My L114 have finally spawned!
Posted: 01 Dec 2013, 22:50
Woohooo! I took the absolute worst cell phone picture of my life, just so I could reassure myself that there really are eggs! I've owned 3 of the fish in my group since 2002, when I was still in Anchorage. I just had a laugh when I looked at the catelog and realized one of them is in there as a teeny tiny youngster!
I promised I would detail what I have done to date, so here are the current conditions, and the conditions leading up to spawning.
For the last 4 months they have been kept at 82 degrees, sometimes a bit more, if the space upstairs was too warm. Mild fluctuations in temperature, but nothing that brought the tank under 78 degrees. I fed a rich meatie diet of Repashy spawn & grow, with NLS community pellets, some new Era tropical pellets, and Repashy Soilent green or wafers for the veggies.
The tank is a 6' 125 gallon on my centralized system of 800 or so gallons. Filtered using air driven sponge filters, and the fluid bed and matten filters on the whole system. The pH of our tap water is 7.8, TDS is 140ppm, and kH is 3 degrees (ish). The tank itself was 7.8, 160ppm, and 2 degrees kH on the day the spawn occured, and 78 degrees, up from the 76 I pulled it down to the day before with a large volume, cool water change. This was only with tap water, as my RO holding tank holds 65 gallons. That can manage a good rain for the 125, but doesn't budge the system much at all. I like the security of the water volume, and thought it couldn't hurt to try a cycle or two with just the tap water. It seems to have been enough!
The tank is bare bottom, as almost all of them are on the system. It currently has 30 or so ancistrus of different types that have escaped from condos and are nearly grown to adulthood in there. I've been threatening to net them, but will leave it alone now until dad is ready to let the fry out of the cave. That, or until I can't bear it and swipe them ;).
Barbie
I promised I would detail what I have done to date, so here are the current conditions, and the conditions leading up to spawning.
For the last 4 months they have been kept at 82 degrees, sometimes a bit more, if the space upstairs was too warm. Mild fluctuations in temperature, but nothing that brought the tank under 78 degrees. I fed a rich meatie diet of Repashy spawn & grow, with NLS community pellets, some new Era tropical pellets, and Repashy Soilent green or wafers for the veggies.
The tank is a 6' 125 gallon on my centralized system of 800 or so gallons. Filtered using air driven sponge filters, and the fluid bed and matten filters on the whole system. The pH of our tap water is 7.8, TDS is 140ppm, and kH is 3 degrees (ish). The tank itself was 7.8, 160ppm, and 2 degrees kH on the day the spawn occured, and 78 degrees, up from the 76 I pulled it down to the day before with a large volume, cool water change. This was only with tap water, as my RO holding tank holds 65 gallons. That can manage a good rain for the 125, but doesn't budge the system much at all. I like the security of the water volume, and thought it couldn't hurt to try a cycle or two with just the tap water. It seems to have been enough!
The tank is bare bottom, as almost all of them are on the system. It currently has 30 or so ancistrus of different types that have escaped from condos and are nearly grown to adulthood in there. I've been threatening to net them, but will leave it alone now until dad is ready to let the fry out of the cave. That, or until I can't bear it and swipe them ;).
Barbie
.
. I might have to go and give mine a big water change.