# L10a spawning



## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Well, the picture is horrible, but I promised I would start a thread here. I just checked the cave with the flashlight and the eggs which I thought were snail eggs are being guarded by a male. The little cave floor was full of eggs.

Here's pic which is terrible, but the male keeps moving around and he essentially fills the cave and it's a very dimly lit tank with Subwassertang all over and I was trying not to startle him too much shooting the pic with one hand and the flashlight in the other.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

In case you guys are wondering, where the heck are the eggs, it's the translucent spheres, 2 of which are visible outside the cave.


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## Claudia (Apr 21, 2010)

I c one egg thats awesome, i like whiptails as well as plecos  Congratz!!


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Claudia said:


> I c one egg thats awesome, i like whiptails as well as plecos  Congratz!!


Thanks. The reason you like whiptails is because they ARE plecos.


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## Claudia (Apr 21, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> Thanks. The reason you like whiptails is because they ARE plecos.


well yeah but they are different looking tho


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## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

Are those the L10a's from Pat or the wild knock-offs from Charles? Enquiring minds would like to know.

Best regards,

Stuart


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

I don't believe Charles ever got those in. These are from Pat. I got a trio from him on that second round. Must be close to a year now with no action, but lately I've noticed 2 really fat ones and one with lots of odontoides, so I guess they got busy finally.


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## Smallermouse (Jan 28, 2012)

Cool eggs!! keep us updated!!


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

Very cool...congrats.
How long before you can see babies?


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## DBam (Aug 9, 2010)

What do you plan to do with the juvies?? Inquiring minds would like to know


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## IceBlue (Mar 17, 2011)

Very nice.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Fish rookie said:


> Very cool...congrats.
> How long before you can see babies?


I don't know, but if it's like other plecos, probably 2-3 days for hatching and another 3 to 4 days for free swimming. That's if they got fertilized.



DBam said:


> What do you plan to do with the juvies?? Inquiring minds would like to know


I'm not counting my plecos before they are hatched, so to speak. I'm going away on vacation in 3 days, so this whole thing is a long shot, but now that I have a spawn, I should be able to get others. I'm totally out of tanks and space though, so I may ask for a surrogate parent to raise the fry for me.


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## josephl (Apr 21, 2010)

Congrats. Very cool


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

josephl said:


> Congrats. Very cool


Thanks Joe, maybe you want to try some L10a at some point.


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## josephl (Apr 21, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> Thanks Joe, maybe you want to try some L10a at some point.


I've got quite a few actually, probably the same batch you got from Pat. I think unfortunately, mine are all female. Huge things, resting on their bellies at the bottom of the tank, or mabye they are so full of food, there is no need to reproduce :bigsmile:


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## jobber (May 14, 2010)

nice to see another spawning frenzy. hopefully they'll survive with their yolk sacs for that extra few days. Joseph and gary, what do you guys feed in this tank? haven't had fat catfishes since my L129.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

josephl said:


> I've got quite a few actually, probably the same batch you got from Pat. I think unfortunately, mine are all female. Huge things, resting on their bellies at the bottom of the tank, or mabye they are so full of food, there is no need to reproduce :bigsmile:


If you got quite a few, I don't think you'll have all females. My male is pretty fat too but the odontoides are very apparent. I didn't realize you had L10a. I suspect the problem is no caves of the appropriate size. I accidentally ordered some 1" caves, which are tiny and this is what they spawned in.



jobber said:


> nice to see another spawning frenzy. hopefully they'll survive with their yolk sacs for that extra few days. Joseph and gary, what do you guys feed in this tank? haven't had fat catfishes since my L129.


There's plenty of little creatures in there I suspect (rotifiers and single cell organisms as well as algae), but I already have a host of BNP fry in there. I feed almost exclusively NLS Thera A and Grow in that tank. I'll throw in some critter crumbs here and there and once a week all my tanks get zucchini. The L10a seem to like the zucchini even though they are supposed to be mainly carnivores.


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## mike604 (May 1, 2010)

nice job man  cant wait to see the babies


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

mike604 said:


> nice job man  cant wait to see the babies


Thanks, but I had nothing to do with it, since I've had them for over a year now, probably. They just upped and decided to get busy all of a sudden.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Time for an update. When I got home from our trip, there was no sign of fry so I guess the eggs didn't make it. But lo and behold, today I saw a pair caved. I keep that tank fairly dark (3w of LED lighting) and provide a lot of overhangs to make them more comfortable, so it's difficult to get good shots.


















I think the one at the top of the cave is the male.


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## Claudia (Apr 21, 2010)

Crossing fingers for u


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## datfish (Sep 7, 2012)

If you successfully breed them, I'd love to buy one! I've always wanted a lovely red L10a!


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

datfish said:


> If you successfully breed them, I'd love to buy one! I've always wanted a lovely red L10a!


Breeding is not a big problem but having surviving fry is, so far. It would be a lot quicker for you to own one by contacting Patrick, who has brought several batches in, including my fish.


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## datfish (Sep 7, 2012)

2wheelsx2 said:


> Breeding is not a big problem but having surviving fry is, so far. It would be a lot quicker for you to own one by contacting Patrick, who has brought several batches in, including my fish.


I'm not entirely ready for one just yet, but once I am I'll contact him. Thanks for telling me about him.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

There are definitely eggs in there now. The male scooted out for some food last night and I shone a flashlight in there and there were about a dozen eggs in a ring around the cave. Let's hope they hatch this time around. No pics as the tube is so small that I can't get much light in there and if I use a flashlight I can't manage the camera as the opening of the 1" tube is so small.


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## mikebike (Sep 8, 2010)

I capture a lot of the eggs/fri by taking the cave out and rinsing it with some of the water from the tank

a couple of swishes will generally dislodge any loose eggs and fri.

Which I hatch in a bubble hatcher tube


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Thanks. I'll give them another chance to raise the fry before I give it a go myself.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Wow, either my temps are too low or these guys are slow hatchers. Eggs still in the tube and I think I saw some eyes in them today. So far so good.


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## jobber (May 14, 2010)

Can't believe how puny that cave is...let alone can't imagine how small the egg sacs and fry are.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

jobber said:


> Can't believe how puny that cave is...let alone can't imagine how small the egg sacs and fry are.


The eggs are actually a good size considering how skinny these guys are. They're probably 2x the size of Corydoras sterbai eggs. About 2/3 of the BNP eggs.


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## jobber (May 14, 2010)

Can you guess at the number of eggs in the clutch? The momma is one tough cookie expelling those big size eggs.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

No more than a dozen. That's a 1" tube.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

*Spawning - success!*

So today I went to check the cave and it was empty and I was disappointed, but I thought I'd better check around the tank. Lo and behold, I saw a tiny little guy with a twig for a tail! I tried netting him out but missed several times. Finally caught him and put him in the fry saver and noticed there was one hanging on the bottom of the frysaver too. Let's see how it competes in the fry saver with the much bigger fry.

So finally, SUCCESS!


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## bunnyrabbit (Jul 28, 2010)

Congrats. Nothing like babies to get the spirits up.


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## Sploosh (Nov 19, 2012)

Congrats on the babies  Hope they grow big and strong for you.:bigsmile:


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

We'll see how it goes. At least now I know they have hatched so I'll be seeing more. Might have to get rid of the BNP's to devote more tank space to these guys.


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## Claudia (Apr 21, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> We'll see how it goes. At least now I know they have hatched so I'll be seeing more. Might have to get rid of the BNP's to devote more tank space to these guys.


Congratz Gary!! finally u found babies  I think it would b a good idea just to make it their tank, u might b seeing more fry and more often too


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Thanks, but to get them their own tank means getting rid of my breeding LF Calico BNP breeding trio as I'm out of space and time for any more tanks.


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## Claudia (Apr 21, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> Thanks, but to get them their own tank means getting rid of my breeding LF Calico BNP breeding trio as I'm out of space and time for any more tanks.


A stacker would help with that


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Claudia said:


> A stacker would help with that


I don't see how a stacker would save me time.  It would cost me time and money to finalize the divorce.


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## Claudia (Apr 21, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> I don't see how a stacker would save me time.  It would cost me time and money to finalize the divorce.


Will help with the space and to speed up the divorce thats for sure lol


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Claudia said:


> Will help with the space and to speed up the divorce thats for sure lol


Wouldn't help with the space to move from the house to a bachelor suite. I'd only be able to keep the L10a then. Maybe that's the ticket....is that what other BCA'ers do, get divorces so they can keep more fish?


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## Claudia (Apr 21, 2010)

hahahha maybe, i just dont get have a man living with me so i can have all the fish i want


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