baby YoYo's

[mikey]

Been searching for info on YoYo breeding when I found this site.I have a group of 8 YoYo's in my tank, the largest is 7 inchs.Over the last 2 weeks I've noticed that one of my female YoYo's has devloped a very swollen belly.I believe that she is about to have baby's.Can anyone tell me if they are egg layers, or live breeders?Last week my rubber eels had a baby (very rare in captivity).Still new to fishkeeping as I have only started 1 1/2 years ago.My tank contains 8 YoYo's, 8 rainbow sharks, 2 vanillia plecos, 12 clowns, 3 gold loaches, 1 massive ordinary goldfish, 2 rubber eels.

[Mad Duff]

Yoyo Loaches are egg layers Mikey but even if the Yoyo's did breed I doubt you would see any young as most if not all of the eggs would be eaten by the other fish.

[shari2]

What size tank do you have? That's alot of fish!

[mikey]

Thanks for the info Mad Duff. I am going to set up a 10gal tank to move my female to so maybe the eggs will have a chance from all the other loaches not to be yummie snack food. I'll let everyone know how things turn out!
To Shari2 my tank is 150gal. started in a 10gal, 3 months later went to a 30, 3 months later went to a 90gal, and then to my 150. Darn fish won't quit growing!

[shari2]

I don't think a 10g will do it, unfortunately. The trick is to get her to actually spawn, right? You will need a couple of males in with her and a setting that will trigger that.

there have been many who have had gravid yoyos, but so far no luck triggering spawning in aquaria (that I know of). If you do get it to happen please take copious notes, and pictures! We would all be delighted to hear it. And how you did it!

Could you post the water parameters of your big tank? And maybe a pic?
thanks, and best of luck!

[mikev]

I don't think a 10g will do it, unfortunately. The trick is to get her to actually spawn, right? You will need a couple of males in with her and a setting that will trigger that.

This is certainly true, but it gets worse.

Yoyo's tend to eat everything, so if you get a spawn (not reported by anyone, asaik), eggs will be quickly removed.

You probably need a 30g tank, with the marbles as the bottom, and a very gentle filtration to give it a try. The chances of anything happening are pretty slim, however.

[mikey]

Agonized all day about moving my pregnant yoyo to a seprate tank. She is definitely too large for the only tank I have to use, a 10gal. As to the fact that today she is allready smaller that yesterday I can only assume that egg layin has begun. So without anymore delay I moved her over, by herself to my 10gal. I used the same water from the 150 she came from, and am running a Biowheel. The tank has gravel with a few cups and tubes for her to hide in. Got very lucky in that it only took 10 mins to catch her. 15 mins of thrashing at the top before she calmed down. I appogize for my heading about "baby YoYo's" as I don't have any yet. I thought this was rare, but not unheard of. I know that many of the people on this site know much more that I do and hope I don't offend the experts who have been trying to breed this fish for longer than I've had the fish bug. Pictures and water stats coming soon.

[Mad Duff]

You dont mention if you have moved the other Yoyo's as well Mikey, by the sounds of it you have moved her alone so even if she does lay the eggs and doesnt eat them there isnt a male ther to fertalize the eggs.

[Martin Thoene]

You may find this of interest mikey.............

http://www.loaches.com/articles/sexual- ... a-almorhae

Martin.

[mikey]

Hey fellow loach lovers. Update on my pregnant yoyo. Last night I had moved my special female over to a separate tank so possibly her eggs would not turn into clown caviar (or yoyo caviar}. I knew that this tank (a 10gal.) was a bit small but I had to try. Luckily I sleep close to these tanks and at 1:00 am, 2:00am and 3:00am I was awakened by her thrashing and splashing at the tank lid. Quite impressive the power of a determined fish! She had knocked the entire lid half off (snap pressure fit lid). I had taken care to close off all openings ( went thru this once before when battling a particuly virulent strain of ick. Most of you know that the main medicine used to battle this condition is malachite green and I believe that more fish have died from the cure than from the disease. I use heat, salt, and vigorous gravel cleaning. Anyway I had set up 3 10gal tanks to temporally house my fish while I attacked the big (90gal) tank. Just about everyone was hitting the tank lids, the yoyos being the strongest hitters. I thought that all openings were secure but the opening for my biowheel (couldn’t close that). Well my largest yoyo at about 4:00am found this window of freedom and sailed free. I awoke to a strange thump…thump…noise. She had landed and rolled underneath the dresser and was bouncing off the floor against the dresser bottom! Super quick I grabbed the dresser loaded with 3 tanks, a large TV, and stereo equipment. Super parent strength infused I picked up the dresser and moved it over 2 feet to allow her rescue. No sleep that night as I quickly rebuilt the 90gal and moved everyone back. Everything turned out fine). Fearing a similar episode I had to move my pregnant yoyo back to her 150gal. If I have to lose a fish I choose the unborn eggs. It’s funny that when netted a few soft words stopped her thrashing and she didn’t even move when lifted out of the water and transferred back home. That’s my baby! Today she seams fine and even comes up to the glass when I call her. Apparently no hard feelings. I have left the 10gal in place and will not disturb it for 2 weeks, just in case.

[TammyLiz]

Please understand that if she is alone when she drops her eggs they will not be viable (not able to hatch because they wouldn't be fertilized), as stated above by a couple of other people. And please don't torture the poor thing anymore by moving her around without reason.

There must be a male present to fertilize the eggs as she releases them. But even if you had a male with her in the 10 gallon tank I'm sure they would not spawn (release and fertilize eggs), since they would be very stressed in such cramped quarters (most likely the reason she was trying to jump). A female can not have babies in a tank by herself because being full of eggs is not the same as being pregnant. They are useless if they are not fertilized.

[mikey]

Thanks again too all the people that gave me advice on my pregnant yoyo. It seams everyone says that I needed a male to be with the egg laying process to fertilize them. I'm sure that is true but there is a small problem with the male selection. Some months ago I had tried to split up some of the yoyos from my 150gal to my 90gal. One of the larger males was very upset. Every day he tormented every fish in the 90gal. He drove himself through the gravel from one end of the tank to the other. He knocked of the heater, and constantly forced himself into the water outlet of my Fluval until it brokel. After 2 weeks of this behavior I decided to return him back to the 150gal. He has never demonstrated this behavior since. I came to the conclusion that I had seprated him from his mate. Reinforceing this idea, when I returned my female to the 150gal the other night, she spent the next day rubbing and enticing only one particular male to follow her inside a pipe. Maybe this is just coincidence, but I don't believe so. Trying to catch just that male and his mate in my tank is just to, well impossible. I will not stress my fish that much just to do breeding. Call me silly but I do care very much about the health and well being of the lives I have chosen to care for!

[TammyLiz]

No, not silly, it is a good decision. 10 gallons is just too small to be putting them into.

It would be amazing if you had a successful spawn in your main tank, even if the fry didn't survive, so you could observe how it is done.

[Martin Thoene]

mikey, I sent you a PM because your mail bounced me.

Martin.

[mikey]

Darn! Just happen to notice right before the lights went out in my tank (on timer), I saw my 3 largest male yoyo's causing quite a commotion in the back of my tank close to a piece of wood. I've seen 2 yoyo's battleing (play fighting for dominance), but never 3 at once. While watching this action all of a sudden a cloud of small white round eggs came floating up! I quickly grabbed a net and scooped up as many as I could, and back washed the net into my empty (fry?) 10gal tank. I looked as close as I could at the gravel underneath this log but did'nt really see anything. Then I picked up the log and flipped it over. Sure enough a small (very small) cluster was still partly attached. This too went into the 10gal. Don't know if they are fertilized or not. Nothing ventured, nothing gained! I thought the eggs first enemys would be my clowns not other yoyo's (males). My female gravid yoyo is still swelled and I doubt this was the only patch of eggs. I'm going to try to over feed slightly so hopefully the hunt for snacks will not be too great. So much for Perfect Water Quality( nitrite=0.0 ammonia=0.0 nitrates=0.0). Bye the way I change this water every 7 to 10 days (1/4 to 1/3), vacume gravel every other cleaning, clean my filters once a month (2 Fluval 404's). Clowns love clean water and so do most my other fish. Also add dechlorinator (Prime), leave tank lids open for 1 hour after water changes (allows chlorine gas to dissapate), and yes sometimes add aquarium salt.