L201: Hypancistrus Inspector spawn
Posted: 24 Dec 2004, 18:39
My Christmas surprise has been a gift of L201 fry, the Hypancistrus Inspector. The 33 gallon tank is 4' long by 1' by 1'. It sits on a dividing wall between my kitchen and living room. The actual spawning tube is no more than 2 feet from my oven/stove in a very busy corner of the apartment.
I chose this tank, visible from 3 sides, because I was sure there were adults in the group. With the Hypancistrus pre-spawn rituals and multiple day spawning routines, I was sure I'd see anything before I had to worry about it. There are 8 fish. The spawning male is not the largest.
Well, as embarrassed as I am to admit it, they spawned right under my nose and I never suspected a thing. From the look of the fry that are working their way out of Dad's cave this morning, the spawn might have been 10 days to 2 weeks ago, during a short "dry season". The first fry I saw had no egg sac left, while those just leaving the cave still do have some. If this means there are actually TWO groups of fry, I'll go buy new glasses.
During those days when I guess the spawn occurred, the water hadn't been changed for almost 3 weeks. I started the cool/soft water flush on December 17th, so the spawn HAD to have taken place sooner than that. This is the THIRD time I've had a reluctant young pair of Hypancistrus spawn while the water chemistry was getting worse, not better. The other two times were with the zebra.
From what I've seen of the fry, they have little white squiggles where the spots will be.
I have, unfortunately, lent my camera to a co-worker with a new baby and will not get it back until Monday.
The water temp is 82 degrees. Milwaukee tap water= 180+ ppm of dissolved solids.
The cave is a 5" bamboo section with the natural "knuckle". I cut the opening at an angle to the length. Bamboo can be found here in Spring and Summer in the Outdoor Grilling section of whatever store is large enough to import "Tiki" torches. The mouth of the tube is 1.75". This is really too big for this species if you were to use it alone, but as this fish seems to like to burrow a little, I partially buried 6 of these tubes and a couple terra cotta caves in 2mm flint gravel. I partially covered these tubes and caves even more with pieces of rock. In the end, anyone that wanted a cave had to dig it out. There is still about 1/3rd of the gravel leveling the floor of this otherwise round section of bamboo in the tube chosen by the spawning male. Larger males cleared more gravel away...and smaller males cleared less. I find this fascinating. Each male knows exactly how much space he'll have to protect, and clears no more nor less gravel than he has to.
Imagine viewing the tank from above: you reach to place your hands 4 feet apart on what are, from your perspective; the lower left and lower right corners of the tank. The water flow enters the tank at your right hand directly from the output of an external filter/powerhead at 250 GPH. There is no spray bar. This is a direct flow into the tank which creates a clockwise flow from your right hand...to your left...to the upper left...then back 4 feet to the upper right and returning to the intake; fit with a pre-filter sponge, also at your right hand. The chosen cave is at your left hand. It lies perpendicular to the long side of the tank with the opening in the extreme lower left corner of the tank as you view it from above.
Now I must decide whether to leave this setup as it is or try to identify the empty female and isolate the pair for future pampering. BTW: I NEVER fed blackworms.
Thanks for listening.
Comments and suggestions are welcome.
Kevin Korotev
Milwaukee
I chose this tank, visible from 3 sides, because I was sure there were adults in the group. With the Hypancistrus pre-spawn rituals and multiple day spawning routines, I was sure I'd see anything before I had to worry about it. There are 8 fish. The spawning male is not the largest.
Well, as embarrassed as I am to admit it, they spawned right under my nose and I never suspected a thing. From the look of the fry that are working their way out of Dad's cave this morning, the spawn might have been 10 days to 2 weeks ago, during a short "dry season". The first fry I saw had no egg sac left, while those just leaving the cave still do have some. If this means there are actually TWO groups of fry, I'll go buy new glasses.
During those days when I guess the spawn occurred, the water hadn't been changed for almost 3 weeks. I started the cool/soft water flush on December 17th, so the spawn HAD to have taken place sooner than that. This is the THIRD time I've had a reluctant young pair of Hypancistrus spawn while the water chemistry was getting worse, not better. The other two times were with the zebra.
From what I've seen of the fry, they have little white squiggles where the spots will be.
I have, unfortunately, lent my camera to a co-worker with a new baby and will not get it back until Monday.
The water temp is 82 degrees. Milwaukee tap water= 180+ ppm of dissolved solids.
The cave is a 5" bamboo section with the natural "knuckle". I cut the opening at an angle to the length. Bamboo can be found here in Spring and Summer in the Outdoor Grilling section of whatever store is large enough to import "Tiki" torches. The mouth of the tube is 1.75". This is really too big for this species if you were to use it alone, but as this fish seems to like to burrow a little, I partially buried 6 of these tubes and a couple terra cotta caves in 2mm flint gravel. I partially covered these tubes and caves even more with pieces of rock. In the end, anyone that wanted a cave had to dig it out. There is still about 1/3rd of the gravel leveling the floor of this otherwise round section of bamboo in the tube chosen by the spawning male. Larger males cleared more gravel away...and smaller males cleared less. I find this fascinating. Each male knows exactly how much space he'll have to protect, and clears no more nor less gravel than he has to.
Imagine viewing the tank from above: you reach to place your hands 4 feet apart on what are, from your perspective; the lower left and lower right corners of the tank. The water flow enters the tank at your right hand directly from the output of an external filter/powerhead at 250 GPH. There is no spray bar. This is a direct flow into the tank which creates a clockwise flow from your right hand...to your left...to the upper left...then back 4 feet to the upper right and returning to the intake; fit with a pre-filter sponge, also at your right hand. The chosen cave is at your left hand. It lies perpendicular to the long side of the tank with the opening in the extreme lower left corner of the tank as you view it from above.
Now I must decide whether to leave this setup as it is or try to identify the empty female and isolate the pair for future pampering. BTW: I NEVER fed blackworms.
Thanks for listening.
Comments and suggestions are welcome.
Kevin Korotev
Milwaukee
