Breeding Weather Loaches - pic heavy

[hypnoticmonki]

Hiya, newbie to the forum ....had to find a forum to share my story. I have had my first weather loach for over two years and my second loach for one year. They have lived happily in an aquarium together for the past year, i also have 9 minnows, 1 plec and a shrimp (came free in the minnow bag - cant complain). We have recently moved some goldfish out of the tank, into their own and decided to do a water change. We did this recently and put the loaches/plec back in, slightly colder than normal, however i came down this morning to find eggs all over the tank, stuck to plants, the sides, heater etc etc I was astounded and very pleased. My loaches are so clever and my fella for getting the conditions just right, they have successfully mated. I am sad i missed the ritual taking place, but have taken pictures to document from now. I am hoping we have baby loaches in no time, and have taken preventative steps, towards Best (plec) eating them all. I do have 3 questions, 1..what colour should the eggs be if they are successfully fertilized as some are still opaque yet some have turned slightly blue....and 2..has anyone else done this successfully.....and 3.. how long do they take to hatch, conflict research says 3-5 days then 36 hours ?? Seems i have a knack, as i had 1 African Land Snail and that bred with itself, meaning we ended up with 33, still happily growing babies. Any thoughts, advice, questions, comment etc would be more than welcome...I have included some pictures of the eggs and tank

Thanks

Jayne


The one on the right is my first loach and is the female

My free shrimp

Close up - awesome picture, shows eggs

Best :0)

Eggs

Still need to add to it yet, more plants and fish, once i know the outcome of the baby loaches

Lots of eggs, lets hope we have babies soon

[DainBramage1991]

Very cool!

You might want to put a sponge over the filter inlet to keep it from sucking up the little ones.

Please keep us updated.

[hypnoticmonki]

After staying up very late last night, watching the eggs as i was curious as to when they do hatch..i saw one in particular that was attached to the glass. It seems the eggs are opaque with a small white blob inside, these i now know are the fertilized eggs and the ones with nothing inside are unfertilized. This one particular egg had a very small but still visible opaque line coming from it. I have checked again this morning and no line, just an empty egg. There are a few empty eggs now which i am sure weren't empty last night (I looked enough). We may have hatched some fry already So pleased. I shall let you know once/if they appear, inc pictures etc.

[hypnoticmonki]

have heeded the sponge advice, thank you

[hypnoticmonki]

Hi all, well this had been an adventure....I didnt have a loach hatch within 36hrs, that was just me being overexcited however, night i noticed a considerable difference within the eggs. Some had gone white and furry, which were unfertilized, however some remained see through and you can actually see the baby fry, inside the egg...awesome I was on here to update you last night and my fella shouted me, he a spotted a live one !!! after observing for a while, we saw 4 but sadly so did the minnows, fresh food hmmp, was miffed to say the least....We have now stuck a pint glass over an egg cluster on a little tree and when awaking this morning we had over 20 little ones, swimming around the pint We now need to figure out how to feed them, but the fella clever, he will suss it. Pictures below

Thanks for reading my story, updates will follow.


White eggs are unfertilized, but you can clearly see the fry ready to hatch


Baby fry

Lots of baby fry

[Dojosmama]

First, congratulations!

My advice is to remove all, and I mean ALL other fish (even the minnows) from the tank, and also the shrimp, so there's nothing in there that can prey on the eggs or fry when they hatch.

I don't know if dojo parents eat their own fry, but once they hatch, you might want to either remove the parents or partition off the tank they're in and capture as many of the fry as possible on one side of the partition while leaving the parents on the other side, just as a precaution.

Obtain fry food from your LFS and administer it to the fry with an eyedropper. They'll need lots and lots to eat. Of course, you'll also want to continue feeding the parents and (now relocated) other fish and shrimp.

Some others here might have additional advice about maintaining a separate fry tank, which might be your best way to go.

First and foremost, remove potential predators.

And again, congrats! It isn't easy to breed weather loaches.

--Dojosmama

[hypnoticmonki]

Thanks for the advice I went and bought a net house, we fashioned a base and have successfully saved ten or so, fry, sadly they were escaping out of the glass and i didnt have the equipment needed to house the other fish in time. However i am pleased we have saved some and hopefully they will grow happy and healthy now

[Dojosmama]

Now you'll need to focus on feeding them properly, and keeping their environment clean and well maintained.

Dojos, both fry and adults, are notorious escape artists. All tanks in which they reside should have tight lids on them, and all openings in the top, such as those surrounding equipment, should be sealed off with duct tape. Even if the openings look too small for them to escape through, dojos will manage to get out, somehow. Especially baby dojos, but the big ones can, too.

Much success with this. And please continue to keep us posted.

-- Dojosmama