Breeding Frequency and health

[CarbonEarth]

I have a breeding pair of Long Fin Albino plecos and was wondering if there was such a thing as too much breeding? There's only a small period of time between batches(maybe a week or so). This seems to be enough time for dad to recoup from guarding his cave but not much after that point, he's right back at it. Would it be advised to separate my male & female for a period of time or are these guys perfectly content with this lifestyle? As I'm selling the fry to my LFS, I'm not concerned with the quantity of fry, just the health of my fish.

By the way, my breeder tank is a dedicated 55 gallon running a Fluval 406 canister filter. 25% Water changes are performed religiously every week.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and opinions.

[bekateen]

Hi CarbonEarth,

A new spawn every week or so? Wow, that's fast!

When I used to breed a pair of albino BNs, they would spawn every 18-20 days like clockwork for months at a time (6 broods in all before I stopped them due to being overrun with fry). The first spawn was their first ever, so the female had few eggs, only about 50-60 eggs. But by their last spawn, she was putting out over 300 eggs per brood (edit: this number was incorrect, see my follow up post below) and the survival rate was very good.

I would imagine that the real limitation is not dad but mom - she will need nourishment to yolk a new clutch of eggs. How many eggs are you getting per spawn? If you see the number of eggs declining from brood to brood, or if you see the number of surviving fry declining, then I'd suggest it would be wise to remove the breeding cave(s). That may allow mom some time to recover and build up her health (and dad too) before you let them start again.

But if you can handle the fry, then I'd think the fish will be okay as long as the female doesn't look malnourished and as long as the number of eggs per brood or live young per brood doesn't decline.

If your fish really are breeding that often, is it possible that mom isn't letting out all of her eggs at once, but is rather putting out a few (dozens) of eggs at a time each week without needing to go through a new ovarian cycle? (that's why I asked how many eggs you're getting with each brood).

Cheers, Eric

[CarbonEarth]

Hi CarbonEarth,

A new spawn every week or so? Wow, that's fast!

When I used to breed a pair of albino BNs, they would spawn every 18-20 days like clockwork for months at a time (6 broods in all before I stopped them due to being overrun with fry). The first spawn was their first ever, so the female had few eggs, only about 50-60 eggs. But by their last spawn, she was putting out over 300 eggs per brood and the survival rate was very good.

I would imagine that the real limitation is not dad but mom - she will need nourishment to yolk a new clutch of eggs. How many eggs are you getting per spawn? If you see the number of eggs declining from brood to brood, or if you see the number of surviving fry declining, then I'd suggest it would be wise to remove the breeding cave(s). That may allow mom some time to recover and build up her health (and dad too) before you let them start again.

But if you can handle the fry, then I'd think the fish will be okay as long as the female doesn't look malnourished and as long as the number of eggs per brood or live young per brood doesn't decline.

If your fish really are breeding that often, is it possible that mom isn't letting out all of her eggs at once, but is rather putting out a few (dozens) of eggs at a time each week without needing to go through a new ovarian cycle? (that's why I asked how many eggs you're getting with each brood).

Cheers, Eric

Thanks for your reply Eric,

I thought that was particularly frequent as well from what I've read. Perhaps because they are kind of young still? They are only about 4.5" and probably less than 1 year old.
WOW 300?? I can't Imagine.. my female lays around 40-60 at a time and survival rate seems to vary. Judging by the amount I have currently, I'd say the survival rate is averages around %50 which seems low. My female looks pretty healthy though and eats all the time. I feed a mix of fresh veggies, NLS algae pellets, and shrimp wafers.
One thing I don't have or have access to at this time is a grow out tank. Would this help with yields ?

[bekateen]

WOW 300?? I can't Imagine... my female lays around 40-60 at a time and survival rate seems to vary.

Yes, for a young female, 40-60 is appropriate for a clutch size.

Before I go any further, let me correct myself. I reviewed my written notes and I have written down that the number of fry hatched exceeded 200 by a good number, but I did not write down an exact number. So I shouldn't have said "300" because I don't actually have a count for the number of fry in her largest brood; sorry about that. Now with that corrected, let me say that my female, who was about the same size as yours (~4-5 inches) increased her egg production with each brood: about 50-60 for the first and second clutches, maybe 100 or so for the third, then around 150, then 200... and the very last clutch was well over 200 eggs (I couldn't count the actual eggs, because dad kept them in his cave until after hatching. Once the fry came out, I counted over 200 babies and there were still more fry to count... but they kept moving and moving and moving and moving. Gahhh! ).

One thing I don't have or have access to at this time is a grow out tank. Would this help with yields?

A grow out tank will not help with initial yield (hatching rate). You could try removing the eggs and hatching them in an egg tumbler or egg basket. There are a variety of descriptions of these on this website.

But once the fry are out of dad's cave and are feeding independently, then you may get better survival if you have high mortality by raising them in a separate grow out tank.

Good luck, Eric