My BLogs Right Breeding report for Peckoltia lineola by bekateen

Down Basics
Overview The first spawn was on Saturday 18th of July 2020. The breeding group consisted of 4 males and 2 females. Additionally, there were 3 unknown individuals present. The smallest male was at least 80mm SL and the smallest female was at least 80mm SL. The individuals were obtained from Nation Wide Aquatics, Illinois, USA.
Feeding
1.California Blackworms (live) weekly
2.Sera catfish chips (dry / prepared) occasionally
3.Fluval bug bites pleco (dry / prepared) occasionally
4.Cobalt algae pellets (dry / prepared) few times a week
5.Cobalt shrimp and vegi pellets (dry / prepared) weekly
Down Water Parameters (at time of spawning)
pH 6.00 to 6.60
Conductivity 100µs to 200µs
Temperature 27.0°C to 28.0°C
Current Medium(air)
Other Water Params 50-50 blend of tapwater and RO water, dechlorinated with Aquavitro alpha at a dose of 1.5x recommended strength. 50% - 70% water change every week or two. In Aug 2020, I experimented with raising the RO water to 84% of the tank volume over a week. No spawns. Then I brought the RO back down to 60% of tank volume with a change of 70% of the tank volume (TDS 50 ppm), and two days later I got my second spawn, this one successful.
Down Aquarium
Dimensions The aquarium dimensions were 762mm x 305mm x 457mm (30" x 12" x 18") all Length x Width x Height.
Furniture Some sand, irregular gravel, cobblestones, oak branches, oak leaves, clay caves and bamboo tubes (open both ends)
Filtration Matten filter, augmented by aeration using an Aquaclear 70 powerhead with venturi and a Hydor Koralia circulation pump, the latter pointed straight down from water surface to tank floor.
Lighting Fluval LED light on a 12L:12D timer
Heating Fluval E200 set to 82F
Down Breeding
Behaviour I started with 9 fish and soon lost 3, due to some disease I could not treat. Fortunately, I still had males and females remaining. My efforts documented here: https://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=49276. Trapping is typical of plecos - male in a cave, female trapped, sometimes for days at a time. I did not observe egg laying, but this group has been trapping for nearly 4 months on-and-off with no spawns until now. First spawn occurred after 80% WC with slight drop in hardness (TDS fell from 90 to 65 ppm). Male in cave with a few bad-looking eggs. Lots of bad looking eggs scattered around the tank. In August I dropped TDS to 37ppm for a week, then did a water change and brought it back up to about 50ppm. Within a few days both females were trapped and after two days one of the female had spawned successfully.
Eggs There were 40 yellow eggs laid which were 3.0mm in diameter.
Time to hatch 6 days
Number: 10
Free swimming: 7 days
Segregation I'm leaving eggs with dad in cave to hatch. Ugh... after three days, the eggs disappeared. Did dad eat them? On third spawn, I left eggs with dad, but he started ejecting and maybe eating eggs on day 5. I recovered 10 eggs in the tank and dumped 9 more out of his cave, along with a lot of empty jelly coats. Two eggs had hatched today. I fear they are premature. Will watch them and hope they survive in egg basket.
Fry sizes 7 days: 10mm
14 days: 15mm
21 days: 21mm
14 days
21 days
Juvenile sizes 1 month: 25mm
3 months: 36mm
6 months: 55mm
1 month
3 months
6 months
Fry and juvenile feeding After consuming their yolk sacs, the fry were left in the net basket. They had old decaying oak leaves which they could just graze on, and I fed them SeaChem Chlorella flakes and Fluval Bug Bites algae flakes. They received flakes every day. I also gave them some freeze-dried Tubifex worms and I gave them frozen blood worms, plus I added some live blackworms to their basket (although I have no idea if the live worms just left the basket or if any were eaten).