Sturisoma Spawned (Aureum?)

[celticfish]

i had purchased a group of 6 pcs at about 10cm SL.
they are kept in a 3 ft tank with weekly water change and feeding once at night.
this tank is located on the balcony exposed to the elements.
thinking they were no where near capable of breeding i left them to their own device.

on the morning of the 29th Jan i went out to feed the 4 ft planted tank and took a look at the tank.
two fish scrambled away but one came back close to the front.
then i realized they had spawned.
the pair seems inexperienced as the eggs varied from the corner bottom to the front glass, as high as 20 cm away from the bottom).
it is also just next to the powerhead.

i was totally surprised as they showed no visible sign of sex other than gravid bellies indicating females.
the "suspect" male who hovers over the eggs had no chew chew to speak of.
looks like a "kuniang" male! hahaha

can anyone with more experience with these guys comment?

[Edmundo]

Photos! photos!

[celticfish]

btw i have no idea what kind of sturisoma they are.
i can only suspect aureum from the pictures at PC.
counted about 44 eggs though some have turned white.

@edmundo,
i will try to get picture this weekend.
as it is an outside tank daytime photos will reveal my legs to the world! :D

[jja]

i had purchased a group of 6 pcs at about 10cm SL.
they are kept in a 3 ft tank with weekly water change and feeding once at night.
this tank is located on the balcony exposed to the elements.
thinking they were no where near capable of breeding i left them to their own device.

on the morning of the 29th Jan i went out to feed the 4 ft planted tank and took a look at the tank.
two fish scrambled away but one came back close to the front.
then i realized they had spawned.
the pair seems inexperienced as the eggs varied from the corner bottom to the front glass, as high as 20 cm away from the bottom).
it is also just next to the powerhead.

i was totally surprised as they showed no visible sign of sex other than gravid bellies indicating females.
the "suspect" male who hovers over the eggs had no chew chew to speak of.
looks like a "kuniang" male! hahaha

can anyone with more experience with these guys comment?

firstly, congrats on the spawning of eggs...

some things to take note is to ensure that the eggs are not disturb by any other inhabitants other than the sturisomas. next there are a few methods on a higher rate of survival for the eggs
one is to siphon the eggs out to a seperate tank with lots of aeration
or u can gently scrap the eggs and place them in a tank with the male
lastly u can just let it be in the main tank
do not be anxious with the hatching, the little ones will find their way out and the initial stage they will feed on the sacs they were in as initial food.
u can then slowly use either green water as feeding
algae wafers that is crushed up. a simple trick is to let algae grow on small rocks and sticks (put out them in water tank and leave in balcony) this will ensure fresh algae for them little ones. i have tried the methods above and have been good.

[celticfish]

@ jja,

thanks for the tips on feeding!
must admit i just thrashed a lot of algae DW recently from my planted tank!
green water also sorted out just 2 weeks ago...
now have to start again... :(

maybe i can short cut by stealing some algae from the pond!
hopefully the koi haven't devasted them yet! :D

[akoh]

Bro, incubation is about 5 to 6 days once hatched, you may want to try Kailan leaves to feed those little fellas. Cheers ! :D

[celticfish]

@ akoh,
do you need to boil the leaves?
or just wash and use fork?


btw as at this morning there are 33 eggs left.
the "dad" seems skittish when i go near the tank.
then after a while to will come back to the eggs.
also, you can see the head and tail forming on the remaining eggs.

[jja]

@ akoh,
do you need to boil the leaves?
or just wash and use fork?


btw as at this morning there are 33 eggs left.
the "dad" seems skittish when i go near the tank.
then after a while to will come back to the eggs.
also, you can see the head and tail forming on the remaining eggs.

just as akoh has suggested u may use kailan. blanch them in hot water and cool them down before adding in tank.... a single leaf will be sufficient to kick start it.. be patient and wait till monday morning and update us on it...;)

[celticfish]

@ jja,
yes, blanched!
would algae from the pond work?
i guessing that there are micro-organisms in it that are good for them.


Update:
the eggs are developing fast.
i can see distinct fish shapes and wriggling now.
though the hatching time is 8 days.

i have just taken pictures of the male and the eggs (not macro though).
will have the picture resized and hopefully posted tomorrow.


Sexing:
with regards to sexing.
can i safely assume that gravid looking tummies are females.
and slim/slender tummies are males?
i ask this because i do see some clearly gravid and slim tummies in the group.

also, i can confirm that the male has no chew chew whatsoever.
this puzzles me as i have read reports of the cheek odontodes being present at spawning.

[celticfish]

as requested here are the photos.
sorry not too pro in this regard... :p
shot at night to prevent reflection of glass.

picture of the corner of the tank with suspect dad and the eggs.
the eggs spread from the front corner silicon where he is till the power head!
http://www.plecoclub.org/forum/imagehosting/11947a2aa1ea0ac1.jpg


closeup of dad - see, no chew chew at all!
i thinks its a sturisoma aureum.
but feel free comment on what you think it is.
http://www.plecoclub.org/forum/imagehosting/11947a2aa1f1b6cb.jpg


the eggs.
i don't know if you can see the eggs clearly.
but i can see the forming of the body.
and when they wriggle in the egg its clearly observable.
http://www.plecoclub.org/forum/imagehosting/11947a2aa1f48885.jpg


egg count this morning is 28.

[akoh]

Bro, once the eggs hatched, it is advisible to remove the PH, if not the fries sure kenna **** into the cartridge ! :) unless you wrap the cartridge with another filter wool.

[celticfish]

thanks for the suggestion akoh! :)
will try to do some stupid things this weekend.
like scrapping the eggs into a breeding trap... :D

[celticfish]

Update:
stupid me... did the egg move too late on friday.
after siphoning them out some of them "hatched".
i think this is what i read about being careful when the eggs have "eyeballs".
fortunately the wrigglers that hatch are all doing okay.
17 survivors left...

i just checked the tank and...
sweet jesus, they are at it again at the same spot!!! :joy: :joy:
however, i cannot tell if its the same female.
i do suspect this is the samemale but different female though.
and if thats the case its good because there are two breeding females.

[akoh]

horny sticky fella ! :D worse than rabbit ! :D

[celticfish]

i think so too! :D

the final count this morning was 74 eggs.
the laying is neater as seen in the picture.
but i'm still wondering how some eggs are still at the silicon of the bottom panel...
also, i spotted some really really small cheek odontodes on the dad.

http://www.plecoclub.org/forum/imagehosting/11947a69416bf683.jpg

[akoh]

You just imagine, I used to have about 3 pairs of breeding adult ! these buggers are breeding like no tomorrow ! :D few hundred fries ! like ants ! :D. In the end, I have to part with 1 pair to jja and another to :confused: can't remember who !. :D

[celticfish]

3 pairs!
my goodness you must have a spawn like every other day at the rate they go. :eek:

[akoh]

I was selling the 2" juvenile to planter like hot cakes ! :D

[celticfish]

they just spawned this past sunday night again.
so far, every 7 days like clock work.
when i got home sunday evening i took a look and was surprised to see FOUR of them in the spawning area!
the egg count in the morning was 146 eggs!
i have read reports of consecutive spawns days apart but concurrent?
could the eggs have come from 3 females in one spawn?

akoh,
you are right, they are worse than rabbits!! :D

[lyh]

they just spawned this past sunday night again.
so far, every 7 days like clock work.
when i got home sunday evening i took a look and was surprised to see FOUR of them in the spawning area!
the egg count in the morning was 146 eggs!
i have read reports of consecutive spawns days apart but concurrent?
could the eggs have come from 3 females in one spawn?

akoh,
you are right, they are worse than rabbits!! :D

Bro congrats to you again! My batch of eggs just finished hatching on Sunday :D

[celticfish]

cool!
so you got your female fish!


if you don't mind i have two questions for you.
a) whats your method for growing the fry?
b) do the fry take tank transfers well? is there a certain age where its okay to do so?

i'm because i'd like to transfer them to a 4ft planted tank for grow out.

[lyh]

cool!
so you got your female fish!


if you don't mind i have two questions for you.
a) whats your method for growing the fry?
b) do the fry take tank transfers well? is there a certain age where its okay to do so?

i'm because i'd like to transfer them to a 4ft planted tank for grow out.

Nope bro I haven't got my second female. This is the same old one :D

a) whats your method for growing the fry?

I put them separately in a floating tank in my main tank. I tried taking them out before but because the new tank is too small, the water fouls very quickly hence I have abandoned this method. :(

b) do the fry take tank transfers well? is there a certain age where its okay to do so?

I think they can handle it pretty well provided the water of the new tank is taken from the main tank. I had fries dying from too much WC before. :o

[celticfish]

thanks for the notes!

i think i'm going to have a handful with them. so far...
brood 1 - 16 fry
brood 2 - 50 fry
brood 3 - 146 eggs (estimated to hatch this fri/sat)

they seem to need up to three days for all the eggs to hatch.

also, how long would the fry take to get to say, 2" TL?

[celticfish]

manage to get a picture of brood 3.
http://www.plecoclub.org/forum/imagehosting/11947b160ec13b33.jpg

[akoh]

thanks for the notes!

i think i'm going to have a handful with them. so far...
brood 1 - 16 fry
brood 2 - 50 fry
brood 3 - 146 eggs (estimated to hatch this fri/sat)

they seem to need up to three days for all the eggs to hatch.

also, how long would the fry take to get to say, 2" TL?

Based on my observation, they need 5 days, With TLC, they'll reach 2" by 3rd months. Cheers ! :D

Sorry for the off topic ! just a thinker for you. NKS LFS just came a batch of " Green Farlowella " - rare and cute little fella ! :D, this is the second time I saw this species after 12 yrs of plecoing, you should check them out ! another breeding program ! :D

[lyh]

Based on my observation, they need 5 days, With TLC, they'll reach 2" by 3rd months. Cheers ! :D

Sorry for the off topic ! just a thinker for you. NKS LFS just came a batch of " Green Farlowella " - rare and cute little fella ! :D, this is the second time I saw this species after 12 yrs of plecoing, you should check them out ! another breeding program ! :D

You all don't take all ah. Reserve 4 pieces for me :D
Oh by the way the hatching rate depends very much on the temperature of the water. They hatch faster during warmer days

[jja]

You all don't take all ah. Reserve 4 pieces for me :D
Oh by the way the hatching rate depends very much on the temperature of the water. They hatch faster during warmer days

i also wanna get them leh... 4 piece not good.. must 6 and above better fro breeding...