Against all odds, I did it again :woohoo:
Many said it was impossible. That makes me what to succeed and prove the opposite.
I started out with 2 female fish bought from a LFS, then bought 2 more females from Germany. This was around February March. I needed to find a male for my girls which were fattening up quite nicely. 2 Weeks ago I traded 2 juvenile L66 for a large adult male. And he was handsome <3 So thought my females and hovered around his cave for the past 2 weeks with great interest.
It wasn't the plan to start a breeding attempt just yet. I heard and read a lot about these fish and every one said it was impossible to breed these in my waters. They had to have very low conductivity and soft acidic waters.
My plan was to let them get settled with each other and then, when the tank was ready, to put them over in a special rainwater tank. But they thought different :whistle: I started to see a female entering the cave. He never kept her for long and looked to be puzzled what to do with her :dk: Yesterday I checked my tanks after work and noticed a lot of activity in their tank. They were busy spawning I staid and watched for a while and it was beautiful to see. In and out they went, circling around the entrance and going in backwards again. Great to watch!!
After a few hours I went to feed the other fish. And yes :clap: he had eggs in his cave!! All is going well and he's fanning away like crazy. I collected a few eggs which were outside the cave. I don't know if they are alive or fertile but I'm giving it a try and see what happens anyway. So this log will be updated while I'm going along
Parameters:
PH 7
KH 3
NO3 <5
Temperature 30+
Conductivity 290-310
Here are some pictures:
Female
To show they are real L183, 1 hard and 9 soft dorsal rays
Male 2 weeks ago
The breeding pair yesterday while preparing to spawn. Female in cave entrance, male right behind. Sorry for the poor picture quality...
Male guarding his eggs today, sadly can't see the eggs in the cave on this picture. But on the right bottom corner you can see the eggs that were outside the cave
The eggs, 3mm
Many said it was impossible. That makes me what to succeed and prove the opposite.
I started out with 2 female fish bought from a LFS, then bought 2 more females from Germany. This was around February March. I needed to find a male for my girls which were fattening up quite nicely. 2 Weeks ago I traded 2 juvenile L66 for a large adult male. And he was handsome <3 So thought my females and hovered around his cave for the past 2 weeks with great interest.
It wasn't the plan to start a breeding attempt just yet. I heard and read a lot about these fish and every one said it was impossible to breed these in my waters. They had to have very low conductivity and soft acidic waters.
My plan was to let them get settled with each other and then, when the tank was ready, to put them over in a special rainwater tank. But they thought different :whistle: I started to see a female entering the cave. He never kept her for long and looked to be puzzled what to do with her :dk: Yesterday I checked my tanks after work and noticed a lot of activity in their tank. They were busy spawning I staid and watched for a while and it was beautiful to see. In and out they went, circling around the entrance and going in backwards again. Great to watch!!
After a few hours I went to feed the other fish. And yes :clap: he had eggs in his cave!! All is going well and he's fanning away like crazy. I collected a few eggs which were outside the cave. I don't know if they are alive or fertile but I'm giving it a try and see what happens anyway. So this log will be updated while I'm going along
Parameters:
PH 7
KH 3
NO3 <5
Temperature 30+
Conductivity 290-310
Here are some pictures:
Female
To show they are real L183, 1 hard and 9 soft dorsal rays
Male 2 weeks ago
The breeding pair yesterday while preparing to spawn. Female in cave entrance, male right behind. Sorry for the poor picture quality...
Male guarding his eggs today, sadly can't see the eggs in the cave on this picture. But on the right bottom corner you can see the eggs that were outside the cave
The eggs, 3mm
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