The Oto Journal

Update 14-Jul-2011

Vittatus fry continue to develop and are doing very well. Some are getting really dark as well. Piglets I must say.

Now...on to the interesting. The Macros are finally in spawn mode. However, unless the boys get thier act together, this is going to be a dead spawn and the lady will loose her eggs. Here's why. There are three boys in here. As of right now...I'm calling them the three stooges. The gal is trying her darnedest to get the boys to .. well .. you know. She leads them to a spot and then they swim away in their little pack crazily. Quite funny actually. Then she will track them down again and it repeats. She's so big, she's about ready to explode. I'm sure if she was able she would smack each of them upside the head. :)

I think I may be partly to blame as well. I'm in the middle of a big water change and maintenance in the tank. The only thing she has to work with are C. pontederiifolia. I pulled all the stems to rescape. DOH! She is trying to work the Ponts though which is good.

Now if the guys will just get thier act together
 
It seems like males of several species (not just fish, lol) are slow to mature compared to females. Or off doing dopey guy stuff together. Are the macros in with the vittatus? I forget. Seems like they'd learn by watching if the can't figure out what to do. Good luck Momma Macro!
 
lol.

The Macros are in their own tank.
 
Update 21-Jul-2011

Babes continue to grow nicely. Have colored up extremely well. I'm comparing this to last groups where they weren't as dark at this age. As mentioned before to, the sizes of some of them makes me think that someone smuggled in some steroids or something. I may have to look at random testing. :) Tried to snap some pics but that group didn't turn out well. They are on tap for a water change today and their first exposure to CO2 and ferts.
 
Update 24-Jul-2011

Little piggies what can I say. Zucchini slices aren't lasting very long at the moment with the fry guys. Excellent sign. On top of that, during this morning's check, I walked in on spawning activity. Was quite comical once I found Papa and Mama2 Oto. She was under a crypt leaf and Pops was on top. They both were looking at me as if to say "What? We're not doing anything". :)

I was going to be doing a small water change in the tank today with the plant prunning the other day. However, after that discovery, I will have to wait and see what happens with the spawn first.

I also need to pull (2) ninja's and put them in isolation. Hopefully be able to do that today.
 
Actively breeding O. vittatus. I'm working with O. macrosphilus and O. cocama. It looks like the next group to breed will be the Macro's. The little lady is displaying for the gents but the three musketeer's just aren't getting their act together. They are more like the three stooges when she tries to coax them. :)
 
Spawn is confirmed. I was curious so I did a check look in. I saw two eggs sitting in the Ludwigia area. A quick glance in the crypts where I saw mom and pop earlier yielded about 10 more. I'm sure that come tomorrow there will be a lot more.

I have started the process of moving the Macrophilus to another tank. The new one is more set up for breeding with one exception..pH. It's 7.6 in this tank. Substrate is Eco for Planted Aquariums. It's very odd in that I am using straight tap water for this tank as it was advised not use buffers like crushed coral which I do in the other tanks. Interesting indeed. I went ahead with the move despite that number as it will provide the female more opportunities to lay her eggs. The other tank wasn't very suited for that. Maybe now the three musketeer's will get their act together. ;)
 
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