Weather Loach Fry Journal

[star4]

Tadpoles !!!! pmsl

Now I am confident the fry are eating flake and sinking granule food I am slowly starting to clean up the tank, I have removed all the algae from the front and side glass, left the back so they still have "live food" available. Gravel vaccing is going to be impossible because I just cant see where they are hiding. I have now removed some of the wood I was soaking (I can always do that at a later date). Even after a wc the water is still very tannin rich (the tank was full of oak branches) making it impossible to see the fry clearly let alone try and take more pictures. Plus they are so good at hiding I can sit in front of the tank for ages and see absolutely nothing then suddenly one will appear from under the gravel and shoot off up the tank. Their growth rate is really fast they must be easily now a good 1" long at just 5 weeks old now, no longer as "rounded" they are lengthening out and looking the spit of the parents. All the fry I have seen are mottled brown none have taken their mothers gold colouration. I used up the batteries on my camera yesterday trying to get another picture of them but all have turned out blurry or just shots of gravel. Strange I have not seen them feeding on the wood since I managed to get the pictures of them doing so!

 

[minnnt]

Glad the tank is coming along nicely now.

Looking forward to seeing some new pics!!

 

[star4]

Little ones are growing nicely, did a big clean up on the tank today, couldnt find any until we lifted the last rock then who knows how many shot around the tank, I counted 7 before I lost them all again lol. Not great pics I am afraid they are so skittish still. The smallest is about 2" the longest near 3" already.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Wow, these lovely little fellas are growing so quickly and it sounds like more numbers have been spotted, the biggest ones are about the size of mine when I got them just under two years ago... Well done star4!

Are you getting tempted to combine them with some small peaceful dithers yet? With all those tanks you have dotted around the house, often taking in fish needing homes for one reason or another, I have a horrible feeling that you are going to tell me that every single fish you have at the mo is likely to see these loaches as food.

 

[star4]

Nobody, you are exactly right, every tank I have at the moment is not suitable for these little ones, however the recent rescues (clown loach) are taking up my 240 (didnt stay empty long after the oscars got re-homed lol), soon as they have done their quarantine they can go in another tank and I can move the babies to the 240. The rate they are growing though they would be sellable size by the time the clown loach are out of quarantine.

 

[star4]

These little horrors now eat anything that goes into the tank, I still have no idea of an exact number as they are so fast and hide so quickly in the gravel! I have to admit they have stunning colouration when I do see them, hints of gold under the brown speckles, so very tempted to keep them but I cant

 

[Baccus]

Since they are so skittish I wonder if you could make a clear section of the floor of the tank with maybe something curved to span the gap but allow room for the young loaches underneath, then bait the designated area with some favourite food of the loaches.

Hopefully that way you will get to make a more accurate head count and the young wont feel so timid because as far as they are concerned they are still hiding under something.

 

[star4]

They are gaining confidence after a wc yesterday I counted 9 out and about. I cannot believe how fast these are growing!!! they eat anything

 

[star4]

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Weather Loaches are so cute, especially as youngsters!

Any signs of the breeding pair still trying to spawn, star4, or have you managed to find them a new home?

I must try and find someone local to adopt my last remaining one who has a group in a temperate heaterless big tank, I felt so guilty keeping hold of this one when I rehomed the rest of his/her group with a fish store, but at the time this one was spending a lot of time lying upside down and had no sense of co-ordination when it came to trying to swim. He/she acts a lot more normal these days, even pootling in the current with my unusually diurnally active Synodontis congica (maybe it is a Synodontis notata after all??), but gets easily stressed when I do anything in the tank and that can bring on this really concerning spiralling motion.

 

[star4]

Goat, I havnt seen any signs of them spawning again, but the female is looking rather plump again and they are spending a lot of time lying together on the bottom. There as been no interest in the breeding pair, other than snotty remarks about they cant be a pair as they dont spawn in tanks etc etc. I have found they can spawn upto 3 times a year, so I doubt she will spawn again soon.

Thoughts are wandering to the 240l tank and setting that up as a purely weather loach tank and put the babies and parents all together because I am just selfish and want to keep the babies lol lol. Plus if I set the tank up as the 400 was I might just be lucky and get another chance at raising weather loach

Having never seen baby weather loach before I am intregued to see what colouration these will have as adults. The one in the 3rd picture (there is another just like is) is much paler than the rest with the gold flash just before the tail, one of the larger darker babies also has this gold flash (4th pic), now whether this is normal or not I dont know with the female being gold and the male being brown, the two colours might just mingle in the youngsters as they grow up, that will be another wait and see

 

[Baccus]

I would want to be selfish too and keep the lot for myself. It wold be especially interesting to see what colours all the babies eventually hold.

As for people snififng thier noses and insisting that they wont breed in tanks, just think to your self "fat lot you know" and blow the screen a big fat raspberry . I just wish my Pakastani loaches would also decide to swim against the norm and breed in my tanks.

 

[star4]

LOL Baccus It is getting very tempting to keep them especially as they now come out of hiding as soon as food is dropped in, they are getting more adveturous.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

I bet a group of temperate water dithers (WCMM; Zebra danio; Puntius gelius? etc.) would help their confidence even more, but I guess the trade off is that these loaches are eventually going to become chunky fish that might be too boisterous at feeding time for these small upper water fish.

 

[star4]

lol shurrup Goat lol its hard enough putting them up for sale as it is lol, I am getting very sorely tempted though to say #28### it and keep them myself and have just a tank with just them in.