Hoplosternum Punctatum Spawn!

[MissNoodle]

Hes been growing out in my corydoras eques tank until he was large enough to compete better for food with the larger adults, and he's done fantastic with them, but has been the only hoplo since his siblings all died. So seeing him back with some hoplos is a nice sight. He's following them around and seems extremely happy.


I have some younger fry in the nursery still, nice 1 inch young ones doing well. I've got homes lined up, provided that these guys keep on doing well.


Ive had also a couple more spawns. One of the spawns I gave the eggs to a local breeder to try to raise and see if they had similar struggles with survival rates--and yes, yes they did. None of theirs made it either.
They used methylene blue for the eggs, which did not stop the fungus either, and the ones that did hatch did not survive long either.

Seems they are not an easy species to raise, but some solace at least that it isn't only myself either.

But, as long as the parents are willing, I will keep trying. Let them do as they want lol

[fishguy1978]

Thanks for posting. It is always amazing to me to learn how unique each species is.

[MissNoodle]

Long time since updating...

I've had numerous more spawning from these guys but I've stopped pulling the eggs because the last ones that I had posted about, all except 2 of the fish never developed proper eyes! High number of culls, for whatever reason, so ethically I do not feel right saving the eggs with the high odds of deformed fish.

That said, the two healthy youngsters went to a home together and are living the good life in someone's 180g community and I get updates on them, they're doing fantastic.

I kept the blind culls, since they live just fine despite the undeveloped eyes. Been healthy otherwise, but not leaving my care as culls. They can live their lives as a big group together as pets.

Have a group of 8 total now and they're a riot. They're all in a 6 foot tank with a p. Pardalis and 3 goldfish and they do really well together.

Any eggs are left to be eaten, which the goldfish go nuts for lol

Some pictures of the blind youngsters now, about full grown

[bekateen]

Is their eye issue to blame for their dark pigmentation?

Cheers, Eric

[MissNoodle]

Is their eye issue to blame for their dark pigmentation?

Cheers, Eric

I am unsure of how much vision they really have, they don't seem responsive to a lot, but do seem to register some light and shadow, and I've got dark substrate so all of the fish are dark.

It's a mix of sand with some black gravel, but the goldfish constantly dig through it so the gravel is dropped on top of the sand in a lot of spots, except where the powerhead pushes the sand up in another spot

But the dark substrate and black paint on 3 sides of the tank darken the fish. Even the normal ones are dark

[sturiosoma]

Maybe some newly hatched brine shrimp, and chopped live black worm, Yum

Jeanne