After several years trying to track down and getting close a couple of times, I finally got my hands on some Centromochlus perugiae. I purchased two pairs as with all my fish I hope to breed them at some point.
All are together in a 20G long species only tank and have been there two days thus far. All four seem to be doing well, I fed them for the first time last night at lights out with frozen bloodworms and all four were active and feeding.
Here's is quick cell phone pic of their setup.
Thanks for the heads up on the closed pipes, all of mine are open. My Lophiobagrus brevispinis preferred only to breed in closed pipes as well. I will get right on that as my plan is to indeed breed them. Thanks again.
Interests: Fish of all types but mostly Loricariidae, Callichthyidae and Auchenipteridae. My awesome dogs and walking through nature and taking pictures.
Congratulations on getting some Woodcats
I have had these and spawned them as well. They like to hide a little bit higher from the ground, preferably at the surface of the water. You could make some floating pipes which are open on both sides. They breed in closed pipes of bamboo or clay caves.
Good luck!!
Hey guys, what are you using to seal up or act as an end cap for the small pieces of pipe? I am having a hard time tracking down proper sized pvc,abs, or even conduit caps to fit the pipes I am using. No trouble to find the large 2" ones but the pipes I'm hoping they will lay the eggs in have a outside diameter of 1" and inside diameter of 3/4". Any ideas?
Im not sure, you may need to mix and match fittings. Otherwise, check with your hardware store or local garden center for bamboo posts. In my area, they are sold in 1.5 inch and 1 inch outer diameters, both of which work for C. perugiae. In my area they are sold in 6 foot or 8 foot lengths, for about $6-10 USD each. You can cut the post up and get about 6 caves and 4-5 pipes out of every post, depending on how many nodes (joints) are along the post. Boil each bamboo cave before use. They do take a while to sink also, but well worth it.
Ok, I finally was able to track down some plugs that would fit the plastic tubes. So now I guess its time to wait and see. I have been feeding them frozen bloodworms at night when the lights are out but I am finding they are not eating all of it. Odd for a catfish usually they eat everything until its gone. What are you feeding your tatia's?
Here are some pics.
I have noticed that one of the tatias have taken up residence in one of the "caved" pipes. I can't really get a good look to see if it is a male or female though. I have been feeding frozen bloodworms every night and a water change with cool water every second day. Hopefully they will get interested in spawning.
Just a quick update. These guys did spawn at least twice, first I notice one lone 2 week old fry darting around the main tank and the second I seen 30 eggs laying on the substrate outside one of the pipes (assuming she accidentally fanned them out). I collected the eggs and most did hatch into a 5.5G but I started losing the wrigglers despite my efforts. I managed to get 4 fry to the free swimming stage but over the course of a week or so I lost them as well. The water parameters checked good, a doing roughly 10% water change per day. Hopefully they will spawn again and I have better luck.
What about removing a gravid female or pair and placing them into a breeding tank, so I can remove the adults versus the fry?
When I find a female in a tube with eggs, I remove the entire tube and dump the eggs out of the tube and into a small (~1 gallon) tank with airstone and heater, without mom. I add a mass of Java moss and I hope the eggs land on the moss, instead of just resting on the sandy substrate. I get decent hatching but so far my juvenile mortality is still much higher than I want. But for hatching, this step works well, and it gets the fry out of the tank, where they are subject to predation by other fish (I presume by parents too, but I'm not certain).
