L174 Breeding

[AndrewC]

I saw two L174 sharing a cave on the 10th Nov, and for a week or so i could see some eggs under the male.
Then when checking the cave last Monday,i couldn't see the male, but the cave had a bunch of half devolped eggs wriggling around in the back.
I moved the cave to a fry trap, the pictures aren't good but you can make out the devolping fry at the back of the cave;









Well, the eggs have been doing well, and i found the first escapie today, it still has to finish using up it's egg sac, so i don't need too feed for a few days yet;

[Lihn]

Congratulations with your breeding!! Very good pictures. I would like to follow the youngs. Do you have some pictures of the adults?
- did you do something special up to spawning?

[apistomaster]

Andrew, good for you! L174 are a nice one not bred that often.

[AndrewC]

Lihn
Never did anything special recently to try to get them to spawn, they got around to it in their own time.
I have tried a week of large water changes after a few weeks of no water changes at all, a few times during the year, but it never stimulated them.

There is five of them in the tank, though i am not sure of their sexes.

My best picture of an adult;


Thanks Larry
I'll be happier when i grow on the fry a bit as sometimes i find hypancistrus fry tricky to raise, hopefully not these fry.

[Lihn]

Thank you for information Andrew
- beautiful fish!

[AndrewC]

Some recent pictures after i caught a couple of fry out in the open;

[Julie]

Andrew,

Congrats! These are one of my most fav hypancistrus! How large are your adults? My wilds don't seem to have grown at all, they are still @2inches. I did get in some that were much larger once, but didn't keep any of those.

[andywoolloo]

those last pics of the babies are too cute for words!!!!! Simply adorable!! great job!!

[AndrewC]

Julie
My adults are around 3" in length, not any bigger, they must have been adults when i got them.

Still no signs of the female visting the male again, normally i find hypancistrus quite regular at breeding once they start, but not this lot so far.

[Zeroblues]

Hi Andrew,

your small L174 look really nice! I got my L174 start breeding today. After trying different things I had no time for waterchanges since christmas and this is the result.

What are your water parameters? How long are small guys now?

Cheers, Manuel

[AndrewC]

Congratulations Manuel

My water parameters are; ph 6.7, KH 1, GH 1, but i have oyster shells in my tanks to help buffer the ph.

I lost the first brood of fry to random deaths, one dead one day, then two dead the next day, etc, but the male is sitting on a second brood of eggs just now, they are due out in a week or so.

[Birger]

I got my L174 start breeding today. After trying different things I had no time for waterchanges since christmas and this is the result.

It is kinda funny how often you hear this sort of thing, sometimes the best thing you can do is leave them alone...I know that has happened to me at times as well.

[Zeroblues]

I'm sorry to hear your first brood died... I don't now if you read it allready, but often the main problem is the oxygen... the small ones need a lot of oxygen to stay alive in the first days. Maybe you try to add an additional airstone? If heard of these problems before.

These are exactly the same parameters I have in my L174 tank. I use rainwater with 10-20% tap water + alder cones (right word for it?) for bacterial killing and acidify .

@Birger: Yes it is often that way.. maybe they thought a dry period is coming because they get no fresh water anymore...

Edit: I read to late that you know the oxygen problem. Pls forget this part.