# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Catfishes >  celticfish's Hypancistrus sp. L173 odyssey

## celticfish

Its been a long monotonous journey.
Much longer than my L046 trip.
Almost four times longer, mainly due to juvenile fish, but its DONE!!! 

Dad's tail and the two suspect mums (high suspect on left).




Presenting the STARS of the thread...








This time around I'm afraid my pictures won't be as good as my zebra ones.
Benny's advise on 2mm float glass versus 6/8 mm glass comes to mind...  :Exasperated: 
One can see the distortion on the pictures quite clearly.
I'm thinking of the christian names of Orion and Cassiopeia...  :Grin: 
Mis-match of the hunter with the vain!  :Laughing:

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## johannes

congrats! nice one bro!
santa's coming from "town" ... :Grin:

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## Champ-BKK

Congrat!! Golden eggs.
Always nice pics.  :Laughing: 

5 pcs. for first spawn?

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## desmondekker

this is very exciting for the readers! may i check how long was the process of rasing the juveniles to breeding them?

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## celticfish

The month of March seems to be good to me.
My first journey with L046 also had first success in the month of March.  :Smile: 

Wriggler count was 8 but two have passed on.
If you see the wrigglers pictures above the left-most one has an "empty space" between the yoke sack and the body.
I've notice that any wriggler with this symptom will inevitably die.
Just a matter of time that it happens.
And I haven't a clue what causes this or if its just a embryo development "mistake".
Sort of like bloat in every 20-30 wrigglers for Hypancistrus species.
The remaining 6 wrigglers are looking healthy and I'm quite happy with this first spawn of L173.

First sighting of two floating empty eggshells lead me to check the caves.
That was this past Sunday night 28th March.
So laid day should be 23rd March to night of 22nd March.

This dad seems to be a cool cucumber too.
Subjected to my inccessent "light sabre" to confirm the presence of wrigglers.
Fighting all the way to keep the wrigglers.
And finally, still "commanding" the cave in the aftermath of my disturbance.
I also sensed that everyfish was excited and concerned about the cave with the wrigglers.
They scooted off when my hands went in but re-appeared promptly to see the going-ons with the wriggler cave.
Made me feel quite bad... like a egg robber!  :Embarassed: 

Anyways I'm now looking forward to 22nd April...  :Cool: 



@ desmondekker,
Just about 11 months from the time I got them...  :Knockout:

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## StanChung

Wow congrats Irwin- was just wondering when it was going to happen.

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## genes

Congrats man! First in Singapore!!! How big are the parents?

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## celticfish

Thank you people!
I can tell you the wait was looooong... a lot of hard work... and TLC!  :Crying: 
The father should be about 3.2" and the female about 2.8".
No surprise he is not the largest fish in the group.
Sorry about the usual lack of quality for the pictures... 
Its quite impossible to get a clear full-body shot in their setup without waiting for heaven to arrive...  :Opps: 


This is the largest male whom I thought was going to be the winning bet.




This is the father with mum peaking from behind the cave.




And I'm now quite certain this is mum.
She's never too far from his cave... actually she never leave the side of the cave.
Hopefully they will be a bonded pair like Adam and Lilith.
If that happens... I promise now not to "drop the ball" like I did with Adam and Lilith as their keeper!!!! 
God willing...

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## noname777

Congratulations!!! :Well done:

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## Fei Miao

Congrats Irwin! Keep us posted on the developments!

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## celticfish

As requested more updates on the fry development!




























They seem to be starting to look like L046 fry in development.
The signature "M" has formed, the verticle stripe as the start of the caudal tail with two "spots" top and bottom of the tail, and the horizontal stripes along the body length.

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## StanChung

Looks like otos!

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## BonjaLa

Congratulations :Well done: 
The Babies really look very cute  :Smile:

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## rage

Bro, Congrats once again on a job well done.

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## yorky

hey bro, nice work there.. you're really a solid catty breeder. haha.

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## celticfish

Wah look what the cat dragged in... yorky!  :Laughing: 
Long time no "see".
Hope you get back into the hobby again really soon!


Now for more updates...
The most noticeable thing is their eye colour.  :Grin: 
You can almost see the lines forming now.
From what I can see now I suspect when the lines firm up there will still be varying patterns in the fry. 
BTW I was messing with the white balance hence the pink or blue cast in the pictures.  :Knockout: 
Need to work on that...




















Check out the torns in this shot!!!  :Shocked: 
I think it can pass as a Pseudacanthicus fry too.

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## khtee

Irwin, they are very very beautiful. I like  :Smile: , the growth rate seem very fast..... what you feed them?

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## Champ-BKK

Irwin, from pics not sure you got one snub nose. Ultraman ??  :Grin:

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## celticfish

You're right, it's not impossible looking at the pictures.
Also, I haven't really had the time to observe them in minutiae.
All the shots have been done "quick and sloppy"....  :Opps: 
But I'm sure future update shot will eventually show if thats the case.

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## weiquan

Congrates irwin. love to see more pictures of the fry developments in months to come.

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## CHOO

Thank for the update, Cheers.....for pleco breeding.

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## celticfish

Fish not breeding?
Go for a short vacation!  :Grin: 

Second trapping first seen trapping on the 1st and 2nd of June. 
Last seen on 3rd June trapping was still in progress.
When I returned 7th June... there be eggs!!! 
Now the only way to estimate the date of laying is from the day of hatching.
And I've a very good suspect for the mother fish now.
Very likely to be the same pair for both spawns.
So thing are looking good for a pair forming up.  :Jump for joy: 

If my eyes don't fail me and this spawn isn't a dud I should have some more tit bits to form another opinion on Hypancistrus breeding.
Stay tuned...

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## johannes

congrats again...!
what's the tit bits on Hypancistrus breeding??? hehe

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## khtee

congrats again  :Smile:  so we know the key is do not disturb them.  :Smile:

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## Champ-BKK

Happy with you too.

Tit bits?  :Grin:

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