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Hi! I have not bought the champagne yet, but I feel confident enough to start this thread.

I have had my 10 Leporacanthicus sp. cf galaxias L-240 for 1 year, 5 months and 1 day. When I bought them they were some very sorry fish ranging from 4-7cm tl. All of them had serious infections arond their eyes and especially around their gills. Their bellies were sunk in, and thei had lost all girth. They looked like spotted tadpoles. Of the 11 I bought I lost one of them the first week. The rest of them recovered and developed into nice fish. 8 of them are large 14-20 cm tl and two are slightly stunted.

Of the 8 largest fish 2 have developed into obvious males, the rest are females. The smallest male have been missing his right eye since I bought him. The Largest male is missing his left eye. If I didn't buy the two handicapped fish I would have no males, and no chance of breeding the species. Maybe there is a morale here

The smallest male have been sharing shelter with a female on several occasions, and when he is not having company he is sitting in his cave fanning (no eggs).

The larger male seems less desperate. He have spent the last couple of months sitting on his porch and looking very cool. Females around his own size are always hanging around him.

Today he accepted a visitor, and they have been laying head to tail in the cave all day and evening. I have never been more confident about breeding than now. It simply can`t go wrong. This winter I will breed one of my favourite species

There are a lot of other fish in the tank, and I intend to steal the eggs as soon as I see them and hatch them with methylene blue. I will also try to let them do it naturally, but not the first time.

Sorry about the lack of pictures, but I don`t have a camera.

Congrads Haavard!

Keep us updated with the status.I remember the eyeless fish in your original post...

Do you have any updated pics of the fish to see their growth?

Cogratulations Håvard and welcome to the L240 club!

I would love to share you're experiences on rasing the frys, later on!

Cheers
Cristoffer

Dave Rinaldo wrote:

Cheers

Cristoffer Forssander wrote:Cogratulations Håvard and welcome to the L240 club!

I would love to share you're experiences on rasing the frys, later on!

Cheers
Cristoffer

Thank you:) It is looking very good. Maybe tomorrow, next week or next month, but it is definetely going to happen this season.

husky_jim wrote:Congrads Haavard!

Keep us updated with the status.I remember the eyeless fish in your original post...

Do you have any updated pics of the fish to see their growth?

Not really. The pictures I have of my fish are about a year old.
I just had a look at my L240 pictures, and found quite a few usable pictures. Will have to do a few hours of photo shopping before posting any.
The fish have of course grown some since then. The interesting thing is that I can id males and females without them being totally mature yet. This is possible since my only two male are missing eyes. While waiting for me to process the pictures you can have a look at the lighting setup for the session... Lighting is crucial. The amount used was 9xportaflash(google it). It is enough to light up a city for a fraction of a second.


Please be patient about the L240 pictures. They will some photoshopping.

Here is the smallest of the two males. Looks kind of like a pirate... AAARGH

Can I just say: Good luck.

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Mats

MatsP wrote:Can I just say: Good luck.

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Mats

Sure and thanks:D

One of the females eating a piece of cod. My L240s seem a bit small, but the pictures were taken last October.

So is your camera at Canon for repairs, or are you just saving enough money to get a 7D?

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Mats

Its for repairs and cleaning. Just hope the guarantie will cover the moisture damages.

The large pair of L240s are still in the concrete cave.

wow, great news!

I hope everything will go well! and nice pictures as always!

keep us posted!

The large pair is still in the cave.

Here is a group photo of 4 L240s:

Nice work Harvaard!! i like the fact that you decided to get the sick 1's and help them out!!!

by the way, with the picture with the 1-eye male, i saw a white buldgy kind of thing, what was it exactly?

DJ-don wrote:by the way, with the picture with the 1-eye male, i saw a white buldgy kind of thing, what was it exactly?

In which picture?

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Mats

MatsP wrote:

DJ-don wrote:by the way, with the picture with the 1-eye male, i saw a white buldgy kind of thing, what was it exactly?

In which picture?

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Mats

in this 1. my bad! lol

Haavard Stoere wrote:Here is the smallest of the two males. Looks kind of like a pirate... AAARGH

I haven`t noticed it before. The picture was taken a year ago, and the bulgy thing is gone now.

oh ok it looked very suspicious though

Haavard Stoere wrote:I haven`t noticed it before. The picture was taken a year ago, and the bulgy thing is gone now.

oh ok itr just looked a bit weird and suspicious

It sure did look suspicious. Glad I didn`t know about it

it must've been a pimple. the fish during its adolescent years

Today I came home from The weekend meeting at Aqua Ark 2009http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... =2&t=26441
I rushed into my fishroom, grabbed a flashlight and shined into the cave. The male was fanning eggs
I stole the eggs, and put them in an aerated 19 liter tank with methylene blue. All the eggs look perfect, and I think there are around 150 of them

Congrats on your first batch of eggs
Looking forward to read more about your progress. Good job!!

Excellent! Pics?

nice work mate!!!!!

Jon wrote:Excellent! Pics?

Sorry, but I will be without camera for a while. Have a look at Kristoffer Forsanders pictures in Cat-eLog to get an idea of how the eggs look like.

I am very exited. L240s are really good looking fish.

Congrats!!!

Tonight I lost one single egg.

From the high level of development in the embryos I conclude that the eggs were laid as early as Friday or maybe Saturday. D day must be Tuesday or Wednesday.

Congratulations, great job [I know, the fish did the job, but you provided them with the right conditions!]

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Mats

Today was not a good day. A lot of fry started leaking, and had to be siphoned out. Some hatched prematurely and had all sort of problems. I lost over half. I am still confident some fry/eggs will survive, and I think tomorrow will be the day the healthy ones hatch. My last batch of L200 had the same issues, and I think It might have to do with uneven temperature or carelessness when changing water.

From my experience both L241 and L240 is more sensetive than for example L264 and L007. I don't know way.
Thats way I whanted to see what the raising of you're fry would be like.

I've leraned that its much safer to let the male handle the eggs untill they almost absorbet the yolk sac.
My big male has spawned with my largest female for the first time this night. As I have a very big L114 female there I don't think that they will survive, but I won't take the eggs out case of these problems. I hope that the male can be able to defend the eggs.
But as the female is 28 cm there is a lot of eggs at risk. I'm looking forward to bring them into their own aquarium.

I would be glad to solve this fry problem. I've always lost 25- 50 % of the eggs and fry!


I think many of them will survive!

They are also very sensetive agains food leavings in the bottom so regular daily cleaning is most imortant!

Cristoffer