what a good day today was

[sheag35]

well i just have had the most pleasant suprise in my fish house, i was out today constructing a centralised air system for the fish house when out of the corner of my eye i spotted something moving, for the last 8 months i had been trying to spawn my L66 with no success :crazy: and today i spotted some 1.5cm fry, all i saw was about 5 fry initally all without egg sacs and grubbing about the tank, then no more than half an hour ago armed with a torch i returned to see if i can see any more, and yes the count is now up to 11, due to the large amounts of plants i can see anymore, but what a start i'm bloody delighted, :woohoo: :lol: they must have hatched approximately a week and a half ago i reckon... the only difference to what i have done is to recently start doing my water changes with rainwater.. have to get the camera out tomorrow and try to get some shots

 

[sasikan]

wow beautiful fish

 

[henkh]

Congratulations. When counting 11 in a heavily planted tank with lots of wood, i guess you have up to 30 swimming around....

 

[sheag35]

my goodness henkh i hope so, i really do... you never see them during the day they only are out at dawn and after dusk, if i have anywhere near 30 i will be absolutely beyond delighted

 

[sheag35]

some pics from my crappy phone so sorry about the quality :tongue:

 

[henkh]

Nevertheless, nice pics! F.e. rule by seeing shrimp in a heavily planted tank is what you see is about 5% of the total amount. With visible fry of shy fish, my own experience is that you can multiplie with 2 - 3. I hope with you. Alway nice to discover the non-expected.

 

[Apistomaster]

Hypancistrus sp L066 usually have large spawns.
30 on the low end and 50 to 60 being pretty usual.
The largest Hypancistrus I breed is L333 and they regularly produce 45 and more fry per spawn. They get about 2/3 to 3/4 as large as L066.
It will be hard for you to get an accurate count without removing all the tank furnishings. Be careful about removing wood because the fry often hide deep within any cracks in the wood. Both Hypancistrus L333 and L066 are pretty easy to raise.
I began using soft water but not anymore. Mine breed fine in tap water with a pH of 7.4, KH 6, GH 7 and TDS of 200 to 300 ppm.
I raise my plecos in almost bare tanks.
Just barely enough substrate to cover the bottom glass, a few spawning caves and sometimes some free float Hornwort or other plants like Water Sprite which do not need to be rooted in a substrate.
It makes it much easier to remove fry.
I use 40 gal breeders and allow the fry to stay in the breeding tank until there are so many they must be thinned. By then the fry can be 1 to 1-1/2 inches and are much easier to catch.

 

[bigbird]

great surprise and nice one cheers jk