Another loach baby

[Mad Duff]

I had thought I had seen a small fish in my 75 gallon loach tank the other night but after sitting in front of the tank for over an hour I figured I must have been mistaken, anyway earlier today I was sat and again saw something small so approached the tank to take a closer look.

To my surprise behind the filter was this tiny little loach, I removed the lid and slid the glass back and it was still there so I put a net either side of the filter and it shot into the back net, when I got it into a small photo tank it would appear to be a Botia histrionica

As you can see from the pics it is just a tad over 2.5 cm, dont know how old that would make it?





I have sat and watched the tank again and after adding some food and I think there maybe at least two more in there

I think I am now not going to bother setting tanks up to try ans spawn certain species I am just going to give them a tank and leave them alone, it seems to work

[Keith Wolcott]

Great news!

[Jim Powers]

Congratulations!!!!

[piggy4]

Whoa this is really exciting news Mark well done , you're certainly doing something right

Are they the standard Histrionica

[andyroo]

Did you do anything different/interesting maybe 2 months ago?
Is there any thought on the trigger?
To have ample space, habitat etc... and to put in 50% cooler rain-water can this make them think it's springtime and get 'em in "the mood"? Monsoonal questions etc...?

[Mad Duff]

Thanks guy's, needless to say I am quite happy with this find

The only histies in that tank are my standard histies and I am 100% sure that is what this is.

Did you do anything different/interesting maybe 2 months ago?
Is there any thought on the trigger?
To have ample space, habitat etc... and to put in 50% cooler rain-water can this make them think it's springtime and get 'em in "the mood"? Monsoonal questions etc...?

About 10 weeks ago I was doing my water changes, I had taken about 40% of the water out of several tanks and cleaned the filters, before I could start filling the tanks my back went so I ended up having to drop the hose pipe in them and fill them all direct from the hose. At the same time I had a couple of Rasboras looking a little off colour after the big water change so I added some aquarium salts as well, maybe one or both of these could have been factors/triggers I wouldnt like to say for sure.

[andyroo]

how is the hose-water different? What do you usually use?
I'd think salt would do the opposite, as it wouldn't resemble rain water.... interesting..... Is this species from an arid area that might see a salinity pulse with overland/terrestrial runoff?

Tell me if i'm being annoying...
A

[Katy]

What IS in your water?????

Congratulations!!!!

[Mad Duff]

how is the hose-water different? What do you usually use?
I'd think salt would do the opposite, as it wouldn't resemble rain water.... interesting..... Is this species from an arid area that might see a salinity pulse with overland/terrestrial runoff?

Tell me if i'm being annoying...
A

Rather than refilling the tanks with warm tap water the water from the hose is just cold water, hence a significant temp drop due to a 40% cold refill.

I suppose there may well be a rise in salinity during the monsoon period due to run off etc which would also be in conjunction with varying degrees of temperature drops.


Thank you Katy

[andyroo]

Brrrrrilliant! Temperature, and if that doesn't work add a shot of salt.
Start with mature, very happy fish certainly.
A

[starsplitter7]

Congratulations! Really wonderful and definitely cute!

[mattyd]

That is incredible Well done! Will you try to re-do a future water change in the same way as you did in the past to see if you end up with some more babies?

I think it would be clear to say that we would all be very interested in your results. I am especially interested here in Australia, as the govermental authorities are threatening to change the legislation/rules about importing fish from overseas. They are proposing to drastically cut back what species we can bring in, and from what countries they can be imported from. That means that unless we can get success with localised breeding in Australia there is a good chance that I (and fellow enthusiats) will not be able to buy most of the loach species in 10-15 years time.

[Mad Duff]

I will leave it a couple of weeks and I will probably try a biggish cold water change again and see if I can see any signs of anything happening.

It does seem that was some sort fo trigger because I did the same thing to my sid tank at the same time and I have noticed a couple of very small sid's darting in and out of the rock work that are way smaller than anything else, the only difference with them was that I added the indian almond leaves a couple of days before the water change.

[NancyD]

Wow, that's fantastic! Congrats on another species breeding for you, amazing.

[Jim Powers]

What size is the tank and what fish do you have in it?