# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Catfishes >  Spawning & raising Sturisoma species

## RonWill

Dear all,
I've a small group of 3 inch _sturisoma_ juvenile and raising them for future breeding projects. About a month ago, I was fortunate to come across a pair of matured adults, which will cut down on the waiting time (for the juvs to reach maturity).

Spawning could have been sooner had I taken better care of them but as is, I'm not complaining  :Wink:  


Here's mommy watching over her spawn while daddy gets a break.


Most male have bristles along their cheeks or if you prefer, odontodes along the sides of the head and rostrum  :Wink:  


The clutch of eggs were in a position that's difficult to take a sharp image. Rather than risking disturbing the parents, the picture was shot from the water surface and there's some blur/refraction distortion. Eggs were laid at night on July 11th and do note that the number of eggs are almost doubled up by the glass reflection.

I like Whiptails but am no expert with _Loricariidae_ species and cannot readily confirm whether mine are _Sturisoma panamense_ (aka Regal Whiptail) or _Sturisoma aureum_ (aka Giant Whiptail).

This spawn is not my first with _Sturisoma_ and IMHE, previous fry were very lazy feeders, almost preferring to wait for food to come to them or die, rather than actively seeking edibles. Despite attempting various home concoctions, fry can waste away quite rapidly. [Kwek Leong, that was why I dare not promise you anything]

Are there any Whiptail hobbyists here who can advise the species I'm breeding and tips on raising the fry?

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## timebomb

> Kwek Leong, that was why I dare not promise you anything


Don't worry about it, Ronnie. I just thought if you have more fry than you can handle, I'll take some off you. At a fair price, of course, as I can understand the amount of effort and time required to raise them.

Here's wishing you the best of luck. If anyone can hatch those eggs and raise the fry to adults, you're da man.

Loh K L

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## RonWill

Kwek Leong,
It's my personal belief that if the fishes are treated right; good and varied diet, required water preferences and lots of privacy, they will breed.

To call it a successful spawn depends largely whether one can raise the fry to adulthood. I've a few failed attempts but I take it in stride and learn from it.

Calling me 'da man' is more credit than I deserve since I don't have anything to show for, at least as far as the _sturisoma_ are concerned, but if you're interested in some juvenile Corydoras trilineatus, let me know.

Anyway, the clutch of eggs are showing embryol development and if nothing screws up, these should hatch within the week. Nervous as hell, as I step up to meet that challenge again.

Intend to do a little experiment with the eggs and will update as I move along.

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## RonWill

Folks,
When the sturi adults were 'out for lunch', I removed a PVC piping near the eggs, so I can better observe the development.

Slightly better pics of the male;
 

I scraped off a few eggs with a new NT Cutter blade and transferred them to a hatchery based on air-lift design.
 

Another hatchery I'm using is based on simple siphon/overflow design that has worked well with _Corydoras sterbai_.
 

... now we wait...

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## RonWill

Folks, here are some updates on the 6 day old eggs.

3 of the 9 eggs I introduced earlier into the hatchery. I turkey-bastered these for some closeup shots (discussed in the "*Close-up photography & macro lens*" thread)


When I returned them to the hatchery, I felt something amiss and removed all of them for observation. Two of the fry are obviously not gonna make it. The third looks like it had a ruptured vessel.
 

Study the images and tell me whether you suspect premature hatching as well... I'm stumped  :Exclamation:   :Shocked:

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## stormhawk

The fry must have been shocked by the move so they may have prematurely hatched. I think some of them might make it however its all up to the little fellas if they still can handle it.

Looking at the images, I think that bulbous thingy at their belly region is their yolk sac, which is pretty much common for almost all fish species. For plecos like the Sturisoma, I think the fry are born with larger than usual yolk sacs.

If you're still stumped, get Akoh's (Allen's) view on these critters.  :Wink:

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## stormhawk

Ron, where's the image of the hatchling fry on the tank wall?  :Twisted Evil:

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## RonWill

> The fry must have been shocked by the move so they may have prematurely hatched. I think some of them might make it however its all up to the little fellas if they still can handle it


Jian Yang, the shock might be a possibility but it's the same water throughout the transfer, even to the soup spoon for the closeup pics.

I handled the eggs with caution so that the egg sac (yes, that bulbous thingie) don't get damage. Anyway, I've posted to the other forum and awaiting response from Akoh & friends.

Good news is .... yes, the tougher ones did make it and I see 3.

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## RonWill

I kept reminding myself not to disturb the fry... but hey, I've got itchy fingers!!

Taa Daa.... here they are... again  :Laughing:  


I had thought that the hatchlings will stay near the rest of the eggs until their sac is resorbed but as is, it'd be difficult to keep tab on them... they're all over the bluddy place!

Some will say that a breeder should know his water and for those who're interested in nitty gritty details, here it is;

Based on narrow-range pH test strip, the reading indicates pH6.5. TDS is 82ppm.
 

The temp in the main tank, from spawning till today, is an average 26ºC (yes, overcast skies, good wind and heavy downpour!!)

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## RonWill

Folks,
I conclude that there's simply no cure for those diagnosed with terminal _itchytitis*_

  
Clickable images as usual

From spawning, hatching and on to free-swimming fry (resorbed egg sac), this uploaded 9-day sequence should suffice for anyone attempting to spawn _sturisoma_ species.

My current observation, concurring with past spawns, is that the fry are never closely clustered together but each wandering off at will. This presents a daunting challenge as these fellas are never near where the food is.

I briefly counted 17 scattered fry, possibly a few more unaccounted for, but if anyone is game to come up with an approx egg count (based on the earlier blurry image), I'll update the number of survivors in due course.

There's plenty to eat in the tank; algae in abundance, spirulina and cory tablets, algae wafer, fresh lettuce and carrots too! Now is the crucial period that the fry seek food or perish.

_itchytitis*_... Itchy fingers! What else??  :Laughing:   :Laughing:

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## SamCosta

Hi,
just to let you know that here in portugal we use boiled cucumber with great success. They are crazy about that stuff and boiled cucumber sinks better.

Best of luck,

Sam

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## RonWill

Welcome to the forum, Sam. I love it when I don't have to remind new members to sign off or indicate in their profile, where they're from.

Yes, I do feed the _sturisoma_ with thick slices of raw cucumber or zucchini, which is weighted down with large-gauge epoxy-coated wire. Blanched or boiled vegetable matter tend to breakdown/deteriorate faster and since I feed other food as well, I'd prefer to use cucumbers raw. It last longer but the fishes will finish it either way.

From your post, I get the feeling that you're also keeping _sturisoma_ species... yes? Any idea how your fellow countrymen hatch and raise the young fry?

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## SamCosta

Hey, 
No, unfortunately i haven't got to breed catfish (yet  :Wink: ) 
My experience comes from keeping my hypostomus plecostomus (they just don't stop growing eheheh) 
But a friend of mine was able to successfully breed Hypancistrus Zebra (L46) 
Which is very imporant since now they are protected in Brasil and its impossible to buy them which made the price skyrocket. 
I can give you some insight on how they succeeded at doing it  :Smile: 

Sam

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## RonWill

Sam, I'm not familiar with Hypancistrus Zebra (L46) unless we're talking about the Zebra pleco. Beautiful buggers and I'd be delighted to hear how your friend manage to spawn them. [of course it'll help to know how to sex them first!  :Wink:  ]

Since Brazil now disallows the export, perhaps it's a good idea if I can 'borrow' a few and see how my luck holds up  :Laughing:  

Anyway, I wanted to say that the 1st spawn went pretty good and most of the fry are still alive, including 10 little fellas that I transferred out of the main tank, for experimental growing-out methods.

However, I'm surprised that the 2nd spawn came so soon. (Remember that the 1st was on the night of July 11th). During my 'nightly rounds', I noticed some hanky panky going on last night, so the 1st thing I did when I got up was to check on them.

It'll be interesting to see how long daddy will carry that egg that's stuck to his bristles!
  Clickable images

BTW, Kwek Leong, how's your pair coming along?

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## SamCosta

Yep, that's the one ... 
From what i gather the hard part isn't growing them, the hard part is persuading them to breed. He managed to achieve this by simulating a season change. 
www.zebrapleco.com is a great site about these beautiful little guys with great tips on how to rear them. 
Unfortunately the zebra pleco is now on the CITES list as "A" which means its illegal to sell, so if you got some hold on to them cause the price is already going through the roof. (There are some killies on that list too  :Sad: ) 

Sam

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## timebomb

> BTW, Kwek Leong, how's your pair coming along?


How did you know I have a pair?  :Laughing: 

I thought I show you all the pictures later but since you asked, here's a louzy pic I took this afternoon.



Loh K L

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## RonWill

> How did you know I have a pair?


...urm... because I showed you pictures of a clutch of sturi eggs and saw you drool??  :Laughing:   :Laughing:  

But seriously, I think this is one experience that no hobbyist should miss and it's interesting to see how the daddy takes care of the eggs.

Remember to provide a varied diet and so far, I've been using cucumber slices, cabbage, lettuce, spirulina tablets, Hikari algae wafers, cory tabs, an occasional treat of tubifex and my home blend.

Kwek Leong, the second spawn is almost exactly at the same spot and my observation, is that the location is directly opposite of my hang-on-tank Eheim filter. I suspect that daddy knows best and good water flow means that less debris will settle on the eggs. It also mean good oxygen level too... I think.

BTW, sexing them isn't too difficult. Daddy has mustache and mommy doesn't!  :Laughing:  [but I bet you knew that already]

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## timebomb

*Ronnie, what should I do now?*



 ::smt026:   ::smt041:  \ :Very Happy: / 

You're right. The eggs are deposited on the side of the tank that gets a direct stream of water from the internal cannister filter.

Loh K L

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## RonWill

Given your luck with fry, the best thing to do is... *leave it alone!* (they really don't need any of our bothersome help!  :Laughing:   :Laughing:   :Laughing:  )

Seriously? Just make sure that the adults has nice juicy slices of vegie or melon when they go on watch-breaks. Daddy will usually guard the eggs, hovering over them when he sees you coming. Mommy gets driven away but no fights ever break out and she's perfectly contented to go munch on something elsewhere.

Eggs will get really dark with embryol development and incubation varies between 6~8 days. Newly hatched sturis will be all over the place but basically hang around and do nothing until their sac is resorbed.

Once they start searching for food, get a slice of cubbie ready... they really like the stuff, especially the centre soft part.


Congrats and have fun!

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## timebomb

> the best thing to do is... *leave it alone!*


Leave it alone huh? Well, that shouldn't be too difficult  :Smile: 

What sort of melon do you feed them with? Winter or Water Melon? I tried to remove all my other fishes when I put the pair into the tank but there was a juvenile _A. australe_ that I couldn't catch. It's still in the tank somewhere. Do you think it will harm the eggs?

Loh K L

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## RonWill

Kwek Leong, the sturi tank is just one pair of adults and their fry, nothing else. I got paranoid and even removed as many ramhorns as they appear.

Do have some breeding 'zebra shrimps' but they look safe to leave behind. Think it's best if you can trap that little AUS... one less predator.

I was referring to winter melon but don't forget those algae wafers and spirulina tabs for a varied diet.

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## RonWill

Hi all,
A quick update on my experiment with separate raising of 10 young sturi fry from the 1st spawn.

In a grow-out container laden with lotsa algae, the 10 grazed on spot algae, cucumber slices and algae wafers. They had a few cory and ANN fry as companions.

Grow rate was observed to be faster, reaching 2cm, a good 5mm larger than their siblings in the main tank. *But*... of the 10, only 2 survived. It could be deteriorating water condition but the mortality is an unacceptable trade-off.

I've returned the 2 larger fry to the main tank and will cease further experiments until I move some of my setups into the study.

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## timebomb

Hi, folks,

Not long after I posted the picture of my Sturisoma with eggs, the eggs disappeared. I thought, at that time, the eggs must have died or were eaten up by the parents. A few days ago, I took another peek and was pleasantly surprised to see the parent guarding a new brood of eggs. I didn't try to take any pictures because I didn't want to spook the fish. I thought that could be a reason for the disappearing eggs.

A while ago, I was changing water in the tank and was really delighted to find a few fry. I counted 3. The eggs from the first batch must have hatched and the fry are somewhere inside the tank. It's hard to spot them though because the tank is heavily planted. Here are some pictures:





Loh K L

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## RonWill

Kwek Leong,
In such a densely planted tank, I believe the chances of fry surviving is high, if not better, than in mine.

I'm experiencing a minor hiccup and the number of fry is dropping. The most likely reason would be food competition.

Just after the 1st spawn, I bought some 'Zebra shrimps' and was told to try them in a tank with cool temp but I didn't expect the shrimps to be prolific.

During feeding, the horde of zebra shrimplets will crawl all over the fry and food. Perhaps that made it uncomfortable, enough to shoo the sturisoma elsewhere for a quiet meal.

The adult pair are at it again (3rd spawn) but I want to use traps to reduce/control the shrimp population.

If anyone has a good shrimp-trap idea that might work, please start off another thread and I'll experiment to see how effective the design is.

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## RonWill

Dear all,
Just a quick update, with day old fry (hatched 051009) from a 5th spawn and a 4cm juvenile from the *2nd spawn*. The larger juvenile, almost 3-month old, now sports the coloration, body markings and finnage of their parents, including the thread-like caudal extensions.

Their growth has been slow and casualty rate was high too, surprisingly with less survivors in the breeding tank than raised separately.


I'm stumped regarding how to increase my odds. Anyone care to chip in their 2cents?

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## Scott_sg

Hi Ronnie,

I will throw in my 2 cents for you  :Smile: 

I have never had much luck with them but i remember reading somewhere in the distant past that one of the reasons for the high mortality rates is dietary.

I also might be getting this mixed up with some of the other similar species, but there was speculation that some of these fish actually feed on wood as part of the diet, much like termites that have the little protozoans in their gut to break down the wood.

I have no idea but it would not be that hard to grow some algae on an old small piece of driftwood and let them chew on that. At least it would be something to try. And it would give your itchy fingers something to do..  :Wink:  

Scott.

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## timebomb

Scott,

I'm quite sure the reason is dietary too but the problem is finding out what's the right diet for the fry. I lost 3 batches of them. For my last batch, I transferred a few fry each to all my tanks in the balcony but none of them survived past the first week. My tanks have various kinds of algae and also driftwoods. I think it's not just a simple matter of cultivating algae; it also has to be the right algae. Ronnie said the other day when he was in my house, that the fry love to cling to the sides of the tank. I noticed this too. I kind of suspect Brown algae is what the fry love to eat but we have little of such algae in our tanks because of the snails, shrimps and other algae-eating creatures that we keep. 

Loh K L

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## Scott_sg

Hi, I know what you mean about finding out exactly what it is they need to eat. The reason i was suggesting growing the algae on some small pieces of driftwood is that while they graze on the algae they are also taking up some of the wood substrate when they feed. There have been some reports that they actually need this wood as part of the diet. When they graze on the tank glass they are normally only getting very pure cultures of one particular algae, whatever is most popular in the tank. But a piece of wood hosts more of a variety of microbes in addition to the wood itself and the algae growing on it.
There is some speculation that these fish also need to be inoculated with the microbes from the parents gut in much the same way as humans need bacteria to make vitamin B12. In the wild the ecosystem has everything in place, but in a home tank the population density of the needed microbes would be too small especially with filtration and other maintainance and a low density of adult fish.
That might even explain why there was more success with them in a smaller tank at higher densities than at low population densities in the parents tank, since then they can cross infect each other.
This is really not tested yet and seems to be more anecdotal, but it would be something easy to try, and it is a shame to lose fry of a such a nice fish.
If I had to place a bet I would lean towards the wood playing some part and symbiotic protozoans being needed in the gut. But then again I have never been good at gambling..  :Wink:  

I am still amazed at just how little is really known about all of these fish we keep.
Scott.

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## stormhawk

I think that it's not actually the algae that they feed on, but the smaller animals that live on the algae itself. I think the term is aufwuchs. Maybe the fry are more carnivorous during the fry stage and they become more omnivorous as they get larger. The wood may be good for them because the material called lignin is found in driftwood and its probably a required segment of their diet.

I read somewhere that people fed their Sturisoma fry with microworms and BBS. I've never tried it because I never had Sturisoma fry but I believe its worth a try.

For one however, my Parotocinclus spilosoma loves tubifex, as does my Hemiloricaria sp.. I think mine are parva but they're probably eigenmanni instead.

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## timber

I have been keeping Sturisoma for four years and am currently on F2. I have had the same problems that you folks have gone thru and after countless spawns, I think the best I've done was a 25% survival rate on a single spawn. This however, leaves me with enough fish to play around with and trade away. 
My fish prefer the glass and gravel on the bottom of the tanks to driftwood. I rarely see them feeding on wood. I found this was the case with both adults and young. 
As far as feeding fry, I use APR made by OSI and microworms. This combination of food yields the best survival rate for me. I have tried spirulina powder, blanched Zuccini, Kale and other leafy vegetables and would always end up with 1 or 2 survivors. Another thing that helps is to keep the fry in very shallow water. The fry are very lazy and will not move around much so it is important that there is a lot of food with close proximity of each fish. It is easier to achieve this in shallow water where the fry are not likely to gather on vertical places (sides of the tank) where food does not settle. 
I find once the fry loose the initial black coloration and turn brown, they will be willing to search and feed more heavily, and one's chance for survival increases immensely.

These fish are special and by far, my favorite Loricarriide... even better than my L46.

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## RonWill

> ...but i remember reading somewhere in the distant past that one of the reasons for the high mortality rates is dietary


 Diet is, without a doubt, my main problem in raising the sturi fry. Just as it was with _Hemiloricaria sp (formerly Rineloricaria)_, the young ones don't actively seek for food.

Scott, I have been cultivating all sorts of algae but the stringy/threaded types are a no no. The sturi fry get entangled in them, like a fishermen trawler net, and they will die. What they prefer, as per my observation, is spot algae or diatom/brown algae (otos love 'em). Nope, the fry don't hang around much on driftwood either.

For supplimentary foods, I add a pinch of Tim Addis's 'Fry Grade' fine granules and a squirt of daphnia from the turkey baster. I found that older sturi fry will graze on a ball of tubifex and although I'm not sure if they're eating the tubifex or the layer of bacteria/slime, I added just enough for the worm to ball up.

Water change is done via a drip tube with water from the breeding tank since young sturi can sensitive to massive or sudden water change.

And I thought that killie fry were tough to raise...

BTW, I believe there's a tub of microscopic soup laden with paramecium that has your name on it. Let's meet up over the weekend and bring the kiddo along (no nets allowed  :Laughing:   :Laughing:  ).




> As far as feeding fry, I use APR made by OSI and microworms. This combination of food yields the best survival rate for me


 Aaron, I use APR for tiny _Pseudomugil_ fry but it didn't help the sturi any. My walterworm culture crashed recently and the resub isn't prolific enough to harvest.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'very shallow water' but the water level in my growout container is only 3 inches depth. In it, I have java fern, hornwort and some floaters, to help maintain water quality. An airstone, bubbling gently, helps to bring food around to the lazy buggers.

BTW, which _Sturisoma_ species are you breeding? _S. panamense S. festivum_ or _S. aureum_? They look awfully similar, don't they?

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## Scott_sg

Ok everyone thinks i am nuts for saying that fish eat wood..  :Shocked:  
So here are some thoughts from the higher fish science powers out there:

_Araujo-Lima C.A.R.M., B.R. Forsberg, R. Victoria, and L. Martinelli (1986). Energy sources for Detritivorous fishes in the Amazon. Science 234: 1256-1258._

_Nelson, J.A. and D. Bornman (1996). Energy extraction and utilization in wood-eating catfish of the genus Panaque . Presentation at "International Congress on the Biology of Fishes ", Biology of tropical fishes symposium. July 17, 1996, San Francisco._

_Shaefer, S. A. and D.J. Stewart (1993). Systematics of the Panaque dentex species group (Siluriformes: Loricariidae), wood-eating armored catfishes from tropical South America. Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters. 4: 309-342._

Actually it is hard to find much information about it online, it was only by chance i came across it while passing some spare time reading at a uni library a long time ago. I got to a part about low carbon diets or something - so then i turned over to some physics  :Smile:  

But apparently it is documented in the Panaques and speculated for the rest of the Loricariidae. I honestly have no idea how it applies to the the other genus's (genie? genae? plural ??) but since all this fish are in the same family i would be surprised if it did not apply at least to some degree with all the Loricariidae.

I agree it sounds a bit stupid saying the fish eat the wood, but i never made the rules  :Wink:  . I also think wood would be one of the easier things to try. Hang some driftwood at the top of a tank so it gets a lot of nice green stuff growing on it and then use that. Also a lot of people do feed them worms and similar, but i expect that this really just substitutes for all the bugs and stuff they would normally pick up when grazing the algae..

My 2.618 cents worth...

Scott.

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## Scott_sg

Forgot to mention, perhaps the fish have not read the above papers..

But really this problem has been around for a long time, and it is a shame with such a nice fish. Maybe even lining the tank or tray with leaf litter, dried banana leaves or there was another one Selena was telling me about that is local here in Singapore.

I just have a strong feeling that it is something simple like the above, perhaps it might even be the type of wood or its age. Or maybe even as silly as getting them to actually feed off the wood. It might just be a quirk that given a smooth piece of glass or the log they prefer the glass.

I think the brown algae makes sense but i tend to lean towards the wood idea because it seems like something drastic is missing. 

Ok i will be quiet now and go and find something to do, or more like - do things i should be doing.. And did somebody say "Paramecium" ?  :Wink:  

Scott

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## timber

Scott, I do not discount what you are saying about some Loricariids eating wood. I've seen Panaques turn large pieces of driftwood into splinters. 
But to say that all Loricariids need wood in their diet is presumptuous at best. This is a diverse group of fish that live in a variety of habitats, some of which have no wood at all. Heck, many loricariids don't even eat algae. 
I've read those papers you posted and find them valid though, and always add a piece of wood in my loricariid tanks just in case... can't hurt right? The fact is though, they (my Sturisomas) don't really prefer to touch the stuff. From what I've experienced with these fish, feeding the fry microworms and APR was far more successful than any type of vegetable matter. My method is far from perfect, but for me, it seems to be headed in the right direction. 
I did get the chance to keep Pterosturisoma microps for some time and they LOVED to hang out and feed on driftwood. Boy, do I miss keeping those beauties...

Ron, I am not sure what species I have. I have yet to find a website or publication that clearly shows the difference between the species. I keep my fry in 1 inch of water or less, using a steup very similar to what you do. I have not actively tried to raise fry for quite some time (focuing on other aspects of the hobby) Perhaps it is time to give it another shot...

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## Scott_sg

Hmmm yes I know, I have become obsessed with the wood idea.  :Opps:  The reason I tend to push it is simply that in the wild the Sturisoma sp. would spend just about there whole life on twigs and branches and things. I have not kept them for years but i do remember that they used to like dried palm fronds. I have no idea what type, it just grew in the back garden at the time. But I know they loved that stuff, I never saw them on the tank sides at all and they would even hang on if you lifted the frond out of the water and you could see scrape marks all over the fronds.
I have no idea what species they were, just what were called twig catfish in the shop, and very expensive at that. I do agree that the Loricariidae is a big family with lots of variety, so it is a generalization, but with a bit of logic.
I definitely have to agree about giving them more than just vegetable matter, I would assume that like most fish they are opportunistic with worms and things.
But when I had them it was like the fry were really just starving to death slowly, so over time i would end up left with only the fattest 12 or so left. And it is quite horrible to get them to breed and then slowly watch them all drop off with time. That is the main reason I think it must be more than protein or even simple algae since normally even if there is not much of it you would get stunted fry but the steady death rate actually points to some deficiency in my mind, essentially missing something altogether.
The other reason I nag about wood is that in our tanks we tend to use any old piece of driftwood we have laying about and looks nice - or fits, but is generally very old and long dead. But in the places these fish come from there would be all ages of wood available including living trees and roots.
I am one of those who with difficult fish try and match the environment in the tank as close as possible to what i "think" the wild would be like, often with bizarre results, unfortunately my Sturisoma at the time seemed to love my palm fronds (even though friends thought it was an empty tank) but well i could not resist the urge to move the babies asap to a nice clean tank. So i never got to try some of my new thoughts on it, now that i am older - and i doubt that much wiser.

Ok i will not mention wood again  :Rolling Eyes:  

Have a nice day everyone  :Very Happy:  

Scott.

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## stormhawk

Aaron, an image of the fish in your possession plus a shot of the underbelly will be useful in identifying the species. Most of them are distinguished by the arrangement of the underbelly armour plates.

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## stormhawk

Generally Aaron has a point about them having different dietary needs. However in most cases some loricariids are omnivorous, eating both plant and animal matter. Some of them however, are carnivorous I think and if I recall correctly, I think only the Panaque are true wood-chewers.

For many years people thought of them as being primarily algae eaters but its not the case. With Hypancistrus zebra, I believe they especially need some form of meat in their diet. A friend of mine feeds his with frozen bloodworm and they love it. Amongst the whiptails, the Hemiloricaria that I have, certainly relish their usual treat of fresh tubifex worms, but they are not adverse to feeding on algae. They don't really rasp on the driftwood in the tank though, but prefer to spend time on the gravel bed. 

Scott, the wood idea is with basis actually. Like I mentioned earlier, a substance called lignin is found in the driftwood that some species love to rasp and feed on. Besides, I personally would find it odd if a pleco tank didn't have some driftwoods in it.  :Laughing: 

Refer to this link for info on the general dietary needs for different genus within the Loricariidae.

http://www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworld/s_r_244.php

And this link, for loads of breeding reports and fry raising techniques.

http://www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworld/index.php#244

With _Sturisoma_, I tend to think of them as being primarily carnivorous when young and more omnivorous when old.

Shane Linder's breeding report for the Royal Twig Catfish (Sturisoma spp.)
http://www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworld/s_r_255.php

In it he mentions that it is hard to distinguish them at first glance and also, that the fry can be difficult to raise.

Do visit www.planetcatfish.com , apart from this website, a page on www.scotcat.com shows us how to differentiate the various Hemiloricaria species by means of their ventral scute arrangement. 

I hope all this is of help.  :Wink:

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