Breeding Ornates

[Shopko]

Here I go again..... found 11 fry left in my Polypterus ornatipinnis tank on 29 Jan 13. Transferred fry to 10 gal tank; 9 still alive. Smallest fry=4mm, largest=2cm. This is the 6th known spawning of my two Ornates. The male is 42cm (16.5in) and female is 38cm(~15in) long.

Tank set up:30 gal breeder tank. 1in grave/sand mix. 4 plastic plants (the ball type that look like a chia pet that has a heavy base...these things move around, but stay on bottom and are good place for eggs/fry). Log decor that the ornates hid/hang out in. Filter - one HOT Magnum and one Penguin with Biowheel. Water conditions: PH = 7.5 NO3= 20ppm NO2=0 NH4=0 KH=120 GH=30 Temp average approx 76F (~25C). I still water change 25% every month.

Have been having problems rearing Fry. Last spawning (July12) - all died within 4 weeks. Will keep you posted.

Here are some images:

 

[Rockbass6]

Congrats on the hatch.

 

[Shopko]

Thanks! Keep fingers crossed on the fry surviving. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Rockbass6]

What are you feeding? i feed sinking gold and chopped shrimp in the winter time. And advice would be to try and limit stress as much as you can, light is dim, and room doesn't look busy which is good.

 

[Mount_Prion]

That's pretty awesome. Supposed to be somewhat rare for these to spawn, no?

 

[rocky2]

congrats bro

 

[fwprawn]

That's awesome! Sounds like maybe you need to find something that the fry will eat more of ? Did they just happen to breed one day, or did you figure out how to pair them up?

 

[Shopko]

Good comments. Thanks! For food, I have Spectrum New Life Small fish formula. But I offset with live Daphnia I collected from a horse trough and have kept going in a small tank, just in case I have some fry to feed. I have been experimenting for years on getting either my Ornates (Polypterus ornatipinnis) or Rope fish (Erpetoichthys calabaricus) to spawn. Sexing is important (no dah...but can be hard if you don't know what you are looking for). I have researched their environments in the wild and tried to simulate it the best I could. I still have not seen spawning acitivity with my ropes. But the defining moment with my ornates was when they grew over 12 inches. Size matters! My Ornates are over 5 years old and 15-16 inches. A technique I use is to let water quality go down a bit, skip a water change to simulate a dry season. Then do a 50% changea and feed them well, to simulate the rainy season (and usually their spawning times). Its been working with my Ornates.

 

[fwprawn]

I can see that!
Is it known what the fry eat in the wild ? Have you tried using worms ? My guess is that something softer would be more palpatable to the fry.

 

[bottles]

Congrats. Keep us posted