# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Catfishes >  weiquan's Hypancistrus sp. L400 spawned

## weiquan

Hi peeps,

I have 3 adult L400, 1 female and 2 males. Recently they spawned and this is my 1st exprience and i would like to share it with you all.

The female L400
L400female.jpg

bottom view of her

L400femalebottom2.jpg

The male L400

L400male1.jpg

bottom view of him

L400malebottom.jpg

so recently they got jiggy with it. The male trapped the female inside his cave and they were inside the cave for days and when finally the female escaped i saw the male guarding the eggs.

caveegg.jpg

With days of torch light shining i could see a egg being kicked out partially. But the next day i believed the dad brought it back in lol.



But unfortunately, 2 days later i found 2 eggs outside the cave. They were both stuck together and 1 egg was already montionless. The other egg had a head already and was wiggling for its life. I quickly placed them into a breeder trap with maximum bubbling.



The next day the dead egg started rotting or rather fungusing and it detached from the alive egg. Thank godness! haha I quickly removed and did a though clean up of the breeder trap. I was worried if it did not dettach itself the fungus would spread to the alive egg. I figured out that the dad must have kicked out the dead egg and the poor living egg was unlucky enough to be attached together and out he went lol...

Here is the alive egg still wiggling once in a few seconds waiting to finish up its egg sac. In a few days i would be placing all the babies in the breeder trap to feed manually once the egg sac is finished up. This alive baby is a good guage for me too see when i should harvest the babies.



i hope you all enjoyed reading my mini adventure!

Regards,
weiquan

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## Quixotic

Congratulations on the spawn. How many eggs were there in total?

Besides the close up shots, I think a lot of us would also be interested on the entire setup, so an overall tank shot would be greatly appreciated.  :Smile:

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## Gecko

Congratulations! I believe this is the first recorded case locally...

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## celticfish

SWEET!!

I think the "egg" that got kick out halfway is already a wriggler.
Youcan see the shadow of its tail.
Tha shape of the yolk also indicates that they are wrigglers.
The male and female are definitely fertile! 
And it looks like a good size and healthy lot too!  :Well done: 

btw how long have you had them?
And what size are they?

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## Merviso

Well done bro! Congratulations!  :Well done:  

It's always a great joy to see breeding reports... Cheers!  :Smile:

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## weiquan

I not sure about their sizes of the dad and mum now but im very sure they are more than 3.5 inch TL. I have not had a chance to measure them.

Finally today i had the time to take the wigglers out. i was afriad if i waited another day a few wigglers might escape the cave. Because i could see the single wiggler in my breeder trap swimming all over the space he had.

and here they are.. lovely right?



Spots are already starting to appear. 



actually until now i do not know the exact number of eggs i have and i do not have the patience to count them yet but i believe they are between 17 -19 pcs. i accidentally broke a egg sac of one of the wigglers when i was transferring them and it died instantly. i still feel bad about it until now.

Here is a close up of one single piece. 




and finally after placing back the cave, i could see the dad searching the cave for his babies. He is really a responsible dad  :Grin: 






one more thing to share here is a picture of the dad's tail a month before they started to spawn. I believed he fought with another male or maybe the female?? but he got most of his tail bitten off lol. The tail has totally regenerated now under my TLC  :Wink:  look at the picture above.






thanks for reading!

Cheers,
weiquan

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## Gecko

Very nice! By the way, can you share why you decide to remove the babies to raise separately? There are good cases either way....

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## weiquan

hello gecko. Impressive collection of L173 by the way. i hope they start breeding for you in the near future.

Anyway my main consideration was as days passed i could see the egg sac getting smaller. Im afraid the babies might start to wonder out of the cave because as mentioned the single wiggler in my breeder trap was already swimming all over the breeder trap. You be surprised how strong the wiggler can swim with such a big egg sac lol.

Once they wonder out and they finish their egg sac im afriad they wont be well feed because im going to feed frozen daphnia which might be difficult to be found by the juveniles in my substrate. So i decided to place them inside a breeder trap to manually feed them until they grow till a suitable size.

i will try to post pictures as they progress during my free time.

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## Gecko

Thanks. I think your method would ensure higher survival rate. You might want to consider hikari sinking carni tablets as well. When you release them back into main tank, you will need a drift wood that has a cave like interior for them to hide together, try to find a spot out of the current. Looking forward to update of their progress.  :Smile: 

I think also that you have proven that a 2 Male:1 Female is a viable ratio for a Hypancistrus breeding project. A great reference.

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## eeeeemo

wq they all have nice blue eyes! =)
they have definitely grown quite a bit since you removed the sole kick out fry.

next week i go your house see see okay?
i not using my hp .. its spoilt. so just pm me on msn.

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## Savant

Hey... congratulations on the spawn.... 

Is this a species tank?

Do keep us updated with the developments  :Smile:

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## genes

Congrats! The fries are looking good. How did you remove the fries? Net them out 1 by 1?

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## cyclops

Congrats! How many fries are there? Keep us posted on the survival rate okay and good luck!

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## weiquan

i did a final count just after my dinner. this pair total produced 24 eggs which i have 22 left now. 1 egg fungused and died as shown in the above pictures and 1 was accidentally killed.

actually i have a 1.5 feet tank on standby already cycling. Im still deciding wherther i would move the babies over in the near future or let them roam around with their parents.

Gecko thanks for your suggestion.

The babies have started to show more of thier spots and they are very much active in the breeder trap. Shall take some pictures maybe tomorrow.

Bro Calvin its a species tank. 2 male 1 female.

Genes i used a small syringe. By pushing water against the wigglers to force them to flow into my breeder trap. I recalled that they were quite stubborn actually. Using a net or fingers risk breaking their egg sac, keep that in mind when its your turn.

JY please buy a new phone soon. you are welcome anytime  :Razz:

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## Pantera

Amazing walkthrough and congratulation! Lovely fries there and really an eye opener and motivation for newbie like me to look up to :Jump for joy:

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## weiquan

Appreciate the comment. im not too exprienced myself. Still learning the ropes actually.

But i started out reading threads like you.  :Roll Eyes: 

Cheers.

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## weiquan

i took some pictures after dinner today.

I seem to have caught the attention of one of the wigglers lol.  :Laughing:  can you spot it?




here is a solo picture. 



and here are the peeps lining up for the camera!




Does anyone have any idea roughly how long it takes for them to finish up their egg sac. Or i just have to wait and find out myself ?  :Grin:

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## johannes

congrats bro... nice adults and cute fries!!! :Smile:

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## weiquan

thanks bro johannes. This is nothing compared to your wild bettas.  :Grin:

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## weiquan

some updates on the juveniles.

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## celticfish

Looks like a day to two before they start eating or are they already doing that?
Seems like most baby Hypancistrus have the cute black beady little eyes!  :Grin:

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## johannes

wow... what a sight!.... i hope i can spawn any pleco soon.... :Grin: 

wanna see small2 plecos swimming around...  :Smile:

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## Pantera

Nice, healthy and beautiful juveniles...rock on man! :Jump for joy:

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## weiquan

they already have been fed for a few days. I have been feeding one canivoras pellets once a day. so far so good. all still active and alive, a few have a bit of a sunken tummy but majority of them has fat bellys. 

They are actually quite playful, hiding and swiming around the small drift wood i provide for cover.  :Smile: 

cheers.

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## iwishweallcouldwin

super duper cute!!! Well done!!! :Well done:

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## windy1958

congrats on your spawning 
try crushing up their food in to a powder i find they get alot more food that way also try feeding them tetra doramin crushed they love the stuff
frozen cyclops is good to

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## richmaster

Congrats! Looks like the egg sacks are gone. Did you get a chance to measure the fries yet?

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## weiquan

i think they are a bit smaller than an inch now, eating very well with carnivorous pellets. thanks for the concern dudes.

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## Savant

How are the baby L400s? I suppose they have not started to display the L400 patterns and colouration? How many weeks have it been? 5?

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## weiquan

bro calvin im been very busy setting up tanks lately. i try find time to take some pictures alright? and yes they are starting to show strips and some are almost an inch big. 

Cheers.
weiquan

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## eeeeemo

Here are the Little Joys of helping a friend house a small bred colony of L400s.

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## eeeeemo

hello! just to update their growth!





now day 9:

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## Jamie24

very nice#1

congrats you guys, do you have any more pics of the parent fish? would like to know how fast your little ones are growing aswell. 



J

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## weiquan

I like to thank jiayuan for babysitting my L400 while i was setting up individual new tanks for the L400 and the babies from the first spawn. 

Also not forgetting the great pictures jiayuan took from the SECOND spawn while babysitting them.  :Grin:  THANKS!!

here are some of the latest photos i have taken of the 3 adult L400 I have and pictures of the babies of the FIRST spawn before i transfer them into their new homes.

jamie sorry for the late reply. as requested here are the pictures.  :Wink: 





Alpha male



Beta Male



Female

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## 900801

wow nice,Thanks for sharing.

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## Jamie24

very nice, they look identicle to my pair!

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## weiquan

My L400s spawned again, this is their 3rd time and its the alpha male this time! today should either be the 4 or 5th day already. Here is the daddy guarding the eggs in his favourite cave.

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## iwishweallcouldwin

Congrats! Do continue to update us!

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## Pantera

Yah bro...congrats again!! Btw, any pics of the 1st and 2nd batches?

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## weiquan

thanks man. im very lucky to have a very productive female  :Laughing: . Anyway the photos are all inside the thread take your time to look through the first and second page.

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## eeeeemo

yo haha how are the 2nd batch of fries doing?
i miss keeping them! they do look like L174s when they are small and chubby! but maybe later on they will grow longer and less like bull pugs.

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## alfredliow316

Very nice L400s!

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## weiquan

Here are some updates of the latest photos of the third spawn. Look at how fast they grow  :Grin: . today is the first day i would be feeding them soild food.  :Smug:  There should be around 22 to 24 babies this time round. 

taken almost a week back





Taken today

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## weiquan

good news! the babies have converted to solid food well, they finished their first pellet last night.  :Smug:

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## alfredliow316

Congratulations!! Hope all of them turn out to be stunning adults!

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## weiquan

i finially did a official count of this third spawn, there are 25 babies! Also, this is the first time in all 3 spawns that there is no casualties so far.  :Smug: 

here are more of their pictures taken today.





I managed to take a picture of one of the babies of my very first spawn in their breeder tank. i was really lucky this fellow stood still to pose for the shot because i hardly see the babies exposing themselves, they usually hide in the drift wood the whole day.  :Smile:

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## Jamie24

very well done mate!

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## weiquan

appreciate the gesture jamie  :Smug:

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## sgbetta

Congrat to all your survival..... :Smile:

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## weiquan

Finally i had the chance to snap up a picture of the alpha male and the female trapped in the alpha male's favourite cave.

this is how they get jiggy with it heh  :Wink:

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## Fingerling

Awesome pleco fries there. Keep the pictures coming!  :Grin:

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## Edmundo

Am trying my luck on them as well hope can be just as successful.

Well done!

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## weiquan

finally can update some picture take late last year 2012.

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## weiquan



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## Nec

Nice L400s

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