:bounce: :bounce: I've got 14 Sewellia lineolata fry in my 4 ft tank

:bounce: :bounce: they look just like the fry in this link

:bounce: :bounce: http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=1620

awesome!!!!!!!!!! they look so cool

WOW Cool

What are the conditions and parameters in your tank, water changes etc.

My River Tank

pH is usually between 6.4 to 6.8

Temp 26 to 27 deg C

KH 3

Ammonia and Nitrite 0

Nitrate usually about 5 or less

Phosphate 0.25 to 0.5

Water changes weekly or fortnightly.

They are in a 200 litre tank with a Aqua One 2200 so there is quite a flow in some parts of the tank. I'm using several packets of Microtec and SintoMec. I've also got some PhosEx ultra.

Plants include Echinodorus tennulus tennulus, and an unidentified crypt plus a Cyperus helferii and a medium sized Echinodorus (can't remember the species at the moment).

There are a few fist sized kaiaua stones and water worn flat stones and a large piece of bogwood. There is short green algae growing on the bogwood and flatstones which they feed on.

They seem to prefer JBL NovoBel but also get NovoFect and NovoTabs.

GOOD info, thanks.

What size water change were you doing and were they at tank temp or just out of the tap @ around 15-20C.

Oh is there anything else you think may have triggered the spawning?

And are you going to try to spawn them deliberately.

The changes have been approx 20% to 25%, more a question of vaccuuming the dirt out of the gravel rather than a set amount of water.

I set the tank up especially for the Sewellia in the hope that something special would happen. The LFS that sold them to me said that there's less than a dozen specimens in the country beside my ones and that the importers won't be bringing any more in.

nice work 8)

This mornings count is 24 :bounce: .

They seem to be a range of sizes. Is it possible that they have hatched a few at a time over a couple of weeks or is it two spawnings or both?

Congratulations that is an awesome number

I was surfing the net on your little guys and came across this link

http://www.loaches.com/articles/sewellia-lineolata-natural-habitat-and-how-they-get-to-our-aquariums

Absolutely cracking, PCF, looks like that could be a first in NZ.

If those are so few and far between and they aren't coming in again, I'd say you have a BIG responsibility with these then.

Excellent discription of you setup and parameters, a lot of breeders of fish of that rarity would just say "Oh!! Just water, nothing unusual"

You couldn't have been clearer.

Thanks for sharing.

wow thats great, so how do they spawn?

Hi Afrikan

Yeah I found that link when I was creating my setup. Its why I put a 2200 L/hr filter on a 200L tank. It just goes to show that a little research goes a long way.

Hi Alan

Huge responsibility. I'm seriously considering getting rid of my guppies in about 6 months time so that I can set up a second colony. And to start with I'll only offer them to club members with a decent rivertank setup. I certainly won't be putting them on trademe.

Still they've got to make it past the 30 days old stage for it to be successful. And then it's six months before they're an inch (25mm). So I guess it could be up to a year before before there is a surplus for everyone.

Hi Fishboi,

Thats the bit I don't know. I looked in the tank one morning (10th/11th March) and saw 4 , then when I got back from a weeks work in the islands I counted 14 and now I've got 24 . At first I wasn't sure what they were as they look a little like bristlenose fry with tiny heads and it took a couple of days surfing to confirm their identity.

I have seen the males chasing the females and landing on top of them at 90 degrees but I haven't seen any eggs as there are lots of hiding spots/vegetation.

Do you have any other fish in the tank?

If so, what are they??

Bristlenoses, most of which I've removed to make way for the new young (3 left to catch)

12 Lemon Tetras

2 Asian Moth Cats

3 Pinnochio Whiptails

2 Skunk Loaches

5? Borneo Suckers, who are being bullied (although they used to push the tigers around a few months back)

Apart from the borneo suckers the rest are all young and small. I'm probably going to have to find new homes for some of them.

Just a little update.

I had to remove a few plants to put in some flat rocks for the fry who now number in excess of 50 ...

...And I discovered 7 baby lemon tetras :bounce:

I'm wondering if anyone else in Auckland has a "river tank" set up?

i have one set up but just for my mekong puffer!

thats just wicked purplecatfish will give us alot to talk about at the next meeting of AFKA huh

awesome news :bounce:

Awsome news mate!!! We just got 10 of these guys in at work, and OMG they are a nice fish!!!! Very tempting!!!

Whoa, Catbrat where do you work?? Might need to pay you a visit!

:bounce: Yay, They've bred again :bounce: .

The population seemed to stabilise at the 50-60 range, so I set up a 1.9m river tank to grow some on with my other hillstream loaches and transferred about a dozen to the new tank.

:bounce: And today I've just seen another 16 young ones :bounce:

Congrats!! Any photos available soon?

congratulations again!! they looked great the time I saw them, fascinating the way they seemed to hover.

nice fish, i want some

Thanks Wok .

The photo is from the new river tank on the day of the tank crawl. At the top right you can see a tweedi's hill stream loach.