First Rhinotocinclus Isabelae babies

[SwevenWonders]

Today I noticed that my Rhinotocinclus isabelae, or bumblebee otocinclus had finally spawned. Since I am unable to post my spawn report until an error gets fixed I wanted to just do a quick list of observations.

Parameters: montreal tap water 8.0ph, 75F, nitrates 10ppm

Eggs were laid on the tops of leaves, and a few seem to have white egg fungus. First spawn of any otocinclus species appears to have a low viability rate for whatever reason, but improves with successive spawns. Eggs and new fry are identical to common otocinclus species, making them remarkably large for such a small species (each species has their own tank).

Since my tank is heavily planted it is difficult to see how many eggs she laid, but it appears to be at least ten. Spawning occurred during a large rainstorm spanning several days. Female got concerningly round, to where I was concerned she might have been ill, and appeared slightly agitated.

It will be interesting to see how the fry of this species develops. My hope is to get the babies to eat my homemade gel food, because the adults will eat nothing but natural algae and biofilms.

[naturalart]

Congrats!!

[Acanthicus]

Hi,

I think this is the first documented spawn for the species. It would be cool, if you'd try to get as many details as possible.

cheers
Daniel

[SwevenWonders]

Hi,

I think this is the first documented spawn for the species. It would be cool, if you'd try to get as many details as possible.

cheers
Daniel

I think it is. There was a problem posting the spawn information, I'll post everything I have as soon as I am able to.

[Jools]

There was a problem posting the spawn information, I'll post everything I have as soon as I am able to.

Let me know, directly, what problems you are having. It'd be great to have this information for everyone to share. Also, or alternatively, if you have the time, a breeding article to add to the site would also be super.

Cheers, and do let me know of any technical problems,

Jools

[SwevenWonders]

I sent a message to Jools. I will update when the site allows me to.

As for an article, I dont feel comfortable writing one up until the I have had some fry survive until adulthood. The may 28 batch survived two weeks before vanishing. Which is actually pretty good for my learning curve with otocinclus species, they were eating and growing. Which means I know where to start improving. Another batch was laid on the 15th of june and I am experimenting with some things to improve survival chances.

Today's discovery is that eggs with fungus (my males are not fertilizing everything) are not being eaten by the fish, rather the copepods that live in all my tanks are breaking down infected eggs once the fungus makes them soft enough. I had never seen them break down eggs before mostly because this is the first tank with males that are missing eggs.