# Spawning triggers



## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

for the past few weeks things have been a little crazy in our fishroom..we have 3 pairs of bushynose plecos...one pair are long fins..male is brown and female is albino..another pair is the same except they are standard fins..the other pair are both albino..the albino pair are about a year and a half old and we have been trying to get them to breed for the past 9 months..nothing..then about 4 or 5 weeks ago they finally spawned..as soon as the male let the fry out of the cave they spawned again..and as soon as those fry were released they spawned again...this batch should be out of the cave in about 4 or 5 days at most..the day after the albino pair spawned , the longfin pair spawned..and then yesterday the other pair spawned...
now....while all of this is going on our red lizard cats started spawning...so far 3 times..but the male has eaten the eggs each time...last night he was in the cave with another female getting ready to spawn again...

and then there are the Sturisomatichthys Leightoni...Dwarf Royal Farlowellas..
we have 1 male and 4 females...we used to have them in a 10 gallon tank and they would spawn every now and then but have never been able to keep the fry alive..not hard to get them to spawn...almost impossible to keep fry alive..but lately they have been going crazy...one spawn after the other..they always lay the eggs on the front glass of their 20 high..as soon as one clutch hatches there is another within a day or two..the females just wait in line for their turn...the day before yesterday 1 clutch started hatching..when a few of them hatched there was another clutch of fresh eggs...and last night the wife and i watched another female come and they started to lay another clutch...we took a bunch of pics and some video so i'll try to see if i can get them posted soon..and as we were watching the pair spawn i was also looking at the other females...2 of them are already filing with eggs....actually i am a bit worried that these 4 females are going to work that poor lonely male to death...we made some changes in the tank and have formulated a new fry food and it seems to be working so far...the first batch of fry are almost 3 weeks old and are a bit more active than they used to be and they are also growing pretty fast...we will know for sure if this works in a few weeks...
these are very rarely seen fish in the hobby..i find them to be fascinating and watching them spawn is amazing....

so why all of the crazy spawning activity ?? what triggers fish to spawn ?? well...most of it has to do with the weather...when there is a change in the barometric pressure it triggers spawning...another trigger comes from the fishkeeper....for almost all catfish and plecos , i have found that when they are kept warm and well fed with the proper foods they will fatten up will soon be primed for breeding...doing a 30-50% water change and dropping the tank temp about 8-10 degrees can send them into a spawning frenzy...
a big mistake that i often see is that people will try to breed their fish without having the proper foods for the adults as well as not having the proper foods for the fry..fry need much different nutrition than adults... fry need foods that are higher in protein and fats....most of the commercial food manufacturers do not really make a formula that provides the optimum nutrition for new fry...and therein lies the difference in fast growth and good health along with low mortality rates in fry..

oh yeah...the odessa barbs are also going nuts and are all colored up...and the angels just keep laying eggs...and the brichardi keep spawning..probably 150 fry in the tank now...
egads.....i need a bigger fishroom..


----------



## Pleco (Sep 22, 2012)

Yes you probably need more space, with all the new fry.

Pretty overwhelming, I've never really seen spawns but I woke up one day and there were little baby mollies in my tank. lol

Maybe use your 10 gallons with stale air...


----------



## ZebraDanio12 (Jun 17, 2011)

Geez, lots of new fry. Congratz. Sounds really cool.

Have you bred curviceps? I just got a mated pair and can't wait for them to spawn.


----------



## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

actually i had kept curviceps but only briefly and never did breed them...they are pretty much the standard cichlid style breeder...and are usually very good parents..


----------



## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Nice! 
I wish I had such problems.


----------



## PuterChickFL (Feb 23, 2010)

i need some triggers for my angels. they just do it whenever. I thought I had them figured out but it just happens. I've got empty 10 gallons waiting for new spawns


----------



## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

ok...for starters they need to be primed...a good high protein , high fat food is needed for that....foods like Plecocaine,earthworm flake,brine shrimp flake and the like will work well...
set temp at 82 degrees..
feed them 3-4 times a day for 1 week..
do a 30-40% water change with the new water being about 2-3 degrees cooler...
once they spawn and you pull the slate feed them spirulina flake that and the next day...
then back to the priming routine..
it might take them a couple of weeks to get going ; but i have found this to work quite well..
while i am no expert at this , at one time i did breed angels...at almost any given time you could come into my basement and find 5000-10,000 angel fry swimming around....


----------



## PuterChickFL (Feb 23, 2010)

my "routine" is getting them going with bloodworms. Always has worked, but may need to switch it up. They ate my free swimmers around Thanksgiving and didnt spawn again until a couple of weeks ago. The eggs lasted two days. Nothing yet. I got some more angels on the way to me, so I need to do what I said I was gonna do.....set up my other 44 gallon for the breeding pair. I just havent broken it down yet!


----------



## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Well, I'd blame the tornado for the Cutteri fry if I hadn't seen them free-swimming before it went by. If you want babies, go to fish club and buy a "breeding group" for $1. The lower the price, the easier a fish is to breed.

Everyone needs a bigger fishroom.


----------



## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

it is getting crazy here...the dwarf royals are continuously spawning..literally almost nonstop.....the tank is swarming with fry...we want to move them but they are too delicate...will be moving the 5 adults in a day or two..5 small 4 1/2" fish in a 40 long...lol
the red lizards keep spawning but the male keeps eating the eggs after about 4 days...the 3 pairs of big angels keep spawning in the 125..all of the calvus (chaitika white,black congo,and inkfins),neo.pulcher ,neo. brichardi,odessa barbs,bushynose plecos,of course the guppies and now the cories and aspidoras are starting...

and it is most likely because of this huge cold front and snow storms that just moved through the area...my tanks are getting too crowded to hold all of the fish....
i will be starting to take down several 10s and moving 3 40 longs onto the 10 rack and then replacing the 40s with 55s...i will also have to sell the 12" butterfly koi to open up his 40 breeder..
now ; if only our tetras would start spawning...or at least allow their eggs and fry to live...


----------



## weedkiller (Nov 18, 2012)

admit it... you have been adding Viagra into their food haven't you


----------



## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

i think it's the Plecocaine........


----------



## weedkiller (Nov 18, 2012)

feel a new advert coming on.....
Plecocaine... Viagra for fish


----------



## C. King (Dec 14, 2012)

Ha! Ha! "plecocaine, viagra for fish!" ...wait...didn't I just start feeding plecocaine to MY fish, who are in an itty bitty twenty gallon? ooooh noooooooo!


----------



## ZebraDanio12 (Jun 17, 2011)

Thats awesome loha! I'm getting attention from my fish now too! Curviceps and Rams both showing signs!

Btw, I never see you sell on aquabid. Do you sell locally? Just curious.


----------



## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

i have been selling on aquabid for years...foods section....pellets....seller , lohachata...
at the moment i think my feedback is at 578 with a 100% positive rating..


----------



## ZebraDanio12 (Jun 17, 2011)

Yes, i ment with fish. Ive seen you sell food


----------



## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

oh....fish.....only rarely...but i do sell to folks around the country that know me and locally as well...have mostly done wholesale type sales..it allows me to sell of a large number of fish at one time...that is what i will be doing with all of the plecos i am breeding...and very often i will trade them for new stock for breeding..


----------



## ZebraDanio12 (Jun 17, 2011)

lohachata said:


> oh....fish.....only rarely...but i do sell to folks around the country that know me and locally as well...have mostly done wholesale type sales..it allows me to sell of a large number of fish at one time...that is what i will be doing with all of the plecos i am breeding...and very often i will trade them for new stock for breeding..


Ahh, cool. How many differen't types of fish do you even have. I can't imagine keeping up with all those fish.


----------



## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

not really sure as we haven't actually counted...maybe 40 or so species.....maybe a little less...
we will be looking to get in a couple more species of altolamprologus..a couple more farlowella and sturisoma..several more cories and aspidoras..and probably a few more killies..


----------



## ZebraDanio12 (Jun 17, 2011)

lohachata said:


> not really sure as we haven't actually counted...maybe 40 or so species.....maybe a little less...
> we will be looking to get in a couple more species of altolamprologus..a couple more farlowella and sturisoma..several more cories and aspidoras..and probably a few more killies..


Still don't know how you handle all them! But fish are an addicting hobby.


----------



## PuterChickFL (Feb 23, 2010)

i'm so confused. got a second pair now. ate the eggs after two days, but i'm ready to pull them next time. the male in this pair is vicious. he has everyone scared, even the first dominant male.

these angels are giving me gray hair (well not really, but it's easier to blame them than age lol)


----------

