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Yesterday, my pair of Farlowella spawned in my comunity tank. I've had them for about one year now, and after conditioning and lots ov water changes the last months, they finaly spawned. This is my first "non-ancistrus-loricarid" that has been spawning, so I need some advises. I've heard that the frys can be hard to raise. Have anyone any experience with Farlowella?

Bernt

congratulations! I can't answer your question about raining the fry, but I know that some others on the forum have successfully raised Farlowella, and should be able to assist you. If you can, please post the steps you went through to succeed in the spawn, and pics of the eggs and fry would be great if possible!

This may help.

I've read that article, but I can't say that I understand how I'm going to feed the fry. Only that it is hard to get them to eat...
My plan was, before I read the article, to let the male hatch the eggs, and then move the fry to a tank I have been using to raise Ancistrus. The fine gravel should be full of fine leftovers from the Ancistrus (which is removed from the tank). I hoped that the fry would eat the leftovers the first days, and then be able to eat other food offered in a few days. This is how I raise normal Ancistrus, Ancistrus hoplogenys and dwarf cichlids. I also plan to use this method on Corydoras sterbai, which hopefully will hatch today. But, after I read the article on shanes world, I'm not shure anymore that this method will be good enough. If anyone on this forum have been raising Farlowella, I'd be happy to hear about your experiences.
I'll try to take some pictures of the eggs and the fry (if they hatch; you'll never know), but I have to borrow a digital camera...

Bernt

if you want u could transfer the fry to a separate tank, with good filtration adn aeration. feed them with lettuce. and do water change every other day or every day.. goodluck

Do you boil the lettuce, or do you just give it to them raw?

You could also try this method:

http://www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworl ... ghtoni.htm
Per the article, it has worked very well for me.

Sincerely,
Paul E. Turley

or this:

http://home.fuse.net/fishfarmer/Loricar ... eport.html

-Klaus

Klaus,
As I have several clear acrylic tubes sitting around with netting siliconed to the bottom(Synodontis petricola egg catchers). I'll try it your way next!
I have a pair of Sturisoma festivum that have been trying to spawn for weeks in a busy community aquarium, perhaps I'll pull them out to a 30gallon and give it a try.

I'll keep you posted.

Sincerely,
Paul E. Turley

for me, i boil the lettuce so it would sink And they really love them

bernt wrote:Yesterday, my pair of Farlowella spawned in my comunity tank. I've had them for about one year now, and after conditioning and lots ov water changes the last months, they finaly spawned. This is my first "non-ancistrus-loricarid" that has been spawning, so I need some advises. I've heard that the frys can be hard to raise. Have anyone any experience with Farlowella?
Bernt

I have raised farlowella quite often the last 5 or 6 years and you can read my experiences (if you can read german) at
http://www.welse.net/seiten/nadel.htm
Klaus

Or you can translate at http://babelfish.altavista.com/

Paulo

I've read some articles, all of the above, so now I just have to wait for the eggs to hatch.
The Farlowella male wasn't a very good father. He left the eggs alone for hours, and the result was that 20 of 30 eggs were eaten, probably by one of the ancistruses. Therefore, I decided to remove the eggs from the tank to hatch them by myself. They were easy to remove because the Farlowellas chose a Vallisneria leaf as spawning substrate. So now I'm a surrogate father for ten developing eggs. I've read some place that you should brush catfish eggs a few times a day to prevent them from fungusing. Have anyone heard the same?
Anyway, it is really fascinating to watch the eggs. The embryos are moving inside now and then, and I'm really looking foreward to the day when they'll hatch.

Bernt

bernt wrote: I've read some place that you should brush catfish eggs a few times a day to prevent them from fungusing. Have anyone heard the same?
Bernt

Yes, but you can let some snails do the work as well.
Klaus

What kind of snails? I have a lot of "Malayan sand snails" (directly translated from norwegian; don't know the english name), but I think they eat eggs. I suspect them to have eaten an Ancistrus cluch...

bernt wrote:What kind of snails? I have a lot of "Malayan sand snails" (directly translated from norwegian; don't know the english name), but I think they eat eggs. I suspect them to have eaten an Ancistrus cluch...

Melanoides tuberculata - they can't eat eggs, but they crawl over them and clean them thereby.
Klaus

That must be the snails I have. I guess somebody else must have eaten the Ancistrus eggs...
Iâ??ll try snails if the Farlowellas will spawn again.
By the way, yesterday the first egg hatched:-)

A little update:
I only got a few fry that hatched, but theyâ??re still alive.
The good news is that the Farlowellas spawned again yesterday, so I got a second chance. I decided to remove the eggs, because of the Ancistrus. I have them in a small plastic box floating in the aquarium. I also added an air stone, AND some snails. I hope the snails really clean the eggs, and doesnâ??t eat them:)

My farlowella vittatas have spawned twice to date. First time I left eggs with dad, they were eaten. Second time I left them with him for a few days, then scraped them off the glass with a razor blade and moved them into a hatching tank. I hatched them the same way I do cory eggs, warm water, air stone gently blowing bubbles over them, a little methylene blue.
Raising the babies proved very fustrating. They would eat just about anything offered, but were very lazy in going to the food. If it didn't land on them, they did not make an effort to find it. I kept a good layer of microworms in the tank, baby brine shrimp, and spirulina (flakes at first, finely crumbled). Frozen daphnia was added when they were a bit bigger. I also kept a small piece of driftwood in the tank in case they wanted wood (like my ancistrus). The babies are VERY sensitive to declining water conditions, and if I skipped a water change, I would lose one or two ( I did them every day, 50%, sometimes more). Filter was a well cycled sponge, water temp about 80F, my pH is 8.2 and water hardness like concrete, LOL! The babies one by one died off, I got some to about an inch, but lost them. My conclusion was they did not get enough to eat, but I am not sure on this.
I will be experimenting with the next spawn, keeping them in a smaller, confined area to keep the food under their noses 24 hours a day. The original babies were in a bare 10 gallon tank, and I am not kidding, these babies are the laziest critters I have ever (almost) raised. I might try hanging the next spawn in a breeder net in a 10 gallon, so I can keep the water quality up, but the food right next to them. I would also be interested in hearing other peoples breeding successes and fustrations with this adorable fish. I love mine, they make me laugh!
Best, Fishes

SanDiegoFishes wrote:My farlowella vittatas have spawned twice to date.
My conclusion was they did not get enough to eat, but I am not sure on this.
I would also be interested in hearing other peoples breeding successes and fustrations with this adorable fish. I love mine, they make me laugh!
Best, Fishes

You must keep them in an old, not cleaned (!) tank, that they can eat the bacteria-cultures, that have grown on the glass and later on feed them with former deep freezed spinach. They won't eat artemia or cyclops etc.
Good luck next time!
Klaus

Another update:
The snails didnâ??t eat the eggs, only the dead ones. One or two eggs turned white every day, and were removed. I also changed water two times and added more snails, as the â??originally populationâ?