Breeding Aspidoras pauciradiatus

[martialtheory]

I got 10 of them about a year ago but I don't think I cared for them welled because I only have 5 of them left. But man these fish are awesome. They are the size of pygmy corries but they arn't shy. So I've been looking for them everywhere but since I can't find any, now I plan on breeding them in a spare 10 gal tank.

Im gonna try to rasie the kH to around 5 so I can keep the water at 6 pH. The gH in NYC is almost none which is what they like. But aside from that, I don't really know any other info on them

I never breed fish before so tips please? Should I get sand substrate? Anyone had any experiences with these guys?

[martialtheory]

anyone?

[BioHazard]

I know MsJinkzd has had some success spawning her Aspidoras. I would contact her. :)

[msjinkzd]

I can tell you about my setup and what I do to induce spawning in mine. I do not have "ideal" conditions but mine spawn weekly though I have not made a good effort to raise the fry yet.

I keep them temp at about 76. I feed them live white worms for 3 days. I then do a large volume water change with slightly cooler water.

They like to lay their eggs in areas of high flow, mine lay them inside the lift tube of the sponge filter I use.

Once they are conditioned (the females get huge round bellies and are slightly larger than the males) they are very easy to trigger by feeding live and doing a water change.

[martialtheory]

White worms is the key? Okay cool.

So what kind of substrate did u use? I was thinking I shouldn't use any for the sake of maintenance. I only have 5 so I really hope there is at lease one female.

I dont suppose u sell any?

[msjinkzd]

they like to root around so a soft substrate is nice. i have eco complete in that tank but sand would be good as well.

Really any small live food would work: daphnia, baby brine, white worms, grindels, or even most likely frozen foods (I culture my own foods because of hte volume of tanks that I have).

When they are at maturity, its pretty obvious what the sexes are. The females are about 10-15% larger than the males with a very round abdomen while the males are more streamlined and "svelte"

[martialtheory]

Cool thanks.

Also by high flow area, do u think having java fern in front of an powerhead would do the trick?

[martialtheory]

Oh and how did you feed the fry? I never breed fish before so I am a total noob at this.

[msjinkzd]

with these fish, I would be tempted to either pull the eggs or pull the parents after the eggs are laid...the fry are uber tiny. Then youo can feed microworms or baby brine shrimp or super finely crushed meaty flake.

You can use a yarn/spawning mop clipped to the top of the tank near the powerhead, this makes it easy to remove the eggs (they are SUpER sticky).

[martialtheory]

Pull the eggs off? But why? Do the parents eat the eggs or fry?

btw i know u probably get this alot, but nice mohawk. I use to have one and urs is pretty sweet.

[msjinkzd]

my parents eat the fry. ifyou use a spawning mop or plants, you can just move them to a holding/growout tank.

[martialtheory]

Cool thanks. I'm using some live tubifex worms to feed the parents but they dont seem to wanna eat it. In the past my other fish loves to eat tubifex but I am having a hard time with these guys. Did u have a hard time getting them to eat live foods

[msjinkzd]

no, but they are piggies, lol