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Just over a week ago I was lucky enough to get a pair of my Pleco's spawn for the second time in 2 months. But this time I've been lucky enough to have the baby's hatch & are doing great. They are 6 days old & I have 29 babies that have survived & their yolk sacks are almost gone & they quite the little rocket swimmers.

Parents

Male


Female


2 Days old Fry





4 Days old Fry




Here is a video I took of the parents mating & shows how the female deposits the eggs at the back of a cave.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOU6jUI_ISQ

Nice job with 2 spawns. Photos are nice and clear.
Your video is blocked from viewing in the US. Something about 'borrowing' music to go with your video........

Jim

the video worked OK for me......

Great footage of the courtship!

Pretty sure these are not s though ...

Yea I was looking & I don't think they are L201's either. But not quite sure which they are. I was told they were L201 like most are sold that are black with spots. I do have a L201 in the tank & it is different for sure. Thought maybe L142, but mouth is too small to be L142, so not exactly sure what they are, & the biggest is just over 4" long.

Here is a closer look at the female


Belly Shot

They're beauties alright. I'd say .

The first time I look was using my IPad. Using a computer the video is not blocked. Nice job.

Jim

Hello

Definitely no L142. These are Hypancistrus, and very nice pattern. I suggest L136. How big are they?
Edit: Just watched the video. Looking at body shape,I tend to Hypancistrus contradens (mostly sold as L201 big spot).

Cheers

The male does resemble L136.

Here is new pic of fry at 7 days old. It's hard to get their pictures as they don't stop moving. I still have all 30 & are doing well.





They are 9 days old today,& will try & get some pics today & post as well.

Here are the fry now Feb 26 at 9 days old

Beautiful!!!

I think I found out what they are, even the fry & juvenile pics look the same.

Hypancistrus sp. (L471)

I think I found out what they are, even the fry & juvenile pics look the same.

Hypancistrus sp. (L471)

Unlikely, as that's a dwarf "species". Yours look pretty big to me, but that may not be the case. How big are they exactly?

They are about 4" long head to tail, & the body is 1" tall & 1" wide. The cave they use is 4.5"L x 1"T x 1.5"W & they can fit all the way in so they are not longer than 4.5"

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here are the little guys at 13 days old

Here is a pic of one of the fry today Mar 6 at 17 days old now. I am feeding them a mixture of crushed flakes, algae wafer powder, shrimp pellet powder & brine shrimp fry. I also added a few baby Mollies to the 3G tank to help take care of any leftover food. The fry at night time are all over the tank now & I see them sucking on the driftwood, moss, glass & anything else they can find & a few of them are getting plump already.

Here are the little guys on Monday when they were 21 days old





Their bellies have now gotten colour & are not see through anymore & they are now playing & chasing each other around the tank.

It may be just me but it looks like the fry are suffering from "snub nose".

This is a condition caused by the egg shell being too hard (caused by hard water) and the fry become deformed trying to break out of the shell.

I have dealt with this before in some L15 I spawned years ago before switching to RO water.

Hopefully I am wrong and your fry contine to develop into fish as beautiful as the parents!

Andy

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This morning I noticed that the male is in the same cave for the third time with one of the females & it's been one month to the day since the fry started hatching, so they seem to be on a 5-6 week cycle now. Since I had a good success rate with the last batch, I will do the same this time as well & hope for the same or better success.

Good luck with the next spawn. Keep an eye out for more snub nosed deformities. If you use very soft water that should prevent it.

Andy

Yesterday morning the female left the cave, & I looked inside the cave & the male was guarding another clutch of eggs, so I moved him with the cave & eggs to the 2G tank again. So here's to hoping for another 30+ babies in a few days.

UPDATE

The last clutch of fry didn't make it, something went wrong with the heater in the tank & it got too hot.

The female laid another clutch of eggs on May 6 & the male has been guarding the eggs since. The male has been very active in the cave today so they must be starting to hatch & should see the first of the new wigglers today sometime.

Next is hopefully my L264, they have been frisky for the last while but no eggs yet.

Very nice job.

Please keep updating.

The fry started hatching yesterday morning & had my first wiggler from this batch at dinner time last night & now there are 8 little fry so far out of the cave. I'm hoping for around 40 this time. Especially now that the male has done this a few times.

So far I have 28 fry out of the cave now & have lost 3 more. The male is still in the cave, so there is still more to come. Here is a pic of some of the fry cuddled up together.

I finally got a good pic of one of the 3 month old fry

The fry have now no yolk left & they now have black & white colour. The male was still in the cave a few days ago, & was going to take him & the cave out of the hatchery tank, but I shinned a flashlight in the cave & saw some fry swimming around in the cave, so I left it. This morning I woke up & there was only a few fry swimming around the filter & the rest were missing. So I looked in the cave & most of the fry have made their way back into the cave with the male which is a first, but I still have around 30 fry, but hard to tell for sure how many are in the cave.