Ancistrus Sp. Albino monster spawn 253+ eggs

[elninho]

Hi, I had strange spawn few days ago, one Ancistrus albino female that was kept for 6-9 months without a male had laid over 253 eggs. I got the number 253 from counting them since, in some strange reason the eggs were all over my bare bottom tank and they weren't glued together in groups as normal but were each buy itself.
Has anyone had more than 250 eggs from one spawn and have you ever had a spawn with eggs that were not glued (bonded) together?

[MatsP]

That is a very large number of eggs indeed. And no, I haven't had the problem of the eggs separating in the tank...

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Mats

[Taratron]

Are you sure they're ancistrus eggs? Are they alone in the tank? Reminds me of the two times our African lungfish went nuts and covered the bottom of her tank with eggs. Was a pain in the aft to suck them all out!

[elninho]

Are you sure they're ancistrus eggs? Are they alone in the tank? Reminds me of the two times our African lungfish went nuts and covered the bottom of her tank with eggs. Was a pain in the aft to suck them all out!

They were only creatures in the tank. Two males and one female. The only question is who is the father, but that will be easy answer once they become a fry since one is albino and the other one is black.

[bronzefry]

That's a lot of eggs for one female Ancistrus. The most I've gotten from the pair I have is 85. The male kicked out the clutch once, because of overcrowding in the 55 gallon tank (too many juvenile Ancistrus). Once I got rid of most of the juvenile Ancistrus, he stopped kicking out the egg clutch.
Amanda

[syno321]

The only question is who is the father, but that will be easy answer once they become a fry since one is albino and the other one is black.[/quote]

Not necessarily so, as it will depend on the genetic make-up of the responsable male. The albino male could produce natural colored offspring and vice versa.

[PseudaSmart]

I agree with the above comments that it is odd that the eggs were not together. What color are the eggs? Are they fertile?

To answer your question, I had a large pair (6" female, 7" male) that hatched over 275 fry from one spawn. The reason why I know this is because I put the pair into a 29 gal tank while I re-arrainged my fish room - you know the rest. I counted the fry when I moved them to a 140gal a month later. The daily water changes in the small tank were insane.

After I sold the grown fry to several LFS I traded the pair to to my friend of mine who a LFS. Within 1 week they spawned again. He lost count after 150+. At least they are not my problem!

[elninho]

I counted them on the first day so the number is for both fertile and unfertile. Sadly, after hanging in a net for two days, near the power filter to aerate them, one of the those 3 ancistrus managed to suck eggs through a net, there were only 30 left now and they all hatched. I was cleaning them from fungused eggs 48h after the hatch and I left about 190 fertile eggs.

[Bas Pels]

Ancistrus feeding on their aggs?

Normally they guard them - but than, normally the eggs are in a clutch and in a cave

[elninho]

Yup, and the water was so polluted from 150 egg yolks that were smashed in 15 gallon tank. They couldn't eat the whole egg through the net so after they broke the skin maybe 20% of yolk went in to the mouth and 80% in the water.

Saddest thing was that the eggs that survived hatched 12h after the devastation.

"They" don't guard the eggs only male does, so probably female did it, or the other male.

[JoePlec]

I have seen spawns of well over 300... I cant understand how a male never gathered them into a pile in the first place. Do they not have caves?

[elninho]

It was not his problem, the eggs just weren't sticky at all. Eggs were all around BB thank, and maybe few were left in the cave. Usually they are hard to separate when you try, but I think it is the female that has a problem. Perhaps she ran out of glue