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Spawning Farlowella (Twig Catfish)

17K views 95 replies 16 participants last post by  LisaC144 
#1 ·
I think it is particularly rewarding when fish feel so "at home" that they spawn, particularly when they are a species that are not that prone to spawn in community aquaria. Aunt kymmie had her discus spawn the other week, and that is just what I mean. Today it was my Farlowella, last week the Bolivian Rams [another story for another thread].

I put three Farlowella vittata (Twig Catfish, click on the name to see the profile for info on this fish) in my 90g flooded Amazonian forest setup last year, not knowing if I had male/female in the trio; with my eyesight even a magnifying glass wouldn't allow me to see the "bristles" on the male's snout:lol:. Solely due to their different girths, I had a hunch there were two females and one male. For the past several days one fish has spent a lot of time on the glass beneath the filter spraybar. A bit unusual in itself, since these fish occur in slow-flowing waters and in this aquarium very rarely stay close to the filter flow (which is pretty minimal anyway), although that can be a sign of trouble if they need oxygen. So I kept an eye on the fish, and I thought it looked quite plump.

This morning the pair were on the glass with a clutch of 8 eggs in between; as of a moment ago there are 10 more eggs. I took the attached photos which aren't that good with my cheap camera, but you can see the "plumper" female above and the thinner male below, and the fairly large eggs. I realize now that for the past few days the female has been cleaning the glass in preparation.

The authorities say this is not a particularly difficult fish to spawn, though as noted in the profile feeding the young is tricky. Fry of various fish appear every now and then in this aquarium, though I rarely witness actual spawning routines, since most of these forest fish spawn in the early dawn so it goes unobserved and many scatter eggs in plant thickets; some, like the Nannostomus eques pencilfish deposit them on the underside of leaves and I have several times witnessed that. This is not one of the species that I would have expected to spawn on its own initiative in a large community aquarium.

Byron.
 

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#2 ·
Wow. That is so cool. Their eggs look huge, nearly twice the size of what my discus lay. Thanks for shawing the pics. I know exactly how you feel as far as feeling "rewarded". Your rams also spawned? I think there's some serious Love Potion #9 up there in your Canadian waters...maybe you should start bottling it for sale in the states?
Thanks for posting the pics, they are good quality shots!
 
#3 ·
Congrats on the eggs. Hard to imagine all those eggs coming from that twiggy little fish! Good luck with them and hopefully you'll have some hatch. Are you planning to try to raise any of the fry or do you think they'll get eaten by your other fish?
 
#4 ·
Just now there are 21 eggs, and the female is still quite plump. The male is up on the glass sort of centre, guarding them as he will do. I would expect them to survive to hatching, but then...too many hungry mouths in the tank I would think.

I've had one pencilfish and several tetra fry survive in this tank; they can get sufficient food from zooplankton and remain among the thick plants. These though will be different. Nature will take its course as it always does in my tanks.

Byron.
 
#5 ·
I am always in awe of your tanks. They are so beautiful and this one is no exception. Congrats on having your fish so comfortable that they feel ready to spawn. Those are some very interesting fish. So much to learn, I am so glad I have found this forum. You have been a font of knowledge and I so appreciate your willingness to share it.
 
#7 ·
Thak all for your kind comments.

I just spotted in two of the photos one of the group of Characidium fasciatum [prob. sp] hovering there. Just for the record, it is not pondering the eggs, it is pondering me outside the tank. As noted in our profile, this fish is particularly responsive to the aquarist. Every time I enter the fish room, regardless, all five of them are at the front corner, hovering mid-water or sometimes perched on a plant leaf. They want food of course. Once they have settled into the aquarium, this is one species that you never have to wonder if they are all there, they will instinctively come to the front whenever they see (or hear) you. If I sit there without moving for a spell, and then raise my hand to pick up a glass [won't say of what;-)] they will suddenly twitch around to look, no matter where in the aquariu they are, waiting to see if more movement might happen. Highly inquisitive fish. I wouldn't be surprised if some spawning from them occurs in a few months. I'm fairly certain there are male and female, and the other day I was engaged watching three of the males displaying back and forth, somewhat typical characin fashion, but a little different in this species. They challenge one another, one is obviously dominant and darts at the other, who rolls sideways and flutters, then another enters the match. Fascinating world.
 
#8 ·
Awesome photos! Those really are some gigantic eggs considering the shape of the fish they're coming out of. I almost always let nature take its course in my tanks as well, but I can't help but cheer for the little guys. I hope some make it!

Those darting characin are really cool looking fish. I'll have to keep an eye out for those. I can probably squeeze them in somewhere (especially if I ever get around to reducing the size of this kribensis colony).
 
#9 ·
WOW! And I was thrilled about my Angels...sheesh :roll: . This is incredible Byron. How many eggs did you end up getting in totoal? When those photos were taken, that female looked like she still had a lot left. It will be neat to see if they make it to the free swimming stage. I'm curious to hear how the Farlowella do in protecting their eggs from the other fish. Since they don't swim persay, I wonder if they'll be able to fight off the other fish when they discover the eggs. This will be interesting to follow. Thank you for sharing. I'm looking forward to my own trio of Farlowella in a few weeks or so.
 
#10 ·
Update and Second spawning

It has now been 8 days since the spawning last Monday week, and you can see the darkened eggs that are left. Early this morning, the Farlowella spawned again, or perhaps it was the other female (there are 2 females and one male) and the attached photos show the string of new eggs beside the existing, with the male guarding the nest.

According to all reports I have read, a male will spawn with several females in succession if they are ready, even the same day, and guard the nests. He has done a fair job for a fish that really has no aggressive traits.

By the way, the dark dots to the right of the eggs in the larger photo is green dot algae, for those who despair over this; it is absolutely common in many tanks, and with the eggs on this panel I did not scrape this glass last week during the water change, and this is how quickly it can appear.
 

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#13 ·
Lisa, hatching time is 6-10 days, today is day 8. As for the others, they have slowly disappeared. The male goes over them mouthing them periodically but does not seem to "eat" them. Don't know if other fish do at night, or if they fall off, or hatch. I think they were all fertilized because the dark "dot" turned into a dark line in all that were there and this over the week expanded until the eggs were as they appear now. Can't detect any motion inside them.

onefish2fish, I'm letting nature takes its course so I expect if they do hatch something will eat them, depending when it is. At night the fry might disappear into plants and survive. Fry of various fish in this tank do survive now and then. I wouldn't want to risk shipping, I sent some plants Air Express to California, took over a week and they all died.
 
#15 ·
Quite interesting, to say the least. I'm curious to know if the parents protect their young, or if they are on their own once they are free-swimming.
The reports Ihave read indicate that the male guards the eggs and the fry until they are free swimming. After the eggs hatch, the fry remain to absorb the yolk sac which is about five more days before they are free-swimming. It is very difficult to feed the fry, which need the softest and smallest of plant matter. If some get down among the thick plants, a few might survive.
 
#17 ·
There were two spawnings as you know. The second set of eggs have been developing; yesterday morning when I went in, they were all gone. I've no idea if they all hatched, or (more likely) something got them during the night. Almost 3 weeks there were eggs on the glass with the male guarding them. If they did hatch, the fry presumably would be down among plants somewhere.

Today I noticed a very rotund female on that same glass, with the male close by, so I am thinking another spawning is in the offing.

I also have interesting behaviour among the Characidium fasciatum, one of the fish is very rotund, presumably a female, and "she" has been interacting quite a lot with two of the thinner presumably-male fish. Lots of what I call sparring--very fast darting at each other, spinning around, sidling up, etc.
 
#19 ·
Wow, 3 weeks? That's a long time for eggs. I guess every species is different. Maybe in the coming weeks you'll see small Farlowella. That would be neat. Is the Characidium fasciatum an egg scatterer?
Baensch/Riehl say the eggs will fall among plants and gravel.

There were 2 batches of eggs, so the 3 weeks overlaps; it takes 6-10 days to hatch, and these last eggs that "disappeared" yesterday were the second spawning. The eggs from the first spawning "disappeared" around last Tuesday. Once they hatch, it takes 5 days for the fry to absorb the yolk sac before they are free swimming.
 
#21 ·
Disappeared, which is why I'm inclined to think something ate them.
 
#22 ·
Well, another spawning occurred yesterday. Total of 28 eggs. Here are some photos taken mid way through. There are two females and one male in this tank, so no idea which female, they look identical to me.
 

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#24 ·
Wow, nice shots! You can see how distended with female's belly is. Does the male then come along and fertilize the eggs?
I observed for almost an hour (fell asleep actually:lol:). The female meticulously cleans the glass around the existing eggs, the male periodically comes up from below her, sometimes to her side, there is a bit of twitching of their tails, but I could not see any eggs being deposited. From what I did observe, I believe they deposit and fertilize the eggs simultaneously side by side, in characin fashion as opposed to separately like angelfish.
 
#28 ·
wow!, whiptail's are hard to spawn. Do you have any red whiptails in that tank??
Assuming you mean the fish pictured below, Rineloricaria sp. L010A, no, I've never seen them. I have two other Rineloricaria species in the 115g Amazon riverscape. The fish that spawned are Farlowella.
 

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#29 ·
Update--hatching and another round of spawning

This morning I noticed the Farlowella were again spawning; about a dozen eggs so far. At noon I interrupted the proceedings to do the weekly water changes. The water level of course dropped below the egg clusters on the tank wall, but this has occurred previous weeks and I just splash some water over them a few times so they don't dry.

When the tank refill started, I noticed that about half of the oldest (black) eggs were gone, and they had been there when I started the water change. A group of 4 or 5 tetra were also gathered on that side under the eggs. H'm, I suspected you know what, and I was right.

I found 7 hatched fry hanging on the glass (1 on a plant) and managed to net them and move them into the 10g. With all the plants in there, plus the much smaller fish, they may have a better chance. They require soft plant matter and algae for their first feedings once the yolk sac is absorbed and that is the most likely tank for all that. Having hatched, they will now take 5 days to absorb the yolk sac, according to the spawning reports. Then we'll see.

I tried photos, never expecting any luck with my cheap camera, but--surprised again, they are not bad. This is one of the fry. They are about 5/16 of an inch in length.

Byron.
 

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