Ancistrus sp. Wabenmuster from CSG convention spawned

[bekateen]

From the thread Re: 2019 Catfish Study Group Convention, the

Ancistrus sp`wabenmuster`

which I got at the CSG convention and brought back to the USA spawned about a week or two weeks ago. I didn't know it, but tonight I found fry with small yolk sacs loose in the tank. Thanks again to @jac for the fish stock.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

Wabenmuster babies. 1 week old, 10mm SL. I collected about 32 fry, although I lost two or three within days of their discovery.

[bekateen]

About 16-18 days after this wabenmuster male first mated, he is now sitting on new eggs, laid between 9am and 3pm today. At about 50mm SL, he's my smallest male. His cave is an old bamboo cave with an internal diameter of only 12-15mm... It's very small. I have at least 2, maybe 3, larger males (about 70-80mm SL) hanging out in larger (25‐30mm diameter) caves but the big males aren't getting the action. I have at least 2 females and one very small unsexed fish; one female is bigger (~65-70 mm SL) than the other (~50mm SL). I suspect it's the smaller female whose able to fit in this small cave to spawn.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

I took the eggs from dad's cave so I could watch them develop. 34 eggs total, one is bad.

[bekateen]

Sadly, that second clutch of eggs never developed. But happily, today I found another wabenmuster spawn, I suspect from the same small dad and mom (based on the size and location of the egg mass when found), although this one was resting loose in the tank on the gravel outside a dad'scave, lost or abandoned by its dad. I moved it to a fry net basket beside a powerhead to incubate.

Spawn sizes:

• The first clutch, 32 fry.
• The second, 34 eggs (none hatched).
• The third, over 40 eggs, but I didn't get an exact count. (CORRECTION: when I did a later fry count below and included the 3 bad eggs, I learned it was 56 eggs total)

So there was about:

• 16-18 days between the first and second spawn (as best I can estimate judging by how developed the first fry were when discovered) and
• 25-26 days between the second spawn and the third. Hopefully this clutch develops.

In the meantime, I still don't understand why the large males and females aren't spawning but the smallest of each is.

Cheers, Eric

[bigshawn]

Congratulations

[bekateen]

Thanks! So far, this new egg mass still looks good. No bad eggs yet.

[bekateen]

The third egg mass finished hatching yesterday. Two eggs turned white and never developed. One egg appears to have hatched early and died. The first three good eggs hatched on day 4: most of the eggs hatched on day 5; the last four good eggs hatched on day 6. Yesterday eve (day 6) I counted the live wigglers and found 48. Wonderful.

Cheers, Eric

[jac]

Awesome! Soon these beautiful Ancistrus will be wide spread

[bekateen]

Ancistrus sp. Wabenmuster fry from spawn #3, now 3 weeks old, are leaving their fry basket and moving to a grow out tank. There are 53 fry from this spawn. I guess my previous count of 48 wigglers was off by a few. I'm okay with that.

Cheers, Eric

[jac]

Awesome! Soon the US will be overwhelmed with lot's of wabenmuster

[bekateen]

Awesome! Soon the US will be overwhelmed with lots of wabenmuster

Indeed, right now I have nearly 80 wabenmuster total growing out, and based on timing (it's been 28 days since spawn #3 and I did a big cold waterchange today), I wouldn't be surprised if there's another spawn in the next day or two.

And it's all thanks to some Dutch lady.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

I saw them trapping when I left for work this morning, then I came home to this. Same little male and female spawning. I would like to see any of the big males and females spawning, but so far, nothing from them.

So there was about:

• 16-18 days (estimated) between the 1st and 2nd spawns.
• 25-26 days between the 2nd and 3rd spawns.
• 30 days between the 3rd and 4th spawns.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

I took the eggs from dad tonight and put them in an incubator.

I counted over 60 eggs in this photo, but this egg mass is multiple layers thick, so I won't be surprised if there are 100 fry, if they hatch.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

Holy smokes! Spawn #5 just two days after spawn #4. Same little male , but still no spawning action among three big males. Also, I doubt these eggs are from the same female as before; is she even capable of yolking up another clutch so quickly? That said, I don't think I have a second female small enough to fit in this tiny (less than 1" diameter) cave.

Whereas spawn #4 was "over 60 eggs" and is multiple layers thick (maybe over 100 eggs?), spawn #5 appears larger. I counted at least 64 eggs there, but again this is a multi-layere egg mass, so how many eggs are there?
So there was about:

• 16-18 days (estimated) between the 1st and 2nd spawns.
• 25-26 days between the 2nd and 3rd spawns.
• 30 days between the 3rd and 4th spawns.
• 2 days between the 4th and 5th spawns.

[Linus_Cello]

Test the water for viagra?

[bekateen]

Test the water for viagra?

I can add it to the water??? I've been forcing him to swallow the pills all this time.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

Spawn #4 hatched two days ago, but poorly. Only 10 wigglers, maybe one or two more. But spawn #5 hatched today like a champion. Except for three bad eggs (two visible on day of laying), otherwise I got 100% hatch out of the remaining fry. Here's a picture of about 1/2 of the fry, spawns #4 and #5 combined. On a quick count, there are well over 60 fry combined. But they're moving too fast for me to be accurate.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

Tonight: https://youtu.be/9XtLMeZZjjM

[bekateen]

It's been so long since these

Ancistrus sp`wabenmuster`

spawned for me (my last spawn was back in the start of the COVID-19 lockdown). Over the summer I moved them from a 24" 15 gallon tank to a 36" 40 gallon breeder.

I finally got another spawn from them last month. On 12 November, I found the fry loose in the tank, already free swimming and starting to feed, so I figure the parents spawned around 01 November, give or take a couple of days. Here's one of the fry today.

Cheers, Eric

P.S.,

Test the water for viagra?

LOL, never thought about it before, but that would explain why his bristles are sticking up.