Think my L46 just spawned and need help on raising fries!

[weng0202]

In the afternoon, I noticed 2 round things appeared in the tank containing my L46. On closer look, they were eggs! The dad must have kicked them out. Shined my torch at the cave but the dad covered up very well. I'm gonna wait for a few more days before I harvest them from the cave. Hope to see at least a few fries. Finally started after waiting for a few months. I was thinking why the pellets were not eaten, must be busy trapping the female so only the other 2 zebras ate the food. It appears to be the beta male who did the trapping. Alpha still no action.

[weng0202]

Hi all,

Currently I have 3 species of plecos, L340, L201 and L46. All three species have started breeding for me, the most recent is L46.

The L340 fries are really giving me a tough time. I have mass deaths of unknown nature, at least, not known to me. Sometimes its fungi infection, other times they just drop dead. And the interesting thing is, some of these fries are already a couple of months to three months old when they suddenly die. I have lost several batches of fries because of this sudden death syndrome. I tried keeping the fries in the adult tank for a month or so before transferring to a bigger tank but it failed. I also tried transferring them to a new tank immediately after they hatch and all end up the same way. I recently started the drip method of introducing fresh water (Not direct from tap) into the tank so that there is continuous change of water but it didn't work. They will mysteriously start to die after a few months. And some are almost 1 inch before they pass on. I'm really discouraged by this...

My first batch of L201 fries also didn't make it because they were in the same tank as the L340 and all died together. I will put the current batch into another tank when the eggs hatch and see how it goes.

Now with the L46 starting to breed, I hope to get as much info as possible to raise them up with as few deaths as possible. Any advice on what I can do? Should I keep the fries in the same tank as the adults and release them from the floating traps when they start to feed or transfer them to a separate tank?

Also, what food do you guys give to the fries? I'm feeding them the lionhead sinking pellets from Hikari. Could this diet of just pellets be the cause of the deaths? The adults have no problems with this food though.

Any advice and help is much appreciated!

[FuEl]

Do you quarantine your broodstock? Probably disease of some sort in which your adults tolerate it better. Maybe flukes? Try hatching the eggs separately in a sterile container. Raise the fries in a new tank. If they are fine you probably will have to end up disinfecting all your other tanks, bleach the tanks if need be.

[Savant]

What is your setup like? Is it possible that with your new fries, your tank bioload is increased substantially resulting in a deterioration of your water quality and fries being more vulnerable are the first to go?

I used to keep my fry together with the adults in fry traps. Advantage is that you can monitor them closely, remove any uneaten food and share relatively stable water.

[weng0202]

Do you quarantine your broodstock? Probably disease of some sort in which your adults tolerate it better. Maybe flukes? Try hatching the eggs separately in a sterile container. Raise the fries in a new tank. If they are fine you probably will have to end up disinfecting all your other tanks, bleach the tanks if need be.

I didn't quarantine the broodstock. I do not notice any diseases on them as they have been with me for quite some time. If its diseases, shouldn't the fries be more vulnerable when they are hatched?

[weng0202]

What is your setup like? Is it possible that with your new fries, your tank bioload is increased substantially resulting in a deterioration of your water quality and fries being more vulnerable are the first to go?

I used to keep my fry together with the adults in fry traps. Advantage is that you can monitor them closely, remove any uneaten food and share relatively stable water.

Basically I've tried a few setups. One was using a 4ft tank with the normal OHF tray connected to a internal pump. I also tried a 4ft tank without pump, only sponge filter and dripping system for introducing water and there are lots of java moss in the tank.

I will try keeping the fries in the trap and separate the brood into 2 and introduce them to the main tank and another tank to see the effects. Some of the L340 fries survived, and they appear to be the newer batch.

I also noticed leftover food grew fungus very quickly inside the tank. Maybe I have some fungi infection. Any ideas on how to compete with that? Will a UV filter help?

[soltari007]

It depends on the vitality of the fish as well, I had 50 L600 fries together with 11 L46 fries, all the L600 fries died but the L46 fries all made it. Same conditions, vastly different results.

[weng0202]

So it could be the fries which are the problem itself? I will continue to monitor the situation. I just cannot understand why they just die off without warning, like sudden death syndrome in some fishes.