 Basics | ||||||||||
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| Overview | The first spawn was on Tuesday 28th of March 2023. The breeding group consisted of 2 males and 1 female. Additionally, there were 1 unknown individual present. The smallest male was at least 55mm SL and the smallest female was at least 57mm SL. The individuals were obtained from Collected in a stream of the Rio Nanay. | |||||||||
| Further spawns | Thursday 6th of April 2023, Tuesday 25th of April 2023, Sunday 28th of May 2023, Tuesday 30th of May 2023, Friday 21st of July 2023, Sunday 6th of August 2023, Saturday 16th of September 2023, Monday 16th of October 2023, Tuesday 9th of January 2024, Friday 29th of March 2024, Friday 5th of April 2024, Friday 12th of April 2024, Thursday 18th of April 2024. 13 in total. | |||||||||
| Feeding |
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| Water Parameters (at time of spawning) | ||||||||||
| pH | 7.00 to 7.20 | |||||||||
| Conductivity | 100µs to 200µs | |||||||||
| Temperature | 24.5°C to 25.5°C | |||||||||
| Current | Gentle(air) | |||||||||
| Other Water Params | 50%-50% mix of tapwater and RO water. Dechlorinated using Aquavitro alpha at 1.5x recommended dose. 70% water changes every 2 weeks. | |||||||||
| Aquarium | ||||||||||
| Dimensions | The aquarium dimensions were 768mm x 318mm x 324mm (30.3" x 12.5" x 12.8") all Length x Width x Height. | |||||||||
| Furniture | Sand substrate, a couple of pieces of wood branches, a small Crypt. plant in a terra cotta pot, plus a few small bamboo pipes, 3 cm - 4 cm diameter and about 8 cm - 10 cm long. Also, there is a cork-floated spawning mop at the front of the tank, positioned over the potted plant. | |||||||||
| Filtration | One large sponge filter with gentle to medium air flow upward. No powerheads in this tank. | |||||||||
| Lighting | An LED light bar. Prior to three days ago, the bar was set to white light. Three days ago, I switched it to blue light. I didn't see this change the behavior of the Amblydoras, but it immediately encouraged my Tatia intermedia and Microglanis aff. iheringi in adjacent tanks to come out more. | |||||||||
| Heating | Fluval E series 100 W heater. Originally set to 76 F, I recently raised it to 78 F. | |||||||||
| Breeding | ||||||||||
| Behaviour | Details of the spawning, hatching and rearing are reported here: https://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=51630. I've had three spawns, but spawning not observed. Regarding the first spawn, seven eggs found in spawning mop and on substrate under spawning mop during routine morning inspection of tank. A second spawn occurred 2023-IV-06, after I had added a plastic false floor (lighting egg crate) covering 1/3 of the tank. In this spawn, I found 46 eggs, 6 in the mop and the rest in the false floor. On the third spawn, I collected at least 147 eggs with almost 10 in the mop and the rest in the false floor. Numbers listed below for eggs, etc., are based on the most recent spawn. On 9-January 2024 I discovered another spawn. I didn't collect the eggs until the next evening, about 30 hours after discovering the eggs. I collected about 40 eggs just within the terra cotta pot. In total (from the pot and from the false floor), I collected 493 good eggs, plus about 20-30 more bad eggs! | |||||||||
| Eggs |  There were 520 amber eggs laid which were 1.2mm in diameter. | |||||||||
| Time to hatch | 4 days Number: 50 Free swimming: 3 days | |||||||||
| Segregation | Eggs collected from spawning mop and from sand, then moved to a Fluval hang-on breeder box to hatch. The first group of eggs hatched in 2 days after the eggs were discovered. The eggs looked fresh, so I believe the 2-day development was correct. That said, the third spawn took 3.5 days to start hatching. More oddly, the first batch was incubated at 76F, but the third spawn was incubated at 78F. Why did the cooler eggs hatch faster? I can only imagine that either (A) the first eggs were already 2 days old when I found them (although I had checked the day before and not seen them) or (B) something else mattered. The only significant change for the third batch of eggs was that I briefly treated them with methylene blue, then I treated the whole tank with Pimafix for 3 days. Could either of these slowed development? | |||||||||
| Fry sizes | 7 days: 6mm 14 days: 7mm 21 days: 8mm | |||||||||
| 7 days |  | |||||||||
| 14 days |  | |||||||||
| 21 days |  | |||||||||
| Juvenile sizes | 1 month: 9mm 3 months: 17mm 6 months: 28mm | |||||||||
| 1 month |  | |||||||||
| 3 months |  | |||||||||
| 6 months |  | |||||||||
| Fry and juvenile feeding | The fry were left in the hang-on breeder box. For first foods, I siphoned some mulm out from behind a matten filter and I squeezed a sponge filter , hoping to get infusoria. For second foods, I provided microworms and uncooked Repashy powder. About housing hatchlings, I've found that I have horrible survival of hatchlings after 2-3 days (presumably they use up yolk) if I leave them past that age in any container with net floor. I suspect the microworms are sliding through the netting (even in German breeder ring), and babies are starving. I tried solid-floor Fluval breeder boxes, but babies get stuck in or escape through the exit grill. So I tried placing a foam block over the exit, and babies burrowed into the foam and died in the foam. My current technique is to incubate and hatch the eggs in a German breeder ring (excellent results with that), then immediately transfer the fry to a 5 gallon bare-bottom tank with only an airstone, heater (at 76F), and dried oak leaves. I do 50% water changes every day or two using half RO water and half water from parents' tank. I feed live microworms and powdered food daily and suction the floor every few days. I'm getting much better survival this way over months. As of Sept 20, 2023, I have 23 older babies total, and a new batch of babies just moved into the 5 gallon tank yesterday. | |||||||||
