My Ancistrus Spawned

[Mick John]

My Peppermints bred for the first time. They are a young pair and have only been on a couple of dates so new to this mating thing. Therefore the M had kicked the 40 or so eggs out of his cave. Most are definately fertile and have no fungus so I've carefully collected these and have them in a net with an air stone. I noticed one has hatched sometime today. The others should follow suit. Hopefully I can get them to survive. If I can I'll post a picture or two. It was a pleasant surprise. Cheers.

[Mick John]

I have counted around 60 fry so I'm very happy with this. Especially for a first spawn! I now have my fingers crossed!

[wombat1100]

well done mick , you did a great job of saving the eggs, now just watch them grow out and enjoy

[Woodsy]

Nice work mate, that's an awesome hatch rate! Keep 'em alive and you're talking CASH MONEH!!

[silent_rock_faery]

wow that's awesome. chuck some photos up some time

[Mick John]

Yeah thanks guy's. I'll try and post some pics up in a couple of days. Just have to knock off a couple of days at work first. Fortunately they appear ok at this stage.

[Mick John]

I'm not the best photographer but I'd like to take several photo's of these guy's as they go through their initial stages if growth (Approx. a month). It's all hopeful thinking at the moment as I may not even get them through their first week!http://www.thefishtank.com.au/forums/images/icons/icon11.gif But we'll see. Cheers.http://www.thefishtank.com.au/forums/images/icons/icon7.gif

[Mick John]

Well today is the 1 week mark from the date they hatched and most are alive. Two have died and one I put down as it was unfortunately badly physically defected. They have just started eating now. Well actually I'm hoping they have.:confused: It's been so hot up here I'm hoping that it won't have an effect on the little ones.:eek: I have taken a photo on day 2 from when they hatched and will try and take another one today. I hope the last photo I take won't be of a heap of corpses!:p

[Mick John]

Ok here's a few photo's of their first week. The photo of the batch of Fry was taken after two days from when they hatched. The other two photo's were taken this morning about a week after they hatched. The transformation during the 5 or so days inbetween photo's is amazing. Nature is a marvel. I wonder if the high temperatures (around 29-30 Celsius) has sped up the process slightly? Regardless it's very interesting to observe this. I'll keep taking a few more photo's as they get a bit older. Touch wood that is!:)

[silent_rock_faery]

oh wow, they're so cute and tiny

[Woodsy]

Nice work Mick! Are they almond leaves you have in there with them?

[Mick John]

Yeah that's right Woodsy. They are from an Indian Almond Nut tree. My Mate has them on his property. Very useful.http://www.thefishtank.com.au/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Mick John]

Just off the topic. Why does the Smilies I use come up as an address? Only seems to do this from my home computer. Cheers.

[Mick John]

It seems that they are about to spawn again. She's bursting at the seams and trying to enter the Males cave. They must have really enjoyed it last time.:D

[Mick John]

Yeah she has dropped her clutch of eggs and the M is in his cave fanning away. At this rate I think I might have to give them away I'll have that many of them!:)

To answer my own question regarding the Icons, I sometimes dragged them across rather than just clicking on them.

[Woodsy]

That's awesome Mick, I wish my marbles would get pumping. Might have to get you to post me down some of the youngn's at some stage :)

[Mick John]

Yeah that's no worries Woodsy as long as you don't mind paying for the freight mate. Hopefully I'll have success with this next batch too. My mate said that he'd help me out and sell them in his shop too. So I'm lucky there. :)

[Woodsy]

How are those cats coming along Mick? Come across any difficulties or intricacies yet?

[Mick John]

G'day Woodsy. Been so busy lately mate changing jobs and all it's all I can do to keep up all the maintenance at home. Takes up alot of my time these days. But I do enjoy the results. My L333's have been growing approx. 10mm a month for the past 6 months due to high maintenance and good feeding. Very happy about that. I wasn't happy with the growth rate of the Peppermints as I had them in a large net. Both batches. Separate nets though. Painfully slow to watch them grow when the horny parents insist on reproducing.:D So I have moved them over to a small tank of their own a few days ago. Gave them a bit of blanched zucchini and haven't stopped having to clean the dam filter as the slimey bacteria that wanted to break it down has taken over.:eek: Anyway they are all alive and seem to be doing well and can't wait till they are big enough to feed raw zucchini. For the moment I'm sticking to my own home made food.:p

[Woodsy]

Good to hear mate, good to hear. I know how you feel, the last time I kept them (though I was pretty new to this at the time) it took me over 18 months to get 5cm Peppermints up to breeding size. lol, and I only had three of them! So I reckon I'll let you deal with the hard work on this one Mick :p When you're ready, pm a price on them and the L333's if you're willing to part with them :)