For about a year now I've been practicing a lot of temporary fish "foster care" - mostly for my fish club the Sacramento Aquarium Society: When fish are donated to our club for auction, I care for the fish in my tanks for anywhere from about two weeks to two months to quarantine the fish prior to sale. I've also kept a few fish for friends while they waited for their own tanks to cycle or because they bought fish opportunistically but weren't yet ready to keep them. It's a great way for me to gain experience with fish I don't already keep. But of course the risk is that the fish die in my care (especially if the fish are wild-caught imports that are not well acclimated to captivity); indeed, I confess that has happened with a few of the fish I fostered, but fortunately not to very many fish.
Almost a week ago I started a new relationship with another friend - I call it "foster breeding." It's like long-term foster care of fish that aren't my own except with the specific intent to breed the fish. Once that's done successfully, the adult fish and some of the fry are returned to the owner, and I get to keep some of the fry for my efforts.
Foster breeding is certainly not a new thing. I've read reports from other members here (@TwoTankAmin ?) who've done the same or similar. This time the difference for me is the scope and time frame of the opportunity. My friend has a lot of neat plecos; some of his fish have already bred in his tanks, but he couldn't watch for fry to ensure good fry survival. So I'll borrow his adults (one species at a time), attempt to breed them and do my best to optimize fry survival, then return them and move on to another species.
My first endeavor is with a group of 6 adult L260. I got the fish Saturday. On the day of transfer, two of the adults refused to leave their caves at the owner's house, so he passed the caves along to me. Lo and behold, no sooner did I put the caves in my tank that I discovered three fry just finishing their yolk sacs ready to emerge from one male's cave!
Five days later, that same male left his cave and I discover 7 hatchlings! So that dad was protecting both older fry and ready-to-hatch eggs on the day I got them.
This is gonna be fun. Once we finish with the L260, I'll return the adults and some fry, and exchange them for another breeding group - I can't wait to find out what species will be next!
I'd like to hear from you too. How many of you trade fish with other people (either lending out or receiving) for the purpose of spawning them? What has been your experience?
Cheers, Eric