Loopy Posted June 3, 2007 Report Share Posted June 3, 2007 I have just come back from conference and was doing the routine check of all the fish and have found my male whiptail is guarding eggs! :bounce: I have no idea when he might have spawned and hubby didn't even know there were eggs!! I have been half trying to coax these guys to lay for years! And *REALLY* don't want to lose the eggs. They are in my tank with my 16ish 1 month old silver dollar fry and the whiptail parents. I would like a vote as to whether it would be safer to remove the parents and silver dollars and leave the fry in the tank by themselves or should i take the dollars out only? I don't want to stress daddy out in case he munches all the eggs and it looks like a good spawn too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coelacanth Posted June 3, 2007 Report Share Posted June 3, 2007 I bred whiptails on numerous occasions and found the fry almost impossible to rear. Didn't have any problems at all with Sturisoma fry, interestingly-enough, but regular whiptails just couldn't do it. Out of several hundred eggs, I only reared three to adulthood. Anyway, I would remove the eggs on their rock to a small bare tank (the adults were in a community tank). The male would immediately abandon the eggs so I would just put an airstone next to them to keep them aerated and they would hatch fine. Tried all sorts of techniques but just couldn't rear any of the resulting fry past a few weeks. I even tried taking all the other fish out of the 3ft community the adults were in and just leaving the babies to hatch in there but that wasn't any more successful than removing the eggs. Not much help from me I'm afraid. I don't know what species mine were but they laid green eggs (not the yellow ones seen in most books), which would turn darker to almost black as they got closer to hatching. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loopy Posted June 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 I had another peek and snapped a photo! Daddy is funny cause he bounces up and down on the eggs in agitation(sp) He doesn't like me looking at him! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coelacanth Posted June 4, 2007 Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 is he inside something with his eggs, like under a bit of flowerpot or something? Thats what it looks like, maybe its just the photo. Anyway, mine would spawn on the top of a flat rock out in the open. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loopy Posted June 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 yeah it is a small chunk of a flower pot. But his lady laid the eggs on the bottom of the tank! Bit hard to remove that!! You can just see the pot bit tucked under the sponge filter on the right hand side. I have had a big piece of polystyrene which i use to block that side of the tank and to give him privacyon the tank for about 2 weeks now, i took it off to take a peek and that is when he started hopping on his eggs angrily! It is quite funny! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coelacanth Posted June 4, 2007 Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 for what its worth, with most loricariids I've bred I do water changes every day in the fry tank, but with the whiptails the babies didn't react well at all to these so I just did small ones weekly or less. The ones I did manage to rear were in a tank that basically never got cleaned or had water changes so I guess they were getting someting from the detritus that fed them better than what I was giving them. (otherwise newly-hatched brine shrimp had better results than vegetable food) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixon1990 Posted June 4, 2007 Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 How do you sex these fish? I am thinking about buying a few 5cm ones.Will they be sexable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loopy Posted June 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 I was lucky that when i bought mine years ago i asked for a sexed pair and the guy was very good at telling the difference easily. They also were young adults and pretty much fully grown. this is a male http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/image.php?image_id=4349 and Female http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/image.php?image_id=4348 I don't think i have ever noticed the bristles on the back of my male before. Females get pretty fat with eggs and mine lays green eggs so gets a green belly. here is another pic female is at the bottom and the male has bristles on his cheeks like mine. http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/image.php?image_id=3411 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new zealand discus man Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 Hi If you move eggs or new hatchings they die very quickly..My best sucess is to leave them completly alone,Including young till many months old..Fry from other fish if same size are unlikely to have any effect on them as hatching are quite large. My Pinoccio males are all holding a mouths full of eggs and i see just one female giving all 4 males eggs.. My brown tiger whiptails are the same..Move and loose.. I have another came in as black loricaria..Completely the same..I opened tube to remove male as female ate young as hatched..When male was removed one day before hatch the eggs started to die..What the male did was beyond me but out of 200 approx due to hatch only 12 made it..Female died a month later but i now have 13 at 30% grown.. Spirulina flake is a must and heaps of hatched bb shrimps..Cheers Phill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixon1990 Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 What type of whiptail are they loopy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new zealand discus man Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 Hi New names are Rhinoloricoria..Very hard to fine info as i imported from Peru as Loricorica base name..Mail me direct for photo's Cheers Phill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loopy Posted June 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 I actually have no idea specifically what type of whips i have. I might try taking a couple of pics at some stage to see if we can work it out. I have put a divider into the tank with the whiptails and seperated the parents from the eggs. I just don't want to risk anyone eating the eggs. Have got an airstone very close to the eggs and i can see the fry developing very well. I am NOT going to dare take the eggs/fry out of the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuglyDragon Posted June 9, 2007 Report Share Posted June 9, 2007 After many many attempts this is what works for me... Move the eggs (cave and all) to a small hatching tank and place an airstone so the bubble flow is over the eggs. have several foam filters running in the hatching tank, plus a strong air stone and have it full of java moss, also some dither fish, I usually use baby BN cats or baby cory cats. After hatching begin feeding powdered spirulina algae (bought from local health shop), lots of it, enough to dye the tank water dark green twice daily After a few days add micro worms daily after 1 week start adding powdered flake to the spirulina mix with a little water untill it forms a paste and add dollops of paste (continue with the powder too) I also add mushed up boiled peas once or twice a week (add water and mush till its green liquid) I also DONT CLEAN OR SYPHON the tank at all, but it is part of a large tank rack, so the water turn over is enough to avoid nitrate build up. there is generally a 2 - 3 cm deep layer of scunge on the bottom of the tank after 2 - 3 weeks. Bad fish keeping, but it seems to work. Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loopy Posted June 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2007 Thanks dragon!! that is a huge help! I had 11 hatch last night. Most fungused pretty quickly after i move dad away. I have started a brine shrimp hatch for them and aim to give as wide a range of foods as possible. I will see if i can locate some one with some dither fish as i don't have anything myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuglyDragon Posted June 9, 2007 Report Share Posted June 9, 2007 I should have pointed out that the foam filters arnt so much for filtration as to provide a 'grazing' suface for the fry, all the particles of food get drawn to the filter foam and the fry feed on the surface. the pic above shows fry deeding on a filter foam over the tank outflow, i also have 3 or 4 running in the tank as well (as many as I have air available to run) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loopy Posted June 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2007 ok i think i shall have a play and get one of the old sponge filters in there with them. just got a couple of young cories for dither fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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