Artificial hatching

Yann · Post by **Yann** » 02 Jan 2003, 02:01

Hi !
Well the other day my Hypancistrus sp L28 were spawning again, but this time the male left the eggs all alone after fertilizing them, he had even started to eat them.
Decision was made to try artificial hatching, so I place the egg inside a nursery that was filled with java moss, I place the eggs(~30) on it and the nursery was place under the output of t he external filter.
I did syphon the eggs that were starting to fungus... anyway after 6 days I managed to get around 15 youngs. I pretty happy with that but I would like to do better if next time the same thing happen ( I really need to find some better caves for them)
So I would like to know if you have already attempt artificial hatching, if yes I would like to know the methods that you used, the success ( or not) that yo had with it and the species that was involved in that attempt!
In advance thanks
Cheers
Yann

Chill · Post by **Chill** » 02 Jan 2003, 11:41

I have done this on several species of the L-family. Have also used the same method for otos, aspidoras and some tetras.

The main problem is to remove the "bad" eggs in time, the male will know this probably long before its visible to us.
I use the setup you can see on the picture below and have had somewhat success with it. If the male ignores the eggs I collect them and keep them in thesame tank, i also place a towel over the tank to avoid bright light.
When it comes to hypancistrus .sp I try to split the eggs appart, they seem to be much more fragile then eggs from ancistrus .sp.

This shows 148 ancistrus L-181 eggs, they all hatched and grew up.

Yann · Post by **Yann** » 02 Jan 2003, 14:13

Ok!
Thanks!
I let the eggs all together with that spawn. I tried to syphon the bad eggs with a pipette ( smal plastic tube used in labs to seperate plasma from cells) but as the eggs are pretty sticky it was tough ( even the fungus ones are sticky) I was not able to remove all the stuff correctly, after 4 days being afraid of al the eggs to fungus I did seperate them but with my hands. I have noticed that the eggs are very very sticky and it is pretty hard to do so!
How did you proceed to seperate the eggs from each other???

Did you used some methylen blue or other stuf, personnally I don't like using this stuff.
Cheers
Yann

Chill · Post by **Chill** » 02 Jan 2003, 14:30

I never add anything to the water, I have the belief that if they spawn, the values should be good. Try to keep it dark instead.

I also split the eggs appart with my fingers, I try to break the clutch into 3-6 eggs. I dont do this with ancistrus .sp

Yann · Post by **Yann** » 02 Jan 2003, 15:32

Hi!

THanks for the information.
Personnally I have lost two spawn of my L28 due to that the caves they sapwn in was way to big and the male was not feeling secure enough.

I shall go and buy some PVC tube. I will put some silicon on them and roll them in either brown gravel or sand, so they will look more "natural".

Are all grey plastic tubes made from PVC, and are chemistricly neutral? I ain't so sure about that. SO far I use Bamboo tubes, they look cool but you have to change them quite often plus, they are hard to find with one side obstructed.

Cheers
Yann