Set up of the Leporacanthicus triactis "L91":
Aquarium:
Dimensions: 110 x 60 x 50cm (divided in the middle with a coral grid), 330 liter
Technology:
Filter: air lifter with sponge; HMF and a UVC internal filter (Aquael)
Water movement: current pumps (Tunze), air stones
Lighting: LED tubes white and blue (Sera X-change tubes)
Heating: immersion heater (Eheim Jäger)
Decoration:
Substrate: quartz sand/quartz gravel
Hiding places: 2 ceramic caves each (7 - 8 cm diameter, 20 - 25 cm length), slate slabs, rounded pebbles
Animals:
3.3. Leporacanthicus triactis “L91” (each separated in pairs), 20 - 24 cm length
Water parameters (regular):
Conductivity: 270 - 300 mS, temperature: 30 ° C, pH: 6.8 - 7, water change: 60% weekly
Breeding experience:
My experience with the offspring of Leporacanthicus triactis “L91” began with my first pair, which I bought privately. This was first kept in a 600 liter aquarium in company with angelfish, Corydoras concolor and Sturisomatichthys sp.. They showed interest in each other relatively quickly and tunneled regularly. Mating dances, similar to the “wheel turning” by Leporacanthicus joselimai “L264”, were often observed. The male was always busy chasing the female into a ceramic cave. This female built up eggs in the body really quick. The phases of “tunneling” became longer and longer. From a few hours at the beginning to tunneling for days, this was only interrupted to eat. Since the fish in such a large aquarium with community could only be stimulated for breeding at great expense, the courtship never resulted in more than days of tunneling.
Sometime later I was able to buy the remaining four animals from the same private seller. These animals were placed in a 330 liter aquarium together with the “old” couple. At this point in time, the tank had not yet been subdivided and more hiding places had been introduced. It quickly became apparent that the totals of the 6 "L91's" were 3 females and 3 males. It was easy to see that each of these males showed preferences for certain females and they often tried to hunt the females into a pleco cave. Nevertheless, there was competitive pressure among the males and so there were fights and bite attacks every day, which always led to white scratches all over the body and tattered fins. I decided to separate my “old couple” in their own tank. Then it got a little quieter in the 330 liter aquarium. Every day I observed exactly which catfish interacted with which and as luck would have it, 3 harmonizing couples were found. Good prospects for a breeding project.
The 330 liter tank was separated in the middle with a coral grid to separate the respective pairs. All booths were equiped the same. Quartz sand as a substrate, 2 ceramic caves with slightly different dimensions, stone slates that protruded as a “roof” over the ceramic caves to protect against light, some pebbles as hiding places. The current pumps were aligned in such a way that the air from the air stones was swirled in front of the cave entrances. All 3 pairs were now well conditioned for breeding, i.e. feeding several times a day (Snail soft granulate, Krill soft granulate and Artemia soft granules). In addition to the increased feeding, the water values were adjusted (temp. 30 °C). At least 60% water was changed weekly.
The female “L91's" generally get round very quickly. The males showed increased interest in the females and chased them through the tank every now and then, especially during feeding. I started to change a little more water, whereupon all 3 couples started to tunnel very quickly. Especially during the water change, the animals were not shy and were actively engaged in courtship. A preference for narrow tubes could be observed in which the animals could just move in pairs. Too large caves with small entrances were not accepted for courtship. The animals appeared to be stimulated by increasing the water change intervals with colder water. These increased the tunnel activities, during which the males hardly ever let the females out of the caves, increased with every day. Very strong fanning with the fins of both sexes could be observed. These intensive intervals subsided again and again after a few weeks without eggs being laid.
In January 2019 the activities of a couple got stronger again, to which I responded with more water changes. The female now occupied the cave with the head facing the opening (as many Leporacanthicus species do when mating). In this position they continued to tunnel and I decided not to bother anymore and not to change water or feed. In mid-January, the male kept scurrying into the cave and out with trembling movements. His position was belly to belly above the female. I could watch this process closely and it took a suspiciously long time. Eventually I could see some yellow eggs fly out of the cave. No eggs were seen inside of the cave, however. I decided to give the two of them peace, cover the aquarium and check the next day. The next day the activity subsided completely. The male sat in a different cave than the female. The female was still very fat and no clutch could be seen. Closer observation revealed some eggs with bloody tissue sticking to the papilla. The female did not manage to lay the spawn and developed egg bounding. I decided to wait half a day to see if the female could get rid of the eggs on her own. At the end of the day, the female looked very puffy and lethargic. She barely moved and was breathing hard. I decided to intervene and caught the breeding female out of the tank. I massaged the abdominal region with a cotton swab in circular movements. You could feel the eggs bursting inside the belly. I also carefully removed the sticky eggs and the bloody tissue on the genital papilla with tweezers. After this procedure I put the “L91” female back in the aquarium and could only hope that she would survive the next few days. The next day she was already more active and even began to eat during the course of the day. Within the next week, she seemed to be able to break down the spawn in her stomach and then showed a slender figure.
After the female recovered, I decided to change a little more water again. Three months later, in March, the same couple started courting again. I was convinced that this fish was no longer able to lay eggs, but apparently the wound healed well from the last attempt at spawning and so a medium-sized clutch could be seen in the cave on March 21st. The male watched over the yolk-yellow spawn ball and was always busy sucking it off. The clutch contained around 250 eggs. But already during the first day the first eggs began to turn white. Until the next day only a few yellow eggs could be seen in the now white egg ball. It did not take long until the male then ate the clutch due to the poor development. I made a conscious decision against removing the eggs, as in my opinion the first clutch is the decisive factor in whether the male learns to care for the brood or not.
I repeated the same water change principle and the increased feeding until exactly three months later in June the next clutch was laid. This time the clutch was a lot bigger, about 300 eggs. After 2 days a lot of eggs were still yellow and I decided to put them in a breeding box. This was filled with osmosis water and I added a few drops of Esha 2000 to prevent fungal infections. After just two days, larvae could be seen developing in the eggs. At this point, however, a large number of eggs had died again. 18 eggs were left over on the third day, but they died again over the course of the next night.
I changed the strategy because apparently the water values did not match for the development of the eggs. I installed a small internal UV filter to permanently reduce the germ load. In addition, I used osmosis and peat water for the water changes. So I brought the conductance a little below 200 mS. Also, sea almond leaves were always added to the aquarium in the hope that these would also have a positive effect on the water quality. The same couple spawned again on August 21, 2019, but this clutch did not seem to develop optimally either and died.
I was now convinced that I had to go further down with the water values. When the fish started with the courtship, I only switched to osmosis, whereupon the couple wanted to spawn again within a week. The pH was now around 6 and the conductance below 100 mS. This time the reduction in conductance seemed too rapid, whereupon the spawn in the female’s body had probably expanded. This resulted in another spawning jam, which I was able to successfully massage away again.
After that, some renovation work was carried out in the fish room, which meant that the fish were often moved. Since then, apart from light tunnel activities, I have not been able to recognize any concrete attempts at pairing for a year. At the moment I am mainly trying to work with peat water in order to keep the pH down in addition to the reduced conductivity. In order to see connections between the spawning attempts, I always noted the weather, the air pressure and the phases of the moon. No connection could be discovered. Only the three - month interval between the clutches remained constant.
© This breeding report is writen by Jesse.