Videos: Heros notatus breeding

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
peathenster

peathenster

Bronze Tier VIP
MFK Member
Nov 26, 2008
5,794
255
896
Georgia, US
I thought I'd post a video log (not to be confused with a diary ;)). They are supposed to be mouth brooders so I guess I might expect similar things to the H. severus pair that I bred before....well who knows. So far so good, but I don't know how far they can go with their first attempt.

Will update as often as I can with new developments, so check back for more :)

1. Nov. 24th - got 5 H. notatus two weeks ago from Wetspotcx (wild Guyana), which turned out to be 2m/3f. They are in a 55g QT tank.

- The largest female soon paired up with the largest male and took over the left half of the tank.
- A few days later the other male paired up with one of the remaining females and claimed the right half of the tank.
- The lone female got caught in the middle and was forced to stay near the surface. I took her out later.

2. Dec. 6th - the courting activity became very obvious between the larger pairs. I suspected that they were up to something...
[YT]<object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/eSHubLOe6yc&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/eSHubLOe6yc&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>[/YT]

3. Dec. 9th - I had been doing 10-20% daily WC on the tank, but decided to do a 50% this time. Finished around 5:30pm...by 7:30 both pair laid egges :D

- The good: the larger pair laid a ton of eggs and did a good job protecting/fanning them. You can also see the smaller pair around the 1 minute mark.
[YT]<object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9azTYjTqE0Q&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9azTYjTqE0Q&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>[/YT]

- The bad: the smaller male ate all the eggs that the smaller female laid. May take a few more tries before they can get it right. You can see the female trying to stop the male from eating the eggs but...poor thing.
[YT]<object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mc4fDcIfkNY&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mc4fDcIfkNY&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>[/YT]

Eggs from the larger pair still looked good this morning. Both parents were fanning them. To be continued ;)
 
peathenster;3691536; said:
Thanks. I was hoping they'd grow some more before they spawn....
Click to expand...

Is that actually factual that it slows growth? My spawning pair of cuban cichlids still grew, but of course that was my first pair of them so I had no comparisons as far as rate.

Another question for you is how, with your setup, would you prevent them from doing so?
 
hey congrats....I hope mine get jiggy!!


Rod
 
Very nice. The more I look at your pics and videos, the more I think my fish from John is a female. She has spotting and a pretty yellow chest, but there are no spots on her face like that. Just some lines on her cheeks.

I'd never heard that notatus were mouthbrooders. That's interesting. I thought only the severus did it.

I hope your pair of notatus turns out to be as protective as my efasciatus were on their first try a couple weeks ago -- they had free-swimmers in their 55 gallon quarantine tank. I pulled the ones that my angelfish didn't get to and have about 12 left.
 
jworth;3691818; said:
Is that actually factual that it slows growth? My spawning pair of cuban cichlids still grew, but of course that was my first pair of them so I had no comparisons as far as rate.

Another question for you is how, with your setup, would you prevent them from doing so?
Click to expand...

Good questions. I myself don't have any evidence that growth slows down after they breed...just a general statement from many people. I guess we might be able to find out :)

Prevent them from breeding? I suppose I could throw them into the busy big tank :)

Scubarod;3691981; said:
hey congrats....I hope mine get jiggy!!


Rod
Click to expand...

Thanks! Music and candlelight helps :D

ryansmith83;3692259; said:
Very nice. The more I look at your pics and videos, the more I think my fish from John is a female. She has spotting and a pretty yellow chest, but there are no spots on her face like that. Just some lines on her cheeks.

I'd never heard that notatus were mouthbrooders. That's interesting. I thought only the severus did it.

I hope your pair of notatus turns out to be as protective as my efasciatus were on their first try a couple weeks ago -- they had free-swimmers in their 55 gallon quarantine tank. I pulled the ones that my angelfish didn't get to and have about 12 left.
Click to expand...

hmmm....I don't know where I got the idea from....am probably wrong again. Anybody had any experience? My H. severus picked up the larvae about 2 days after spawning, so either way we should find out this weekend.

Looks like JD is the only one I know of with extra males....unfortunately he also has a big SA pond!

Over 30 hours now and eggs still look good - a few white ones but most are yellow. Parents are doing a good job so far. Very protective in terms of keeping the other pair away. If they turn out to be regular substrate spawners I'll take the other pair out.
 
peathenster;3692300; said:
Good questions. I myself don't have any evidence that growth slows down after they breed...just a general statement from many people. I guess we might be able to find out :)

Prevent them from breeding? I suppose I could throw them into the busy big tank :)



Thanks! Music and candlelight helps :D



hmmm....I don't know where I got the idea from....am probably wrong again. Anybody had any experience? My H. severus picked up the larvae about 2 days after spawning, so either way we should find out this weekend.

Looks like JD is the only one I know of with extra males....unfortunately he also has a big SA pond!

Over 30 hours now and eggs still look good - a few white ones but most are yellow. Parents are doing a good job so far. Very protective in terms of keeping the other pair away. If they turn out to be regular substrate spawners I'll take the other pair out.
Click to expand...

They should be substrate spawners from what I have read Peter. Granted I haven't whitnessed it first hand so you will know for sure shortly. Only the H. atabopo's are known mouth brooders. I'm sure there are a couple more that are not in the hobby though.

They look good!! I would move the extra pair to 300g. Notatus are supposed to be pretty aggressive breeders so the other pair might be in trouble once the fry start swimming.
 
4. Dec. 10th. 24hr after spawning. Eggs look good. Parents doing a good job fanning/protecting eggs. The other pair are forced to stay in the upper right corner most of the time, but have suffered no serious damage.

[YT]<object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/sgL1IOQ6b98&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sgL1IOQ6b98&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>[/YT]

jgentry;3692545; said:
They should be substrate spawners from what I have read Peter. Granted I haven't whitnessed it first hand so you will know for sure shortly. Only the H. atabopo's are known mouth brooders. I'm sure there are a couple more that are not in the hobby though.

They look good!! I would move the extra pair to 300g. Notatus are supposed to be pretty aggressive breeders so the other pair might be in trouble once the fry start swimming.
Click to expand...

Cool! I stand corrected then. I guess I'll see the little ones sooner :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom