2manytanks Posted June 19, 2006 Report Share Posted June 19, 2006 I'm all excited, I'm having my first experience with baby fish. A couple of days ago my wife said she thought our 2 Otocinclus were spawning so I took a look yesterday - sure enough, so I grabbed the video camera and started taping it. Today the female is half the size she was and their bahaviour was back to normal so i started taking a close look to try and find some eggs - no luck. But then I noticed some movement in the water - and the closer I looked the more I saw, they must have started laying a day or two before we even noticed because the water and sides of the tank are just crawling with miniscule little fry, just big enough to make out. I had read that I could expect about 60 offspring, but no way that is right. The eggs are so small I couldn't even see any, and judging by the amount of weight the female lost there were probably thousands. And watching the tank now it appears there are easily hundreds of little fry in there right now, and since they just finished laying yesterday there must be more to come. I have tried to scavenge as much plant material and algae bearing rocks, wood and fake plants from other tanks that I can for them to feed on and have whipped up some brocolli mush for them. I disconnected the filter as I believe they are too small for even sponge to filter them out for now. The only other inhabitant of that tank will get moved out tomorrow. The water is in good shape so I'll probably wait a couple more days before I start doing a slow drip water change. Oh, I taped the fry too, little spots that they are right now, I'm going to try and post video of the spawning and the fry tomorrow or Tuesday. Anybody have any advice for me? Thanks, Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wandj Posted June 19, 2006 Report Share Posted June 19, 2006 WOW! No advice, sorry. But do you know how hard those are to spawn? They won't spawn in my water and I've havee Ottos for years. You must be doing something they like. And if you can raise the fry you will have no trouble finding homes for them no matter how many there are. (Sell to LFS) Maybe you can keep them breeding. You are the first I've heard of. You should post water chemistry, temp, etc. and what you did to cause this. If you are an aquarium club member you should write an article. And congrats! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted June 19, 2006 Report Share Posted June 19, 2006 Without filtration, I'd be doing at least 50% WCs each week. Really, I'd hook up the sponge. The little guys will likely stay away if the current is too much. Also, they'll eat a lot of the little grublies that live on the sponge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2manytanks Posted June 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 Thanks Wandj and Jason. I've already done a partial water change, about 20%, i fidure I'll just keep monitoring the water quality and change it as required, daily if need be. I have water ageing for it all the time. I wanted to share my video with you, there's one of the parents doing their thing and another of the young ones. These links are for some pretty large but pretty good quality video, so anyone on dial-up may not want to use them, and they will take about a minute to load before playing. I'll try and put some more compact versions on Photobucket tomorrow. Otocinclus breeding Babies? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 Those videos are amazing :bow: Thanks for sharing them, they are very well done. Man, I have never seen a Oto that fat. It looks like she swallowed a marble :shock: This fry are so tiny, i'm amazed you could even pick them up on the camera. So are you planning on keeping and growing them out in the main tank? Please post some info about this tank and anything you migh thave did to get this to happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatpuffer Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 Is your puffer in freshwater? GSP are brac-marine puffs, but you probably knew that already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madattiver Posted July 7, 2006 Report Share Posted July 7, 2006 any updates for us on the fry??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGr8Blade Posted July 8, 2006 Report Share Posted July 8, 2006 That is some amazing footage. I like the way the puffer came in for a closer look. HOLY she is a fat one. That is truly amazing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2manytanks Posted July 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2006 (edited) Is your puffer in freshwater? GSP are brac-marine puffs, but you probably knew that already. Sorry I've taken so long to reply, you know how it goes. Anyways, the water is a bit brackish, I've been useing about 1 tsp per gallon in it so far, 1/2 aquarium salt and 1/2 sea salt. I was concerned about the oto's in that mix, but I guess by this turn of events they obviously don't mind the water. I went out and bought a new tank for Puffy - way too big (44g) and was thinking of getting some more brackish water fish and making a real brackish tank. But of course, you know how long that lasted - as soon as the tank was cycled it suddenly had a pair of tropheus duboisi in it. So now I have to get another tank to put the puffer in. Like I have time for an 8th tank. :boxed: Edited July 8, 2006 by 2manytanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2manytanks Posted July 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2006 any updates for us on the fry??? Thanks for asking. They seem to be doing great, they're still in there in huge numbers. I know they're growing but it seems so slow it's hard to see the progress. I'd guess that most of them have doubled or quadrupled their size - I saw one last night that just shocked me by how big he is compared to the others. They're big enough now that you can see more of a fish shape to them with the naked eye. I've been giving them 20% water changes from every day to every 2nd day since I still have the filter shut down in the tank and it's working out better than I'd hoped. I was kinda worried I'd be killing some babies by siphoning them out and throwing them down the drain when I did the water changes ( what a sap huh? )so I've been pouring the old water in to the other tanks when I change it. It payed off though and I've seen some of the babies in at least one of the other tanks. Besides the algae, plants and driftwood in the tank, I've been feeding them about 1/4 teaspoon of brocolli puree every day. So I'm still hoping to raise a good number of them to be viable fish, then I hope I can find enough homes for them. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatpuffer Posted July 8, 2006 Report Share Posted July 8, 2006 A 30 gallon tank would be perfect for a solitary gsp. You can turn it into marine and add some inverts...well at least mine never bothered them. THe amount of salt you add would probably not even register in a hydrometer. Your water is not at all brackish. Light brackish is about 1.005 (good for Figure Eights) and Higher brac-marine would be gsp and ceylon puffers. Good luck with the ottos and gsp! Js P>S> Dont leave the gsp in a 5 gallon for too long now eh! Js P.S.S. I will take some babies from you when they are ready. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
windeindoiel Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 Update on the little babies? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 Any updates? Did the babies survive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Chicklets Posted January 6, 2007 Report Share Posted January 6, 2007 That is so cool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lilwolfe Posted January 6, 2007 Report Share Posted January 6, 2007 I would gladly take a few off your hands when they get big enough. The otos seem to be the only kind of fish my husband really likes. We only have three out of the five we had before, we lost two when my 35 gallon decided to pretend it was niagra falls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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