Mats

Matt

grokefish wrote:Oxford is a bit far away from me at this time of economic crisis but thanks Mats

Matt

Sure, I understand - it's a bit far for me too - but I just thought if you HAPPEN to go that way, it's good to know.

You could of course try searching in tropicalfishfinder.co.uk.

--
Mats

I have about 200 two days old frys swimming in the hatching container. I feed them with microworms and decapsuled artemia eggs.

The fry are now one week old. They are about one cm long and have dark vertical stripes on their flanks. They have a very good appetite like their parents.

At the age of two weeks they are clearly miniature littorales. They have started to gulp air from the surface.