My first spawn...
Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 3:34 pm
After about 4 long years my zebra plecos spawned yesterday sometime and I noticed the eggs in one of the caves this morning.
I had been letting the tank go through a "dry season" cycle for the past 6-8 weeks. Basically I have not been doing any water changes and letting the TDS creep up through evaporation and supplementing a GH Booster (Seachem's RO Right). I actually checked the aquarium last night (before I was aware of the spawn) and the TDS was at 275 and added more RO Right trying to push the TDS close to 400. The plan was to start doing water changes with RO water at the beginning of the year to simulate the rainy season. Apparently that wasn't necessary as neglecting all major maintenance was all it took.
The past several months, the alpha female (Dorothy) had trapped the alpha male (Blackie) in his cave. It is suppose to be the other way around. Yesterday I thought I saw Dorothy trap him again. But what I saw was the beta male (Lloyd) trap Dorothy. The mistake was due to the fact that Lloyd and Dorothy have very similar stripe patterns and are hard to distinguish without seeing their heads. And when one traps another in the cave all you can really see is the one doing the trapping.
Nevertheless, this morning Lloyd was in one of the clay caves guarding a clutch of eggs! I am very excited, but I know this is just a first step. Frequently the first spawn is infertile or the father doesn't know how to keep after the eggs. BUT, it is VERY encouraging they are starting to spawn. I hope this clutch makes it and I have babies in the next several days. At the very least, from what I've read, once the first spawn happens, future spawns are far more common.
The only real difference as of late has been that I started feeding the zebras a very small mix of live foods. I fed blackworms for about a week (several weeks ago) and started feeding grindal worms, as much as my culture would allow. Seriously, I did northing else.
I won't be counting my "chickens" until they hatch, but I am very EXCITED!!! Nearly four years to the day when I got first two baby zebra plecos, I've had my first spawn!
I had been letting the tank go through a "dry season" cycle for the past 6-8 weeks. Basically I have not been doing any water changes and letting the TDS creep up through evaporation and supplementing a GH Booster (Seachem's RO Right). I actually checked the aquarium last night (before I was aware of the spawn) and the TDS was at 275 and added more RO Right trying to push the TDS close to 400. The plan was to start doing water changes with RO water at the beginning of the year to simulate the rainy season. Apparently that wasn't necessary as neglecting all major maintenance was all it took.
The past several months, the alpha female (Dorothy) had trapped the alpha male (Blackie) in his cave. It is suppose to be the other way around. Yesterday I thought I saw Dorothy trap him again. But what I saw was the beta male (Lloyd) trap Dorothy. The mistake was due to the fact that Lloyd and Dorothy have very similar stripe patterns and are hard to distinguish without seeing their heads. And when one traps another in the cave all you can really see is the one doing the trapping.
Nevertheless, this morning Lloyd was in one of the clay caves guarding a clutch of eggs! I am very excited, but I know this is just a first step. Frequently the first spawn is infertile or the father doesn't know how to keep after the eggs. BUT, it is VERY encouraging they are starting to spawn. I hope this clutch makes it and I have babies in the next several days. At the very least, from what I've read, once the first spawn happens, future spawns are far more common.
The only real difference as of late has been that I started feeding the zebras a very small mix of live foods. I fed blackworms for about a week (several weeks ago) and started feeding grindal worms, as much as my culture would allow. Seriously, I did northing else.
I won't be counting my "chickens" until they hatch, but I am very EXCITED!!! Nearly four years to the day when I got first two baby zebra plecos, I've had my first spawn!