Check it out Chaetostoma fry! Video, Look! Look!

[grokefish]

Video of zippy fry:-





Matt

[MatsP]

Great result!

--
Mats

[bronzefry]

Nice, full belly on that one!!!!! It's hard keeping their little bellies full.
Amanda

[andywoolloo]

incredible!!

[L number Banana]

So I can release that breath now! Cool to hear you have a young one sharing your triumph! The little zippy dude is awesome, so cute and fully operational - love that expression I will be stealing that for use on myself, "How are you today?" "Fully operational thank you." "Somewhat malfunctioning, thank you".

Don't forget to put the batteries back. Been there, done that and kept clicking and clicking and the channel wouldn't change...

[grokefish]

More eggs and male guarding them.

Kath sent me this picture today, she is going to try and get pics/vids of development and hatching!



Matt

[grokefish]

This is a new batch by the way.

Matt

[Jon]

yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaah baby.

[andywoolloo]

that's so cool, you must be doing something right!

[grokefish]

Here is another picture, you can clearly see the baby zippy's developing in the eggs.

Klicky click:


Matt

[grokefish]

Closer pics. developing fast, three days ago.

Matt

[bronzefry]

Whoa, Matt!!!! That daddy is serious about his fanning!!!
Amanda

[grokefish]

It is pretty cool, Amanda but the problem is I'm not there to witness this, it is all being relayed to me via e-mail.
Apparently the eggs hatched last night and the wrigglers have again been wooshed around the tank.
Some of the earlier bunch are growing quickly but in true zippy fish nature they are difficult to photograph.

Matt

[bronzefry]

I hope you get to see them soon!
Amanda

[grokefish]

Bad news I am afraid. Kath just sent me a message that one of the males has turned up dead with big bite marks down his side. My oldest son (Owain) doesn't think it is the one that fans the eggs but is not sure.
Could be that the dominant male (probs the one that guards the eggs) got pissed with the spare male and decided to off him.

On a lighter note she also said the baby zippys are doing well and are about 1/2 inch long!
Also in another tank (My oldest boys) he has managed to breed glowlight tetras and they are also doing well.
So Larry I managed to breed some tetras without even being there!
No really all credit has to go to my son.
He has managed to breed:
Siamese fighting fish
Puruvian gupies (Not so hard I know)
Uaru
Satanoperca Leucostica

And he basically looks after the cheatostoma (Feeds them and does water changes etc.) cos I have been pretty busy.
And he is only 11yrs old.
Which is all pretty good stuff seeing as he wants to go into Marine biology or something like that.
Maybe I'll give him my spotty doras to look after or my false Jags...............

Matt

[bronzefry]

Good job by your son. You and your wife must be teaching him well.

Sorry to hear about one of the males. These are quites sensitive species. I swear I looked at one wrong and 2 hours later it was dead. Can your son keep an eye on the water quality?
Amanda

[grokefish]

Yeah he's pretty good at telling when the waters starting to go, but the tanks get water changes on a weekly basis.

Matt

[grokefish]

Fry are now appx. 1/4"- 1/2" long and really territorial.

I think there are a few different spawning results.

Full scale battles over tiny rocks!

Too fast to capture on film

[andywoolloo]

Full scale battles over tiny rocks!

fiesty little buggers!!

Really great job with a pretty sensitive pl*co IMHO ((clapping))
Looking forward to whenever you can get them on video or a photo.

[Farid]

hi matt,
can you please show us a pic of the whole tank (setup, waterparameters amount of Chaetostoma and sizes in the tank? )

that would be nice

farid

[bronzefry]

Fry are now appx. 1/4"- 1/2" long and really territorial.

I think there are a few different spawning results.

Full scale battles over tiny rocks!

Too fast to capture on film

L-387s bite the snot out of each other right out of the cave. If I don't get them separated and into grow-out tanks, I have deaths. They'll kill each other. They tumble and bite on the top of the head. Mayhem. I'd love to see the set-up, too. We catfish people are used to folks saying,"where's the fish? I don't see any fish?"
Amanda

[apistomaster]

Hi Matt,

Which species of tetra did you spawn?
I have some wild Red Phantoms to spawn this winter and I just received 24 Black Darter tetras 4 days ago. Pociliocharax weitzmani.
Check out what an adult male looks like. They are small species and males spawn in caves and provide some brood care, a little like Apistogramma. Not your typical Tetra. http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/img/Po ... mani_1.jpg

[grokefish]

Hi dudes just a quick update:

I gave the tank a thorough clean out today, all rocks out and stuff and to check on the fry to see how many were left.
I found 4 of them and they are quite big now, see below.
I think there are probably more hiding in the filter/tubes as my oldest boy has witnessed them going in and out of the intake strainer a few times now.
I will leave them grow bigger before I take the filter apart an search for them.






And a pic of the tank.



Larry, your link doesn't seem to work but we bred glowlight tetras.

Don't worry folks, I shall be writing a detailed report of how this breeding came about as I believe there is no point in carrying out breeding projects unless he method and details are recorded and shared, it's just finding the time thats all, I'll try and do it soon.

[Jon]

"I believe there is no point in carrying out breeding projects unless he method and details are recorded and shared"

I like this man.

[apistomaster]

Try a Google image search for: Poeciliocharx weitzmani for Black Darter Tetras. That link doesn't seem to work for everyone.

[grokefish]

Saw it on your face book Larry very nice fishys indeed

[apistomaster]

I'm glad to hear that. They are a real pain because they only eat live food but after receiving so many before that were beyond salvaging I am grateful these are doing well.

Pretty cool you have saved some of the Chaetostoma fry. Next time they breed I imagine you will be prepared and will raise the entire clutch. Something about pleco fry that the thrill of discovering some never seems to grow old and all the more so when it's the first times they spawn. Both the Spirulina and earth worm sticks would probably work well with your Chaetosoma adults and fry I would think. They would never survive a full year at my house because my water gets so warm in the summer so I'll never have the pleasure.

I have about 12-15 of these,

Parotocinclus sp(3)

, which share the Poeciliocharax weitzmani tank and they are one a few species of fish very high on my "to breed' list.
I think the chances of any fry they may produce surviving are pretty good in that Black Darter Tetra tank. I have a very dense growth of Java and Flame Mosses and some Cherry tree leaf litter which provides a lot of feeding surface area for suckermouth cat fry and the adults seem to eat Spirulina Sticks well enough. No way to provide them the amazing amounts of soft algae they can eat. The sticks become a mush which so far, all sucker cat fry seem able to eat.
Today I am making the last neat RO water change needed to bring down the TDS to about 15 ppm. That will be the range I will try to use for the foreseeable future. The Black darters are probably a little small to breed now but the Parotocinclus seem like they just need to get in the mood. Males are 2/3 as large as females and have been seen doing the "T" formation associated with Otocinclus and Corydoras spawning behaviors. Ironically, my biggest catfish breeding challenge appears to be one of the smallest species.

Good luck and I hope they spawn again soon.

[grokefish]

More pics of fry here to compare size to a spotted dora that is about 3.5" SL

[apistomaster]

Hi Matt,

These little guys are looking good and seem to be growing well.

[andywoolloo]

Just wonderful! Thanks for sharing the experience with us. Love baby pl*cos.