| Aspidoras Fuscoguttatus By Joan Davidson I was very interested to read the article on Aspidoras Fuscoguttatus By Russell Lee. I purchased some Aspidoras about six months ago, they were sold as Aspidoras lakoi?, but as I do not know of any book that tells the difference, and they look like two fish purchased three years ago as A. fuscoguttatus I am not sure if they are one and the same. The pair of fish were placed in a four foot community tank with characins, Corydoras robinae, Sturisoma panamense and Corydoras macropterus. The tank is filtered by two Rena internal power filters, one in each back corner. The pH is 7.0 and the temperature is 76f . The fish were fed a varied diet with a good bit of live tubifex. The fish grew well and the female took on a pinky glow in her body. The first I knew of a spawning was when, removing the filter for cleaning, I put my hands on something. It was a batch of eggs. They were obviously Aspidoras eggs, being smaller than Corydoras and having seen them before when the other Aspidoras fuscoguttatus spawned {They did three times but there were no viable eggs). The few remaining eggs were placed in a live food sieve and placed under a sponge filter, so the water flowed over the eggs. Only four eggs hatched, two died in the first week, and the other two I put into a furnished tank with a batch of young C.adolfoi. They grew at an alarming rate, soon overtaking the C.adolfoi who were several weeks older. Meanwhile, the Aspidoras spawned again, four weeks after the first lot. The eggs were again laid on the power filter. They were removed after 24hrs and hatched the same way as before. The fry hatched after 72 hrs, as usual being short of room, I had to put them in with some 2 week old C.barbatus fry. There were 18 fry, they hatched on the 10th of September 1989, in 36 hrs they were taking newly hatched brineshrimp. They are greedy feeders, grow quickly and are tough, not one of that batch as died. The Adults spawned again in the same place on the 1st of October 1989. There are about 32 fry this time and they are growing well, and would you believe it , they spawned again yesterday, the 13th of October 1989. I have never actually seen them spawn, they always do it during the day when I'm at work. The eggs of both pairs have always been laid in one tight group, starting clear and the fertile ones going amber. Although I have read that Aspidoras eat their eggs, (I have read that they are avid egg eaters too - Andy) none of mine have taken any notice of them once spawning is over. It seems to be as with most of the Callichthyidae family, that once the fish start breeding, stopping them without splitting up the pair seems to be a problem. Back To Species Selection |
