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Hello all!

My L-66 are succesfully spawning for the very first time, I'm so excited! They tried once before on March, but there was no eggs that time. Now they tried again last weekend, and I had to check; dad is guarding eggs! This is the first time that my plecs are spawning (except that a few weeks ago two of my Hypancistrus sp. also spawned but luckily it didn't work out = dad ate the eggs, because I'm not sure if they are the same species).

Anyway, now I have king tiger male guarding eggs, but I have a problem with the female. It is constantly trying to get to the cave with the male. I noticed yesterday that the female is trying to disturb the male by pushing him with his mouth. The male drove the female away. Today she tried to get to the cave by using pure force, without success. Half of her body was allready inside, but the male pushed her away!

What should I do? I'm afraid that the female might eat the fry when they come out of the cave?

It happens often for plecos. How many females are there? If you have multiples, there might be a chance that a different female is ready to lay eggs and trying to find her way into the cave while your male is fanning eggs.

I only have 1 male and 1 female in the tank. My guess is that the female is ready to spawn again, at least she looks quite fat. Luckily the male turns out to be quite good dad allthought he is taking care of eggs for the first time. I know the female has spawned before (I bought her from another hobbyist).

Are there other Hypans from another species in the tank? I believe L066 are notorious for hybridising with other females of another species.

It could be your male has spawned with another species and the female is now interested in laying eggs herself. If your female L066 had spawned, it would be another 4 weeks at least before she'd be ready again.

Fingers crossed they are true L066. The male should be able to ward off the female and protect the young.

Mark.

There are no other plecos in the tank, just 1 M ja 1 F L66. These two should definitely both be L66. The other spawning I mentioned happened in a different tank (in a community tank actually; in L66 tank I only have some Caridina shrimps with L66).

Eggs hatched a few days ago, and after that dad has kicked out 2 dead fry. There are still some in the cave, I'm very excited to see what comes out one day!

These came out from the cave yesterday! 22 fry (not all in the picture), and dad still has some in the cave. I'm sooooo happy!

congrats for the spawn

Congrats, great looking fry