I have three Retroculus xinguensis, one male and two females.
Keeping them in a 720 liter aquarium, with lots of flowing water and open areas.
Now... finally, they have began to spawn...
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First time they spawned, the ph was 6,4. At the second (30 days later) it was 7,5(!) Temperature was 28 celsius.
Courtship have began around 10 days before they have initiated spawning. Then they begin to show remarkable colours...
At the spawning site they build two large pits. And then they collect different materials found in the aquarium... small peces of roots, and larger gravel.
They lay around 200-250 eggs. These eggs seems to be really sticky - the egg shield is covered in sand.
Shure must be of some protection.
Then they start to move the eggs from one pit to the other, every 8-10th hour or so.
At night she even hide the eggs by digging them down...
The female will not let the male come too close to the nest the first days. If he is too close she will deliver a bite, - some times even take big chunks of his tail.
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So... they first layed eggs at March 16. And i managed to pick up some before they where all gone. Got 19 pcs, and i putted them in a small tank, with only a airstone, heater, some floating plants, a cuple of rocks, and fine sand. I made a pit in the sand, and placed the eggs not too close to each other. Cuple of them got fungus, but i removed them before they infected the rest.
Had some problems with nitrit at the beginning, and lost several of them.. but i was able sto fix it by adding some bio-balls from a already cycled canister (shuld have done that at the start...). Now, 55 days later, there is 5 left.... At least i have not lost any in the last 27 days. Seems to run stable.
The biggest one is about 1,5 cm long, and the smalles 0,9.
Temperature in the tank is 29 celsius, and the ph is 7,5.
They get artemia-naupiler, and now also some cyclops.
This picture was taken cuple of weeks ago.
I will come back with updates as they grow
Ole
