Chaetostoma formosae spawning

[Shane]

I have been out of the catfish social media for a while, but still very much enjoying the hobby.

Here is the data for a group of

Chaetostoma formosae

that I have spawning on a regular basis.

Tank: 33 gallon long (4' X 1' X 1') (125liters)
Temp: 75.6 F (24.2C)
pH: 7.82
GH: 9
KH: 5
Filtration: One Marineland 660 powerhead (170 gph) attached to a sponge filter rated at 40 gallons and one Marineland Penguin 100 (100 gph) HOB filter.
Water changes: 50% of tank every Sunday.
Light: A single 38 watt flourescent tube on a timer from 11:00 am to 10:00pm. Note: the fish have spawned with and without a light over the tank. The tank also receives a fair amount of ambient sunlight.
Foods: cooked green beans and broccoli and/or fresh squash is always available. Suplemented with Tetra Bits (aka Tetra Color granules), Repashy Soilent Green, various algae wafers and, no more than once a week, frozen bloodworms.
Tank Inhabitants: 5-6

Chaetostoma formosae

and 5-6

Chaetostoma dorsale

. Due to the number of hiding places an accurate count is very difficult.

Spawning notes: An ideal "spawning cave" is created by making a "lean-to" from two stones. Set a flat stone 1.5" to 2" thick on the tank's substrate and lean a second flat stone against it creating a cave space. The male will clear the sand/gravel down to the tank's bottom glass. In all spawns I have witnessed the females deposits the eggs directly on the exposed glass substrate where the male fans them until hatching.

Fry rearing: Much to my surprise the fry are hardy eaters that actively seek food on their own. I have several generations growing at once in the spawning tank.

-Shane

[Shane]

Some photos.

[Richard B]

Shane this is really cool, well done.

[nvcichlids]

congrats. Mine have yet to do anything. Neat to see they are fine with a "lower flow" than what I have, much have to cut back

[Inundated]

Nice to see someone else spawning these. I got a male and female at a fish auction in September 2018 and had them spawn for me December 2018 - August 2019, then again in December 2019. I've been able to successfully raise a few fry from each spawn and finally had enough to turn in for my club's Breeder's Award Program this January. I've tried raising them exclusively in the parents' tank and in separate tanks from the time the fry are about 1cm with about the same level of success.

I've used a variety of foods, but the fry seem to do best on film algae cultured on PVC tubes and quartz cobbles or algae (Nori) wrapped around the PVC and secured with rubber bands. They also get a variety of algae wafers, slices of sweet potato (this last longer than other vegetables I've used), and whatever Aufwuchs grows on the glass and driftwood. There's a live blackworm colony in the tank (which they don't seem to deplete), and occasional frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp (which I've never seen them eat, but get cleaned up by the ram's horn snails in the tank).

My spawns seem to coincide with water changes with cold water (similar to spawning Corydoras). About 3 days after a water change, i see fry with yolk sacs in areas with lower flow in the tank (often between the sweet potato slice and the glass).

Just curious if anyone knows if this species has been spawned successfully in the US previously. Breeding reports seem to be few and far between.

[bekateen]

Just curious if anyone knows if this species has been spawned successfully in the US previously. Breeding reports seem to be few and far between.

Yes they are rarely spawned. But this thread is about a spawn in the USA, and I believe there are one or two more mentioned elsewhere in the forums. Also, there is one breeding report in the BLOGs. I've kept a few Chaetostoma but none have bred, although I haven't kept C. formosae.

Glad to know they bred for you. I agree, I wish more people had success with them.

Cheers, Eric