I came down into my dungeon-office last night to feed & lock-up, and low&behold a male & female zamora were on their backs side-by-side in the sort of love-lock we see in stingrays & nurse-sharks: "clasper" inserted, white muck excess dribbling (apologies for graphic). Of course a catfish doesn't have claspers per se, but it seems that big/extended first(?) anal fin ray is sperm insertion device, IE: internal fertilization.
Preliminary search (I do have to get to work...) & I'm not finding any mention of internal fertilization nor live-spawning for catfish online, Thoughts?
I've not got space to relocate & wouldn't know which female it was, so I'll be adding way more bamboo leaves this AM to make futher hidy-spot. This seems to have worked for the Columbian tetras in this system, even with the same catfish, clown loach & ABK & a few big MTS marauding about. Not seemed to help the silver-dollars, though...
This level of parental investment suggests either huge, well developed eggs, guarding eggs or live birth - but, again, not seeing anything near this in the online articles/literature. Me, I'm crossing-fingers for live birth, though not holding breath.
Sorry, no pictures - phone was in the main house & work-camera's on the fritz...
Preliminary search (I do have to get to work...) & I'm not finding any mention of internal fertilization nor live-spawning for catfish online, Thoughts?
I've not got space to relocate & wouldn't know which female it was, so I'll be adding way more bamboo leaves this AM to make futher hidy-spot. This seems to have worked for the Columbian tetras in this system, even with the same catfish, clown loach & ABK & a few big MTS marauding about. Not seemed to help the silver-dollars, though...
This level of parental investment suggests either huge, well developed eggs, guarding eggs or live birth - but, again, not seeing anything near this in the online articles/literature. Me, I'm crossing-fingers for live birth, though not holding breath.
Sorry, no pictures - phone was in the main house & work-camera's on the fritz...