!!!! L168 Breed !!!!

Catfish_Crazy

Catfish_Crazy

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May 29, 2010
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Hi All,

To cut a long story short, brought this trio for nearly $800 (thought that was super cheap and could past on them if they are breeders, cause about 2yrs ago brought a breeding pair for $1200 but didnt breed) the guy told me they breed and seen the some fry he had left but were in a different tank and thought, why not as i always had a soft spot for the L168's :)

Had them for 9 months and doing all the correct things to breed them and nothing, they are with my royal whiptail tank.

The royal whiptail have breed so many time, infact to many times haha, but about 4 days ago i shined the torch into the cave where the 168 is always in, i noticed something under him but didnt take much noticed cause it looked like his fins with hair and didnt think anything, so today/now i was just checking on the only one surviving royal whiptail fry making sure its alright cause the rest got sucked up by the filter :cry: but and thought id shine the torch on the male 168 and noticed eggs right under him and he was nearly out of the cave, seen the eggs they look like they havnt hatched but can make out the heads and eyes :clap:

Now i cant really find much info here, but anyone breed them here ?

I heard they can take up to 10 days to hatch ?

And once they hatch would they have the yolk on them ?

Or do i have to feed then straight away ?

Would the male release them once they hatch ?

Also i heard they can lay up to 50 - 120 eggs ? is that correct ? i doubt i have that much probably 20 at a guess but very hard to tell cause i cant see inside at all.

But im excited as i always wanted to breed these for years :clap::clap::clap:
 
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Bigjohnnofish

Bigjohnnofish

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Apr 15, 2010
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mate of mine bought 4 adults from local fishop for $60 each.... unsure of sexes..... but definitely got 1 male/1 female as they spawned 2 weeks later....
got 30 eggs/fry....

raised them the same as any other baby pleco... zucchinni and sera micron...
they have grown really quickly.... he gave me 6 fish about a month ago and they are all round 7-9cm now and showing some spawning behaviour already
they wouldnt be much older than 8 mths...

nice looking fish but drop their stripes at any hint of a mood change...
 
Catfish_Crazy

Catfish_Crazy

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May 29, 2010
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Bigjohnnofish said:
mate of mine bought 4 adults from local fishop for $60 each.... unsure of sexes..... but definitely got 1 male/1 female as they spawned 2 weeks later....
got 30 eggs/fry....

raised them the same as any other baby pleco... zucchinni and sera micron...
they have grown really quickly.... he gave me 6 fish about a month ago and they are all round 7-9cm now and showing some spawning behaviour already
they wouldnt be much older than 8 mths...

nice looking fish but drop their stripes at any hint of a mood change...
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info champ, yeah i heard they grow quick but heard they take about 10 days to hatch, nearly 3-4 days more than most pleco's that i breed.

Just had a look again today still can see they eggs but dunno how much but i can see some eyes of the eggs so hopefully soon.

L-ko said:
Hi,

Congratultions!
What is the pH?

Greetings
Elko
Click to expand...
Havnt checked yet, most likely going to do some water changes tonight, will check what its at before i do any water change, but its most likely between 6.5-7ph cause thats what its been for a few yrs :)

bigbird said:
well done indeed. cheers jk :thumbup:
Click to expand...
Thanks champ - much appreicated :)
 
Irene0100

Irene0100

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May 14, 2009
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well done indeed!!!
sorry dont know much about breeding these particular plecs, but generally i guess they are similar to other small plecs.
please be very careful about looking at the eggs too much as i guess you are shining a torch in there and too much disturbance can frighten the male and cause him to eat the eggs/young.
keep going with plenty of water changes but use tank temp water rather than cooler water if you can.
once the eggs hatch they will live on egg sacks for some days. start to think about what you might fed the young on. if you want to use micro worms you may need to start a culture now. otherwise buy some fine powdered fry food or fine granule food.
when they are hungry they will leave the cave but i usually add some fry food in front of the cave when they are nearly ready.
good luck
 
Catfish_Crazy

Catfish_Crazy

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Hey L-Ko --- the ph is 6.6 :) incase you want to know /


Also :
He has kicked so far 4 eggs and they look like they probably have another day or 2 before hatching, hopefully the ones his fanning he keeps them .

This is probably a stupid thing i did but i try'd putting those 4 eggs back into the cave twice but he just rejected them :( hopefully i didnt scare him .

Dont like using a egg tumbler, i just put them in a fry saver with a airstone, hopefully they hatch, if not then hopefully the one in the cave do ;)

And the eggs are tiny compared to L066/L333 haha, it looks like they have a bigger yolk compared to other hatch eggs but smaller eggs :)
 
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Irene0100

Irene0100

UK Support Team
May 14, 2009
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goood news so far. fun to watch in fry saver, but dont be too surprised if dont hatch as he may have kicked them out for a reason,
yes they dont usually take them back once kicked out, but worth a very gentle try, sounds like you did the right thing.
 
Catfish_Crazy

Catfish_Crazy

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May 29, 2010
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Irene0100 said:
goood news so far. fun to watch in fry saver, but dont be too surprised if dont hatch as he may have kicked them out for a reason,
yes they dont usually take them back once kicked out, but worth a very gentle try, sounds like you did the right thing.
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Thanks ^^

Sadly i keep losing fry ? they are out and alive but next day dead, i can see some havnt even hatched, but the ones that did hatch was 2 days ago ???

Question : Is it possible for a male to keep fanning the eggs if the eggs he is fanning are bad ? cause it feels like that .

The reason i ask is 2 days ago fry was out of the cave and im looking in the cave can see eggs but no eyes in the eggs ? i'd honestly say its been close to 8-10 days now .

Or maybe im thinking to much into it - haha
 
Catfish_Crazy

Catfish_Crazy

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Well today i noticed a few loose and look like their doing good, so far i lost about 15 fry.

The quick thing i noticed about them compared to other fry, as soon as they are out of the cave they stick quickly to the glass tank, never really stay at the bottom and close to the edge of the water basically act like royal whiptail baby's haha.

he is still fanning and still can see eggs but he does produce alot of waste when his fanning.

Now the hard part kinda beginning cause once their yolk goes away and if they decide to keep to the glass and close to the top it will be pretty hard to feed them like royal whiptails.

:)

Crappy Picture, i know the tank glass is dirty haha

 
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Catfish_Crazy

Catfish_Crazy

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May 29, 2010
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Just an update :

So far i have about 25 little guys alive, not easy feeding them to tell you the truth, ive lost about 25-30 due to being kicked out to early and some im guessing not eating, but hopefully i dont loose anymore .

Hopefully see what happens in another week or two.
 
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