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I spotted today a tiny, 2 cm long baby Heteropneustes fossilis in my 450 l tank.

There lives a colony of 7-8 (I don't remember the exact number) adult and subadult H. fossilis along with with Platydoras costatus, Agamyxis pectinifrons, Megalechis thoracata, Ancistrus sp., lot of snails like Brotia herculea, Brotia pagodula, Thaia shanensis, Tylomelania sp., Tylomelania towutica, Neritina sp,. Clithon sp., and some Neocaridina sp. red cherry shrimps.

The tank is a "wild" one (somebody could say - neglected), no heather, no temperature control, no regular pH control (occasional measurements indicated pH 6,5), no NO2, NO3 control, lot of plants but no fertilizers, iregular water change, every 1-3 weeks big water change about 50% of tank, tap water right from the tap, but slowly pouring, filtration Eheim Professional II 2028 700l/h and Project PJF 1001 1000l/h with sponge prefilters cleaned when blocked up, 12h lighting (10:00 - 22:00) 3x54 W T5 and night lighting consisting of 12 blue LEDs (22:00-00:00).

I'm feeding the fish with a mix of different sizes of Tropical, Tetra and Hikari pellets, but mostly Hikari carnivore sinking pellets, and occasionally frozen blood worms, mosquito larvae and a beef heart.

I suppose that my Heteropneustes spawned there a couple of days or weeks ago and this tiny fish is the only lucky survivor. Unfortunately, I didn't notice any spawning activity. It happens when the aquarist spends the most of his life in the office

all the best
iwona

I too have found H. fossilis fry, even in neighbouring tanks, probably eggs attached to plants that has been moved around.
How does your H. fossilis behave when in such a large group? When I kept one it was like an angel, but at one time I had 10 and they where connstantly attacking other fish, never relaxed and always on the move.

FB

Mine are all angels, towards the other fish and to me. I'm changing sponge prefilters, they are hidding behind, with a bare hands. During the day they are very shy, "invisible" fish, during the night they are more active, but they are intersted in other Heteropneusteses, not in other fish (probably because the other fishes are big catfishes too). Even the red cherry shrimps are still alive

all the best
iwona

Hey,

congratulations Iwona

Regards.

Congrats Iwona-
I've just had a look at your tank on the "My Aquaria" page and it looks stunning...

Congratulations Iwona! A shame you missed the spawning, but at least you've got the fry to show for it.

Thank you all for the kind words. Unfortunately, I can't see the baby anymore
best regards
iwona

Maybe he's hiding, or at the worst in a very deep sleep.

Update: the little survivor is doing fine and is much, much bigger
all the best
iwona