Loaches Online Forum

Hello,

Please excuse my inexperience in this topic.

My clown loach is laying eggs in my tank and I’m not sure what needs to be done?
I have two clown loaches in my tank. I’m not to sure if the other loach is a female or male. It’s been 3 days and she’s still going. None of the eggs appear to have been fertilised yet.
She’s about 8-10cms long.

Thank you

Please see attached photos

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/h ... directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/H ... directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/M ... directlink

Hello. I think we're all rather inexperienced in this topic! It's a very rare event indeed!

Do the fish not eat the eggs?

Are the remaining eggs all covered in fungus? That's what it looks like (and what would be expected if they are not fertilised).

Did she lay the eggs alone without any courtship?

A female and a male of mine can frequently be seen to swim fast side by side but I have never seen eggs.

Hello,

My Suckermouth Catfish "Hypostomus plecostomus" has eaten some of the eggs but not all of them.
I have also placed some of the eggs in a hanging container inside my tank just to keep them safe.

The eggs came out looking like that, they havent really changed much.. But yes they are all covered in the white stuff.

They have been swim together since the day I purchased them (2 years ago), but when she started laying them she was doing it alone.
The other loach has been hiding under my air filter since she started laying them and hasnt moved (which isnt normal behavour).

On a side note: I have only just moved them into a bigger sized tank... On the 3rd day of them being in the tank she started laying them.

Hey, this is very interesting. If she's laying eggs, you are making history as this is very rare. Please take pictures, videos, whatever you can because none exist.

Plus, what are your water parameters? Is your water soft/hard, what Ph, Gh, TDS if possible.....

Very interesing I am looking forward to updates.

The eggs look like covered in fungus. That happens if they are not fertilized or if there's lack of flow to them. Try putting some in a net in the tank hanging somehow to keep them with an airstone in it. That works for cory eggs as they get fungused quite easily otherwise. Or just try leaving some where the fish left them providing they don't eat them all.

Good luck.

Very cool indeed! Unfortunately it takes more than a gravid female dropping eggs to produce a successful spawn. The eggs appear to have already fungused over, and without fertilization from a sperm laden male nothing is going to come of this. While clown loaches have been successfully bred in captivity, it's a complicated process requiring the use of hormones, specific water temps, etc.

https://www.was.org/documents/MeetingPr ... 2_0621.pdf

http://www.alr-journal.org/articles/alr ... 120008.pdf

http://www.alr-journal.org/articles/alr ... 120009.pdf

http://www.alr-journal.org/articles/alr ... 120009.pdf

It's still rare to unknown for a clown loach to be laying eggs, whether being fertilized or not.

Yes, absolutely, I just didn't want the OP getting their hopes up and expecting fry.

Any news on the loaches afii?

It's going to be a pitty if every possible clown loach breeding occurrence ends up with no updates as usual. Hope the fish are well. Good luck.

Hey guys,

Thanks for all your feedback and information! This was all much appreciated!

Unfortunately as stated by some users above, the eggs were not fertilized so nothing had happened with them.

She has stopped laying eggs.
I have also purchased two more clown loaches hoping one of them is a male. So ill see what happens in the future

Sorry I'm not to sure about the water quality, I’ve never really needed to test it as the fish have never looked sick. (And thankfully haven’t lost any fish over the years)

But I can tell you what I have in my tank if that helps:

River sand, One Lava rock, One Drift wood, Two plants (Java Fern.. I think)
I feed them Hikari Sinking Wafers
I clean my hanging filter once a month and I also take out about 25% of the water which I use to clean my filter... (I have just put in a new sponge filter as well as it was given to me for free)
Over the past few years I have been and still use “Seachem Prime” when adding new water and I also add Start Right Salt (Which was recommended when I went to the aquarium)

The all the loaches are now swimming together like normal...
Most of the eggs got eaten and the other just started to rot so I had to remove them.

Once again, apologies for not knowing the water details...

Thank you for all your help!

One thing that I find very interesting from all of this, is how small the egg laying female was. (8-10 cm)

Yes, it's really interesting that she's only 8-10cm long. As far as I know literature says they can only breed when bigger than that.

Do you know if you tap water is soft or hard at least?

Hey, my tap water is hard

Wow, hard water, young loaches, all against what's known about breeding clown loaches. There's hope for mine then