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For a while I had been trying to get some Aspidoras so that I could enjoy breeding a new species and ideally I was looking for the C035 or the "Black Phantom". However it seems to have become rather scarce with aquarists and so I haven't dropped lucky at auctions. I went along to the Catfish Study Group auction, where I was fortunate enough to buy 2 pairs of what were labelled on the bag as Aspidoras "gold" species. At least they were distinctive enough from the "Peppered Cory look" of some of this species! All four fish were approx. 2.5 cms in size. I wasn't sure where to expect to find any eggs, although having tried in vain to breed Aspidoras pauciradiatus using a breeding mop wedged in front of the outflow pipe, I should have known! It was only by chance when feeding my fish, that I slid back the condensation tray and there, on top of a Java Fern leaf, were around 40 eggs and all quite well developed.  Unfortunately, being on top of the leaf and near the surface, some eggs kept breaking the water surface and seemed to have gone rather "mushy". I checked elsewhere in the tank but these were the only eggs I found and all were on this one leaf, which was within 5 cms of the outflow pipe.  I immediately snapped off part of the leaf and put it into a half toffee jar with a gentle air stone current. I didn't use any Methylene Blue at all, as I could see that some of the eggs seemed due to hatch. Sure enough, within the hour I had some tiny wrigglers moving all around the jar, which made me think that possibly some had already hatched in the tank which contained a breeding group of Dario dario.  Rather disappointingly, only 14 fry hatched out, but as I always say, it's better than none! At least I knew where to check in future! On the third day I started to feed them little and often quantities of Walterworm, as well as doing small water changes each day.  Compared with many Corys that I have reared, they certainly are very lively and active feeders! As a result of this, I felt their early growth was quite quick and at 1 week old they were around 6 mms in size.  At 1 month old they were 1.2 cms. A very lively little fish and feeding well, so I transferred them to one half of a divided tank, which they had to themselves. I hadn't seen any fry in the main tank from this first spawn, so it would seem that if any eggs did hatch before I removed them, then the Dario must have got them.  Spawning mop There's certainly no problem getting these to spawn! Having the benefit of experience from the first spawning, I placed a spawning mop in the prime position immediately opposite the outflow pipe. It was held in place by some tall Java Fern leaves on my upright Bogwood. Not long after, eggs were laid in the mop, so I removed them, put them in a toffee jar with an airstone gently fanning the eggs. I had to look quite carefully as the eggs were near the cork where the wool was tightest, as they seemed to like wedging themselves well into the wool strands. By removing the eggs early, I certainly got a better hatching, with about an 80% success rate and no problem growing the fry on.  After fixing the mop in this obviously ideal location, it was just a matter of waiting for the next spawning which they did at regular intervals! Summary This is an attractive, busy little fish which fits in well in any community aquarium. Breeding is a reliable and really straight forward procedure and with the amount of eggs and hatching rate, I have not found myself overwhelmed with fry that I can't cope with. I recently took some to auction and it seemed a popular enough fish as all were sold. It's also a very simple task to sort out pairs as, like sexing Cory's, the female a much broader and plumper.  Later update in July 2010 ... Of the original two adult pairs, I sold one pair and interestingly the remaining pair didn't choose to use the spawning mop, so perhaps they aren't too predictable after all! The reason I found this out was, after syphoning the gravel, I examined the water in my plastic tub (which I always do!) and found 4 newly hatched fry wriggling round at the bottom. I put these "tinies" in a jar and fed them on Walterworm until they were large enough to be re-introduced into the main tank. At the present time I can enjoy watching fry at various stages of development moving around in the gravel, as the Dario dario are no longer in the tank and so the predation threat has been removed. In fact while I was sitting enjoying this busy scene, I saw a newly hatched fry come tumbling down out of the eggs which were on the glass. Fortunately for me, it landed near the front of the tank and provided a lucky photo opportunity!  Copyright Text and photos; Ivor Hilton. |
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