Loaches Online Forum

Hi All,

At the British LOL meet the subject of gravid hillstream loaches was raised and if they has been seen. As if on cue one of our females did a photo shoot demonstrating just this situation.

Time to meet our model:

This loach was one of the first pair we purchased, she was the bigger of the two loaches at that time and took a dominant position in the tank, that changed after a couple of months as the male asserted himself.

In the image above you see a nice fat loach, sat happily on a Java fern, there is little to give away her state but she does look round for a cheni. Of course under normal circumstances being sat in prime photographing position and the slightest hint of a camera in the location triggers the disappearing loach trick, the fact she stayed still shows something is amiss.


From the rear thing are a little different, there is a definite thickening as the tail joins the abdomen. normally cheni are quite streamlined.

On to the side view:

Woah! where did all that loach come from? You suddenly see all the height involved here, the whole back is arched up above the normal profile and there is a developed bulge next to the anus. I am not sure what this is but both of our breeding females develop this lump before spawning, even so this is far larger than we usually observe. We were getting quite concerned that she was getting egg bound but has now spawned and has lost this bulge. I am trying to get a post-spawning image but now that the eggs have gone the camera phobia is back in full force.

From the other side:

The angle of this shot just about shows the underside of the loach. If you look closely you can clearly see the swollen belly. Yes she is practically rocking on the top of that bogwood.

I have created an album on coppermine which has all these images at full resolution and a few others i wanted to share.

I'll be interested to hear what everyone makes of this.

LES.., these are just fantastic shots!
That female P. cheni sure is a big girl. The protruding area that is visible prior to spawning is very interesting. Does it disappear completely once the eggs have been released?
I had a look through your Coppermine album, and would urge others to do so! The baby P. cheni pics are awesome, particularly the very early ones.

Emma

Great pics, Les!!
That is one fat cheni. Mine have never looked that fat at spawning. The pair I have now like to spawn next to the glass so I get to see the eggs. Its amazing that 12-14 eggs come out of my 1.5" female. It would be interesting to find out how many came out of your big fish.
I have never noticed that anal bulge on any of my fish. Very interesting. Not too pretty, but interesting non the less.
Keep those pics coming. I'll have to get over to coppermine and check out the rest.

Jim Powers wrote:That is one fat cheni. Mine have never looked that fat at spawning.

As i mentioned this is excessive, we are used to seeing both of our breeding cheni with lumps in this area but normally they are much smaller and last only a day or two. Definitely in this case it is not a pretty sight. I would say that, if we see a lump, it would be less than a quarter this size. Also any lump would only really noticeable when the loach is sat with her tail hanging in open water. When suckered onto the glass it appears as an area lacking pigmentation around the anus not as a lump. The poor thing, i don't think she had been shown the action she needed ;-)
The spawning took place out of sight a day or two after i took those images we have no idea how many eggs were involved, but she is looking a lot slimmer now.

Emma Turner wrote:The protruding area that is visible prior to spawning is very interesting. Does it disappear completely once the eggs have been released?

Yes it does disappear after spawning, normally it takes a couple of days.

It was very interesting to see the change in behaviour being this large caused, she was one cranky loach, all too happy to use her new found bulk to become an immovable object when the other loaches tried invade her space. Not to mention the extra momentum she had proved very handy in dislodging anyone who might be sat in a location she fancied. That said when two of the male loaches were facing off in the same location she decided there was nothing of interest to see and would slope off to another part of the tank for a good feed.

Thanks for all the interest :-)

Excellent pictures, Les.

In almost the same position as the last underbelly shot in my original post:

You can just see remains of the lump and how much the profile has changed, much slimmer again.

Another shot from a little closer:


I was lucky to get this shot, just seconds later this big bully turned up to chase her away!


Edited so clicking on the image will take you to the full size version.

What a difference! Fantastic pics as always, LES..

Emma

Great pics...again.

By the way, I checked out your cheni videos. Great stuff! Typical fiesty cheni behavior. What are they eating? We can never see it in the video, but they sure seem to enjoy it.

Difference indeed. Great pictures.

Jim Powers wrote:By the way, I checked out your cheni videos. Great stuff! Typical fiesty cheni behavior. What are they eating?

Hi Jim,

I can't remeber what was in the tank when i took that video but we alternate between Tetra Tabimin, Nutrafin max sinking complete food and freeze dried brine shrimp. They go mad for the brine shrimp which i try to mash into the bogwood you seen in the clip but will still fight off anyone for the other two foods. I must grab another clip, feeding time is even more fun now that the baby loaches are getting in on the act.

LES..