I have set up two flowerpot caves for my petricolas...some months ago. no results. I am wondering if others have had success? (besides that which is documented on the article here...COTM profile)
I wonder if the flowerpots I used are too small...4" (app. 10cm) or whether the fact that there are a multitude of OTHER passages, caves, hideouts that they might also use is the variable. Anyone have any ideas, experience?
Two of the females have definitely been gravid, discharged their eggs (by appearance anyway...were fully fat and then at some point quickly lost that appearance) but I've not captured a one of them. sadly.
The lfs where I bought these (they obtained them from someone who was raising them successfully with a mouthbrooder) tells me it is impossible to capture the eggs this way. I refuse to believe them, despite my lack of success so far.
I would appreciate hearing of any experience others have had...what you have tried, what has worked or not worked. Any information will add to my understanding, and, hopefully future success with these delightful fish.
BTW, the water parameters are: ph app. 8.1 or 8.2, alkalinity varies between 7-9 (seachem test kit) or app. GH 13, KH 8, temp 76F/23.5C. They are in a 40GBreeder tank with 2 HOT mag filters/biowheels, vals, a bit of hornwort and lots of rockwork, 3 pvc tubes, etc.
s. petricolas: breeding with "caves"
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Dinyar
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Barbara,
Your tank parameters look fine. You don't say how many petricola you have, or what other fish are in the tank with them. I assume you have "dwarf" petricola, since those are more readily available. Here are some points to keep in mind...
First, AFAIK, there has not been a single well-documented case of a "petricola" spawning with a mouthbrooder. This appears to be mythology that may have arisen out of early hobbyist confusion between Synodontis multipunctatus and S. "petricola". So your LFS's statement about your approach being impossible should be taken with a grain of salt.
Second, while the flower pot and marbles approach described in the S. cf. petricola Catfish of the Month article is certainly worth trying, AFAIK, no one has successfuly obtained petricola fry through this method. So it should not be considered a proven technique for breeding S. petricola. Lots of porous rockwork with nooks and crannies where fry can hide should work too.
Third, to add to the confusion, S. petricola Matthes 1959, is NOT the fish commonly sold as "petricola". In fact, S. "petricola" appears to be a cluster of similar but different species, all except one of which remain undescribed. At the very least, there are two species -- S. petricola Matthes ("non-dwarf") and S. cf. petricola "dwarf" (the subject of the CotM), but I suspect that there are more than just two. Moreover, many different Tanganyika Synodontis species look very similar as juveniles and can easily be mistaken as petricola. In short, there is always a possibility that "petricolas" that may appear to be of the same species in fact are not, and therefore will not breed with one another. To date, the only documented spawnings of "petricola" are of the dwarf variety.
Fourth, I often see my dwarf petricolas looking gravid, and a few days later they look perfectly un-gravid again. I tend to believe these are just fish with lots of food in their stomachs.
Fifth, petricola -- like most Synodontis -- take a while to reach sexual maturity, maybe 3-5 years. If your LFS acquired yours from a breeder, chances are that neither held on to them for >1 year.
So be patient and don't try too hard! If you give your petricolas good conditions over a period of time, they may well spawn for you.
Post some pix of your fish, if it's convenient!
Good luck,
Dinyar
PS: BTW, I notice you just signed up. Welcome!
Your tank parameters look fine. You don't say how many petricola you have, or what other fish are in the tank with them. I assume you have "dwarf" petricola, since those are more readily available. Here are some points to keep in mind...
First, AFAIK, there has not been a single well-documented case of a "petricola" spawning with a mouthbrooder. This appears to be mythology that may have arisen out of early hobbyist confusion between Synodontis multipunctatus and S. "petricola". So your LFS's statement about your approach being impossible should be taken with a grain of salt.
Second, while the flower pot and marbles approach described in the S. cf. petricola Catfish of the Month article is certainly worth trying, AFAIK, no one has successfuly obtained petricola fry through this method. So it should not be considered a proven technique for breeding S. petricola. Lots of porous rockwork with nooks and crannies where fry can hide should work too.
Third, to add to the confusion, S. petricola Matthes 1959, is NOT the fish commonly sold as "petricola". In fact, S. "petricola" appears to be a cluster of similar but different species, all except one of which remain undescribed. At the very least, there are two species -- S. petricola Matthes ("non-dwarf") and S. cf. petricola "dwarf" (the subject of the CotM), but I suspect that there are more than just two. Moreover, many different Tanganyika Synodontis species look very similar as juveniles and can easily be mistaken as petricola. In short, there is always a possibility that "petricolas" that may appear to be of the same species in fact are not, and therefore will not breed with one another. To date, the only documented spawnings of "petricola" are of the dwarf variety.
Fourth, I often see my dwarf petricolas looking gravid, and a few days later they look perfectly un-gravid again. I tend to believe these are just fish with lots of food in their stomachs.
Fifth, petricola -- like most Synodontis -- take a while to reach sexual maturity, maybe 3-5 years. If your LFS acquired yours from a breeder, chances are that neither held on to them for >1 year.
So be patient and don't try too hard! If you give your petricolas good conditions over a period of time, they may well spawn for you.
Post some pix of your fish, if it's convenient!
Good luck,
Dinyar
PS: BTW, I notice you just signed up. Welcome!
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barbara
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thanks for such excellent information
and things to consider. Here are more details...I do have 5 of them. Two at least seem to be lighter bodied in color (sign of female?) and three darker. Also, on three (as I recall) I can see a tiny pointed projection on their underside so I am thinking male. Is that an erroneous assumption?
Indeed what you say about size and age is what I understand about mine. That is, I do not know how long the breeder had them and neither do I know how long they were at the store but I assume not all that long as they were maybe an inch or inch and a quarter when I got them...what is that about 2.5cm? That is a guess. They grew rapidly and have been fairly constant in size over the last many months. I've had them, oh maybe a year and a half. So, from what you say, they are not ready yet to breed and indeed it did cross my mind that they were merely FULL (although I must say they NEVER are anxious for food). They do tend to eat it I guess but they don't swim right up and grab for it when I feed which USUALLY is once a day. Why I thought gravid (at first feared a bacterial infection) was that it was two females who looked this way but actually one that I "think" is a male also seems quite full but just not nearly so full as the two females.
In size they are about 3" long and all fins have a white border on the leading edge. Perhaps in a few days I can post some photos of them....but not until after Saturday.
Interesting and good ideas about caves and so on. Thanks so much for all the ideas and the complete response. I will contemplate what you have said more thoroughly and perhaps post again with more info (if I missed some questions you had) or with more questions of my own.
As to the lfs...I take about everything they have told me with a grain of salt. Disinformation there abounds (sadly) as they have a nice selection (the best in Maine) of African catfish and Cichlids. I had thought the idea of them using mouthbrooders was, indeed, a multipunctatus (sp?) thing rather than these which I do believe are the dwarf variety...maybe the photos will help. I did not realize that there are many other forms so who knows what I have. Whatever they are, they are completely delightful and if I had to give up all but one tank, this is what I would keep.
Ah, that reminds me that you asked about other fish. They are the only fish in this aquarium. I have thought about having cichlids with them (originally) but never did add them.
Again, thanks so much for your help, questions and information....as well as the welcome. I see you are in NYC!
Indeed what you say about size and age is what I understand about mine. That is, I do not know how long the breeder had them and neither do I know how long they were at the store but I assume not all that long as they were maybe an inch or inch and a quarter when I got them...what is that about 2.5cm? That is a guess. They grew rapidly and have been fairly constant in size over the last many months. I've had them, oh maybe a year and a half. So, from what you say, they are not ready yet to breed and indeed it did cross my mind that they were merely FULL (although I must say they NEVER are anxious for food). They do tend to eat it I guess but they don't swim right up and grab for it when I feed which USUALLY is once a day. Why I thought gravid (at first feared a bacterial infection) was that it was two females who looked this way but actually one that I "think" is a male also seems quite full but just not nearly so full as the two females.
In size they are about 3" long and all fins have a white border on the leading edge. Perhaps in a few days I can post some photos of them....but not until after Saturday.
Interesting and good ideas about caves and so on. Thanks so much for all the ideas and the complete response. I will contemplate what you have said more thoroughly and perhaps post again with more info (if I missed some questions you had) or with more questions of my own.
As to the lfs...I take about everything they have told me with a grain of salt. Disinformation there abounds (sadly) as they have a nice selection (the best in Maine) of African catfish and Cichlids. I had thought the idea of them using mouthbrooders was, indeed, a multipunctatus (sp?) thing rather than these which I do believe are the dwarf variety...maybe the photos will help. I did not realize that there are many other forms so who knows what I have. Whatever they are, they are completely delightful and if I had to give up all but one tank, this is what I would keep.
Ah, that reminds me that you asked about other fish. They are the only fish in this aquarium. I have thought about having cichlids with them (originally) but never did add them.
Again, thanks so much for your help, questions and information....as well as the welcome. I see you are in NYC!
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Shane
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Dinyar,
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I will admit that I am not very knowledgeable about the Mochokids, but I do know that the flower pot system works as I have seen it work on videotape. I have also, through Planetcatfish, corresponded with people in the UK, US, and Germany that have all spawned Synodontis with this manner. In fact, one successful breeder even gave me ten Synodontis fry that came from a flower pot spawn. There is also an article on the site, which can be linked from the S. cf petricola COTM showing the fish spawning in the flower pots and the eggs coming up through the sponge filter. Now as to what sp. (or spp) these people are actually spawning, I'll certainly defer to your expertise with regards to the genus.Second, while the flower pot and marbles approach described in the S. cf. petricola Catfish of the Month article is certainly worth trying, AFAIK, no one has successfuly obtained petricola fry through this method. So it should not be considered a proven technique for breeding S. petricola. Lots of porous rockwork with nooks and crannies where fry can hide should work too.
-Shane
"My journey is at an end and the tale is told. The reader who has followed so faithfully and so far, they have the right to ask, what do I bring back? It can be summed up in three words. Concentrate upon Uganda."
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Dinyar
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Sid Guppy
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Oh, it's proven allright.
But a lot of people use just the flowerpot, but NOT the spongefilter!
And you wouldn't believe how fast Synodontis eggs can fungus.... within 24 hours is NO exception.
If this happens at the bottom of a flowerpot between the marbles, you won't find a single fry.
Second: Synodontis "petricola dwarf" (S "pd"; if I can call it that), the popular Zambian subspecies/variety etc; can and does practice broodparasitism, given the chance!
It doesn't use mouthbrooders, however, but Lamprologines.....
They're cave spawners that dump in their eggs with cave- or shellbrooding cichlid-species.
The syno-eggs hatch even faster than the cichlid-eggs, and new hatched baby S "pd's behave remarkably like "lost" cichlidfry, hereby fooling the parent cichlids who take them into their nest!
This won't work with some species (too smart?? wrong kind of species??); IME Neolamprologus leleupi and "Lamprologus" multifasciatus (a colonial shellbrooder), for example, don't fall for this trick.
My adult pair of Altolamprologus calvus DID fall for this trick, and raised a fair number of baby syno's! I NEVER observed any calvusfry, although I once found the rotting remains of calvus-eggs, just after two baby S"pd"s left the shell.
Another observation: S "pd" spawnes much more often when other spawning or mating fish are in the same tank. Triggered by the smell??
Recently I haven't many spawning species in the tank, due to the fact that I traded in all of my cavebrooders. When I got hold of a few Lamprichthys tanganicaus (=Tank-killi fish), their behaviour sort of "triggered"the S'pd's into a massive spawning spree!
So you might add a few spawning fish in your S'pd'-breeding tank (easy to spawn fish!).
And getting the eggs out fast and putting them into a tank with a fungicide heps too.
btw S polli uses the same tricks.....
But a lot of people use just the flowerpot, but NOT the spongefilter!
And you wouldn't believe how fast Synodontis eggs can fungus.... within 24 hours is NO exception.
If this happens at the bottom of a flowerpot between the marbles, you won't find a single fry.
Second: Synodontis "petricola dwarf" (S "pd"; if I can call it that), the popular Zambian subspecies/variety etc; can and does practice broodparasitism, given the chance!
It doesn't use mouthbrooders, however, but Lamprologines.....
They're cave spawners that dump in their eggs with cave- or shellbrooding cichlid-species.
The syno-eggs hatch even faster than the cichlid-eggs, and new hatched baby S "pd's behave remarkably like "lost" cichlidfry, hereby fooling the parent cichlids who take them into their nest!
This won't work with some species (too smart?? wrong kind of species??); IME Neolamprologus leleupi and "Lamprologus" multifasciatus (a colonial shellbrooder), for example, don't fall for this trick.
My adult pair of Altolamprologus calvus DID fall for this trick, and raised a fair number of baby syno's! I NEVER observed any calvusfry, although I once found the rotting remains of calvus-eggs, just after two baby S"pd"s left the shell.
Another observation: S "pd" spawnes much more often when other spawning or mating fish are in the same tank. Triggered by the smell??
Recently I haven't many spawning species in the tank, due to the fact that I traded in all of my cavebrooders. When I got hold of a few Lamprichthys tanganicaus (=Tank-killi fish), their behaviour sort of "triggered"the S'pd's into a massive spawning spree!
So you might add a few spawning fish in your S'pd'-breeding tank (easy to spawn fish!).
And getting the eggs out fast and putting them into a tank with a fungicide heps too.
btw S polli uses the same tricks.....
Plan B should not automatically be twice as much explosives as Plan A
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Dinyar
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SG,
That's very interesting information you presented about the spawning haabits of dwarf petricola. I had previously heard many second hand reports of parasitic spawning by "petricola", but this is the first first-hand account I've ever come across! Can we tempt you into writing up a brief account of your experience in this regard for inclusion in the reference section of Planet Catfish? I think it would make a useful contribution to advancing the state of our knowledge of this fish in the hobby.
Tell us more about parasitic spawning by S. polli. I've heard several reports of spawning S. polli, parasitically or otherwise, but upon closer investigation, all these reports have turned out to refer to fish that are not true S. polli. Of course, this is not to say that yours aren't. Would be great if you could post pictures of your polli.
Dinyar
That's very interesting information you presented about the spawning haabits of dwarf petricola. I had previously heard many second hand reports of parasitic spawning by "petricola", but this is the first first-hand account I've ever come across! Can we tempt you into writing up a brief account of your experience in this regard for inclusion in the reference section of Planet Catfish? I think it would make a useful contribution to advancing the state of our knowledge of this fish in the hobby.
Tell us more about parasitic spawning by S. polli. I've heard several reports of spawning S. polli, parasitically or otherwise, but upon closer investigation, all these reports have turned out to refer to fish that are not true S. polli. Of course, this is not to say that yours aren't. Would be great if you could post pictures of your polli.
Dinyar
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Sid Guppy
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OK, I'm in!
only the picture-bit will be a bit of a bummer; I've got a digicam (sort of a glass-fiber thingy, not a true photo-camera, but it can magnify almost like a microscope) but my floppydrive just crashed ($#$#$@@!@#$%^&*) on the low quality software needed to connect the thing with the computer.
Without that; I can't sample pics. I can try to use the same camera to make some footage from my syno's on VHS (I already have hatching Hoplo-fry on tape), and send you a copy of the tape.
It will be European PAL, so you have to convert it, if your TV doesn't go with it. Strange as it may seem, Holland hasn't got vid-converter stores!!!
turning it into digital material, and putting it on the web, I'll leave in your (and Jools' or Shane's) hands, because, well, me & computers & adio-visual equipment; it's a sad story.....
I've got the true Synodontis polli here (those dark brown beasties, "eurystomus"; yeah, those
) as well as the "polli"s who are a different species, but those are too young yet to breed. They're F1's from a friend -Rene Kruter- of mine; his adults are triggered into breeding by using the spawning fish trick....(I have to give credit, where credit is due; Rene Kruter invented the whole trick!)
And he breeds Syno "petricola dwarfs" the same way....
My polli's have spawned once, but now all tanks are full with Hoplo's, fry, Bristlenosesfry, young cichlids etc etc. Soon the Hops are going home to my friends (another good friend, he's on this as "Pectorale").
Then we're going for Syno polli-try #2. To spoil it a bit on you people, I'll be using a little sexy livebearing fish to make the smell for triggering the polli's into spawning.
It's name is part of my username and begins with a "G"
see ya!
only the picture-bit will be a bit of a bummer; I've got a digicam (sort of a glass-fiber thingy, not a true photo-camera, but it can magnify almost like a microscope) but my floppydrive just crashed ($#$#$@@!@#$%^&*) on the low quality software needed to connect the thing with the computer.
Without that; I can't sample pics. I can try to use the same camera to make some footage from my syno's on VHS (I already have hatching Hoplo-fry on tape), and send you a copy of the tape.
It will be European PAL, so you have to convert it, if your TV doesn't go with it. Strange as it may seem, Holland hasn't got vid-converter stores!!!
turning it into digital material, and putting it on the web, I'll leave in your (and Jools' or Shane's) hands, because, well, me & computers & adio-visual equipment; it's a sad story.....
I've got the true Synodontis polli here (those dark brown beasties, "eurystomus"; yeah, those
) as well as the "polli"s who are a different species, but those are too young yet to breed. They're F1's from a friend -Rene Kruter- of mine; his adults are triggered into breeding by using the spawning fish trick....(I have to give credit, where credit is due; Rene Kruter invented the whole trick!)And he breeds Syno "petricola dwarfs" the same way....
My polli's have spawned once, but now all tanks are full with Hoplo's, fry, Bristlenosesfry, young cichlids etc etc. Soon the Hops are going home to my friends (another good friend, he's on this as "Pectorale").
Then we're going for Syno polli-try #2. To spoil it a bit on you people, I'll be using a little sexy livebearing fish to make the smell for triggering the polli's into spawning.
It's name is part of my username and begins with a "G"
see ya!
Plan B should not automatically be twice as much explosives as Plan A
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Dinyar
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I've heard that "it all depends on what the meaning of 'is' is", but what's the meaning of those "those" of yours?SG_Eurystomus wrote:I've got the true Synodontis polli here (those dark brown beasties, "eurystomus"; yeah, those
Specifically, which have you bred, the "true" polli or the "false" polli? And if the "false" polli is not truly a polli, what is it (truly)? 
Failing the camera, could you please have a look in the Catty Log and tell us which of those photos your fishes look like?
And please, do write that article for us! So far you've only given us tantalizing clues. We want the whole story!
Dinyar
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barbara
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triggering the petricolas
SG_E......
I guess I just sent an email instead of a post here (my intention was to post!)....so let me try again.
I am curious if the presence of a single n. pulcher that I have, who regularly is laying eggs, despite no partner who will fertilize them, might be enough of a trigger for them. Have you any thoughts about that?
Also I am curious about the age issue. How old were yours (do you think) or what was their size when they started to breed? It is possible that mine are nearing three years old but perhaps they are a bit younger. It is hard to say by size alone I think as I visited the lfs about 6 months after I got mine and the remaining ones they had (all were a last batch from a local breeder) were still virtually the same size as mine were when I got them and mine had grown to nearly the size that they are now. So, I have no idea how long they were at the store before I got them.
I will try to figure out how to post an image of them. Their fins are completely lined with white rather than just the leading edge which I mentioned previously. I don't know if this has any bearing on identifying them or not, but HAD read that the leading edge being white distinguishes them from, say, "multi"s.
I guess I just sent an email instead of a post here (my intention was to post!)....so let me try again.
I am curious if the presence of a single n. pulcher that I have, who regularly is laying eggs, despite no partner who will fertilize them, might be enough of a trigger for them. Have you any thoughts about that?
Also I am curious about the age issue. How old were yours (do you think) or what was their size when they started to breed? It is possible that mine are nearing three years old but perhaps they are a bit younger. It is hard to say by size alone I think as I visited the lfs about 6 months after I got mine and the remaining ones they had (all were a last batch from a local breeder) were still virtually the same size as mine were when I got them and mine had grown to nearly the size that they are now. So, I have no idea how long they were at the store before I got them.
I will try to figure out how to post an image of them. Their fins are completely lined with white rather than just the leading edge which I mentioned previously. I don't know if this has any bearing on identifying them or not, but HAD read that the leading edge being white distinguishes them from, say, "multi"s.
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Dinyar
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Re: triggering the petricolas
Barbara,barbara wrote:Their fins are completely lined with white rather than just the leading edge which I mentioned previously. I don't know if this has any bearing on identifying them or not, but HAD read that the leading edge being white distinguishes them from, say, "multi"s.
I don't think "fins completely lined in white" mean very much in terms of S. petricola age. Tha characteristic does seem diagnostic of the petricola complex (ie, as noted earlier, there appears to be a cluster of related species which for now we all call "S. pewtricola").
Dinyar
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Sid Guppy
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Dinyar; I intercepted your mail just fine, no worries!
OK a few facts to satisfy some
-I use LIVEBEARERS to make sexy fish smell (those go at it ALL the time, I guess you get the picture, nudge, nudge, wink, wink)
-The fish I described as "true polli/eurystomus" are in the Cate-Log under S polli; the brown color, broad snout, coppery eye and multitudes of small sharp orange needle-teeth are a give away.
-My breeding group of S polli are 12 year old wildcaughts!
but I haven't succeeded yet in keeping the eggs alive (fungus). I don't use the marble/spongefilter with these; simply because the syno's are TOO BIG! I just try to save the eggs with a syphon.
-my "second species of polli" aren't in the Cat-e-Log;
I've seen the wildcaught adults in their breeding tank, according to the guy that breeds them, they started to breed when he had them for 5-6 years, mind you; he bought them as subadult wildcaughts too.....
-They're NOT petricola's!! They have a BLACK dorsal, no white spine, even when juvenile the frontspine of the dorsal and much of the fin is jetblack. The pectoral spines however got a white edge! the rest of the pectorals is black too. They have a very irregular pattern of big black spots on a very white background; the flanks shimmer with a metallic green hue. The adults lose this white pectoral edge, and get more big spots, but the groundcolor turns into a blueish grey. The dorsal stays jetblack. The tailfin is black with white outher edges, but those are much thinner than a petricola's.
the whole fish isn't stretched in form, they have the shape of polli's, but the eye is different in color, the adipose is much less prominent, the mouth is smaller, the white whiskers are longer,"the teethplates" have a more narrow shape and a yellow color; the teeth are less numerous. The humeral spine (is that the correct name? the one on the body above the pectoral inplant) is longer and sharper/thinner than the one of the true polli.....
If all that doesn't make up for a new species...
My petricola's, I've only spawned them in the cichlidtank, with hostparents.
They're the "run of the mill" dwarf petricola's, right from the Cat-e-Log pics and the CotM articles. i've got them for three years now,half of them were at least a 6 months to a year old (between 3/4" and 1 1/2" big); i got the other three as adults.
Their fry is orange in color, with black markings when they start to grow bigger than 3/4 cm..
OK a few facts to satisfy some
-I use LIVEBEARERS to make sexy fish smell (those go at it ALL the time, I guess you get the picture, nudge, nudge, wink, wink)
-The fish I described as "true polli/eurystomus" are in the Cate-Log under S polli; the brown color, broad snout, coppery eye and multitudes of small sharp orange needle-teeth are a give away.
-My breeding group of S polli are 12 year old wildcaughts!
but I haven't succeeded yet in keeping the eggs alive (fungus). I don't use the marble/spongefilter with these; simply because the syno's are TOO BIG! I just try to save the eggs with a syphon.
-my "second species of polli" aren't in the Cat-e-Log;
I've seen the wildcaught adults in their breeding tank, according to the guy that breeds them, they started to breed when he had them for 5-6 years, mind you; he bought them as subadult wildcaughts too.....
-They're NOT petricola's!! They have a BLACK dorsal, no white spine, even when juvenile the frontspine of the dorsal and much of the fin is jetblack. The pectoral spines however got a white edge! the rest of the pectorals is black too. They have a very irregular pattern of big black spots on a very white background; the flanks shimmer with a metallic green hue. The adults lose this white pectoral edge, and get more big spots, but the groundcolor turns into a blueish grey. The dorsal stays jetblack. The tailfin is black with white outher edges, but those are much thinner than a petricola's.
the whole fish isn't stretched in form, they have the shape of polli's, but the eye is different in color, the adipose is much less prominent, the mouth is smaller, the white whiskers are longer,"the teethplates" have a more narrow shape and a yellow color; the teeth are less numerous. The humeral spine (is that the correct name? the one on the body above the pectoral inplant) is longer and sharper/thinner than the one of the true polli.....
If all that doesn't make up for a new species...
My petricola's, I've only spawned them in the cichlidtank, with hostparents.
They're the "run of the mill" dwarf petricola's, right from the Cat-e-Log pics and the CotM articles. i've got them for three years now,half of them were at least a 6 months to a year old (between 3/4" and 1 1/2" big); i got the other three as adults.
Their fry is orange in color, with black markings when they start to grow bigger than 3/4 cm..
Plan B should not automatically be twice as much explosives as Plan A
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Dinyar
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- Interests: Mochokidae, Claroteidae, Bagridae, Malepteruridae, Chacidae, Heteropneustidae, Clariidae, Sisoridae, Loricariiadae
Sid,
Hope you don't have any of those guppy tanks in your bedroom (nudge, nudge, wink, wink...)
Trust your article will give us the full skinny on how you got your real S. polli to spawn. Even just getting to eggs without viable fry is still a big achievement which I don't believe has been documented by anyone else.
And please get yourself a good camera, Sid, or at least borrow one from a friend, so that we can intercept a few good pix of this mysterious "false polli" of yours! You can't just bait us and not follow through...
Dinyar
Hope you don't have any of those guppy tanks in your bedroom (nudge, nudge, wink, wink...)
Trust your article will give us the full skinny on how you got your real S. polli to spawn. Even just getting to eggs without viable fry is still a big achievement which I don't believe has been documented by anyone else.
And please get yourself a good camera, Sid, or at least borrow one from a friend, so that we can intercept a few good pix of this mysterious "false polli" of yours! You can't just bait us and not follow through...
Dinyar