Whoa, why's my Lophio fanning around in that cave....

[Barbie]

Holy wow, it was because he had 10 big fat eggs in there! One even has a tail already! I've been really trying to get my L114 they live with to spawn but I hadn't even thought of checking on the Lophiobagrus! The eggs are huge, he was wagging his tail at his cave fanning, just like a pleco. These are my kind of catfish! The eggs look big enough the fry won't even require BBS! Now to get the dang guppies out of that tank .

Barbie

[Richard B]

Nice one Barbie!!!

[Birger]

Hope it is all working out for you Barbie, looks like the species page will need an update...and would make a good cotm eventually.(not pressuring you, really)

Birger

[Barbie]

Well, it would have, but I think I have Lophio. brevispinnis after researching them more carefully yesterday. I'm still stoked about their spawn though ;). I just have to correct my "my cats" and update it. I think it was the first spawn, as it seems only 3 or 4 of the eggs have actually hatched. Only one of the adults is staying in the cave with eggs, but the other occasionally swims by to check on things. I'll try to get pics as soon as I can take them out of the cave.

Barbie

[Birger]

Well, it would have, but I think I have Lophio. brevispinnis after researching them more carefully yesterday. I'm still stoked about their spawn though ;). I just have to correct my "my cats" and update it.

Yes, still a good thing regardless of the species

Birger

[Carp37]

Great news Barbie! What are your water conditions (hardness, pH), please? Do they need high pH and hard water, being from Lake Tanganyika?

[Barbie]

Fish that live in my house get my tap water almost all of the time. That is a pH of 7.8, kH of 3 degrees and about 140ppm tds. I do quite a few water changes, so it stays very stable and clean. I don't personally feel that exactly matching the parameters they're found in is as important as keeping it as clean as possible. The fish tend to spawn whether I'm trying to make them or not, so they must not hate it too badly ;).

I've had good luck with everything from discus (obviously not spawning age yet or I'd be planning on softening it) to a colony of wild moba frontosa in my tap water. Part of that outlook comes from moving all over and having such different water every place. Obviously the blue rams didn't thrive as much in the water with a pH of 9 in Kansas City and a kH of 17 degrees, but the tanganyikans did fine in Anchorage tap water with a kH of 2 degrees and a tds of 140 or so with the pH about 7.6. I just kept a few shells in the tank so that they'd be a buffer if the pH started to fall and it worked great. Mind you, I don't miss a water change often and I do 30-80% weekly, depending on the fish.

The three little lophios I can see are wiggling around in the cave now. I'm going to try to take some pictures of them before they're ready to leave. I'm also intending to put the adults in a tank of their own and see if they'll raise the fry with them, rather than need to remove them to prevent predation. They are such cute little things!

Barbie

[Carp37]

Thanks for the response Barbie- we don't see them much in the UK but I'll add them to my list of possibles for if they ever do turn up! Best of luck with the fry.