Chaetostoma Eggs

Okay,

So I have 4 chaetostoma spec. cats (2 diff species) in a 30 gallon river tank type set-up, water temp is about 70, tankmates white clouds, and 4 river loaches. Haven't done water tests yet.

I picked up a rock to move some decorations, and there was a chaeto stuck to it, not surprising. It let go and swam away, but there were eggs under the rock, good sized yellow eggs. No signs of fungus and they look viable. Any suggesstions on what to do.

I'm worried about the loaches eating the eggs. I don't know if I should remove them or not. I could set-up a 10 gallon with water from the tank adn get a powerhead to circulate water over the eggs.

I really didn't expect them to breed, and was actually considering auctioning them off at my Aquarium society's next meeting. Since I have 2 pairs of diff species I think I even know exactly which ones are resonsible.

Anyone have experience or advice?

--Mia

Well, I moved the eggs to an empty ten gallon. Took about 5 gallons of water from their original tank, made sure they were submerged the whole time. Dug up a heater and an airpump. The airstone is close to the eggs to simulate the male fanning them. Boy was he pissed when I stole his eggs. I gave him a new rock, but he really didn't want to let go.

I'm slightly worried about fungus, and wonder if I should treat the tank just in case. I really want these guys to hatch, and I've never done this before...

I mostly end up with baby egg-scatters, barbs, rainbows, minnows, or even tetras.

--Mia

Update:

Well, this morning they looked about the same as last night. I'm keeping a towel over the tank just in case they are light sensitive. Ended up not adding any fungus prevenative, as I couldn't find any, and all the eggs look viable. When I got back from work I checked them again. Last night they had thin white critters in each egg, vaguely fish shaped, basically a head area and a tail area. Now the little guys are moving in the eggs, basically whipping back and forth. Really Cool.

So I seem to be doing okay. I have no idea how long it might take the eggs to hatch. Kind of hope I'm here to watch.

I'll keep all the lurkers updated though.

--Mia

Well, not much happened today. Around 6 pm I checked the eggs. One died and had started to fungus. The others look good, and I removed that one. It was the one farthest from the airstone and closest to any light source, so that may have contributed. I've added a few gallons of water to their tank.

The little guys are sort of clearish now, and the yellow portion of the eggs have noticeably reduced. They have eyes, or at least dots about where eyes would be and still wiggle around inside the eggs quite a bit.

--Mia

Well,

They're hatching. Semes I've been taking good enough care. I've added about 2 gallons of new dechloribnated water over the last 2 days. The had very nice looking eyes yesterday, and look like tiny little sticks attached to balls now. Some wiggling, but not as much as in the eggs. They are about the same size as the eggs. Seems like hatching time is about 4 days, give or take. I found the eggs 4 days ago in 2 hours.

--Mia

Well,

I have a few crappy pics, but people might be interested.

Eggs from day I found them.

Eggs from earlier today.

Some of the fry now.


They are definitely going to be absorbing their yolk sacs for a while, so not worried about food yet. I have lots of tanks with different kinds of algae problems, so I'm going to root around, mainly algae and java moss will be offteed, alog with some Liquifry (lazy person baby food).

--Mia

Well, no new pics, but some new info.

Last night a total of 3 eggs had hatched, and I was a bit concerned about the rest of the eggs, as there was little movement or activity. I decided to give tham a little time to try for themselves before I bothered them. Today, still only 3 had hatched. So I gave in. Going on info from Farlowella spec cats and twig cats, the males normally help "hatch" the fry.

I basically picked up the rock and swished it back and forth in the tank. That got the little guys moving again. Within 10 minutes almost all of the fry had hatched. They don't seem stressed by the swishing, and are acting much like the other already hatched fry. I also turned the light on.

Also another thing I noticed. Most baby fish have extrememly small mouths, you can't even see them. These guys have large mouths, obviously visible to the naked eye. I wonder if that will make feeding them easier??

The fry do not attach to objects like I expected but float around or lay on their sides a lot, very uncontrolled in their movements. I expect normally the male would corral them in a group and make sure they were well oxygenated.

--Mia