Inpaichthys Kerri Super Blue

[tolstoy21]

I was finally able to get about a dozen fry from these fish.

I bred them by putting 2 adults (males/female of course!) in a 2.5 gallon filled with java moss, Indian almond leaves and some peat pellets in a small media bag. The Ph was pretty low, under 6.0. The KH or my water is near zero naturally.  I didn't record the GH for the tank because I didn't take notes (like a dope) and I forget if I cut the water with RO water. My GH is normally about 8. So GH was under 8. Water temps were about 78F.

I put the adults in the afternoon, left them overnight, visually watched them spawn at first light the next day, and then pulled them. I could see eggs scattered about the tank bottom.

The subsequent fry that resulted, however, were so small and secretive I was convinced I had failed. This would have been failure number 5 or so,  but I blindly kept feeding the tank paramecium for about 2+ weeks, hoping for the best.  I began noticing fry after week 2 (maybe this was week 3?) after I  intentionally disturbed the java moss and leaf litter to see if anything living was in the aquarium at all.

My limited and initial observations suggest to me that these fry will stay in the bottom of the tank, hiding under leaf litter for quite a while before making their presence known. I didn't see any fry clinging to glass or hanging out in in the java fern or java moss I had floating mid-water. And I had looked every day extensively with a magnifying glass.

Once the fry were big enough to take brine shrimp (around week three? four? I need to take better notes!) I started doing water changes, preparing to move them and acclimate them to the water in the rest of my aquariums.

I now have them in a breeder box, hanging on the tank that is the next phase of this experiment.

My new goal is to determine how to breed these in larger numbers. I'm still not sure how many eggs are released in a day, or if these fish just release small numbers daily. 

Right now, I have 2 adult pairs in a 20 gallon. The bottom of the tank is covered in IA leaves and java moss.  I have live sphagnum moss floating at the surface to provide subdued lighting and help regulate the PH, as well as peat pellets in the filter. This tank is on auto-water change, so the Ph has yet to drop below 6.4. But I think that's a reasonable place for it for the time being. Time will tell. (Maybe I should take notes?). (** Note to self, take notes **).  😜

My current plan is to leave the adults in for a full 2 weeks, then pull them. Then just keep feeding the tank paramecium, then some vinegar eels, until I see evidence of fry. I'm fairly certain the adults wont eat the eggs or bother the fry in these initial 2 weeks, as they rarely go to into the java moss, and these fry are super-hiders.

Anyway, just figured I'd document my experience for anyone interested.  

Edited October 30, 2021 by tolstoy21

[Griznatch]

Congratulations, very cool! Thank you for documenting this. I too am a serial starter of projects and then later going Gah, why didn't I take notes 🙂
 

My emperors spawn all the time, so far 2 fry have made it and are now over a 1/4 inch. Your results confirm they had been in the tank for quite some time before I noticed them and maybe why they survived. hiding on the bottom in mulm and litter. The only bottom dwellers I have in the tank are a few otos and some shrimp. The mid level is occupied by the emperors and glowlight danios, including a female dwarf gourami, not much gets past her.

[tolstoy21]

Ok, fuzzy, terrible picture. I know. But I wanted to take a moment to share some information about my current breeding attempt at these guys (and gals). This is like maybe attempt #7, and it has thus far yielded decent results. 

In the past few days, a few dozen or so fry have emerged from hiding. I'm hoping many more will make their presence known over the course of the next week. My experience has been that every day, more have been emerging, and their numbers compound daily. Exciting stuff!

What did I do differently this time?

I left the adults in for a week. I also covered the bottom of the tank heavily with live sphagnum moss,  java moss and Indian almond leaves, having observed that these fish like hiding in dense bottom-litter, unseen, for the initial few weeks after spawn. Seems you kind of just have to feed the tank and hope for the best with these guys, having faith during that initial period that someone is alive in there.

Two days after I introduced the adults, I started feeding 3 times a day with a some turkey basters full of paramecium. After a week, I added vinegar eels and sera micron to the rotation. Once i saw my first fry, I started feeding BBS. A little at first, and now more and more as fry start emerging from hiding. I'll probably stop feeding paramecium and sera micron in the next few days. I'm unsure at this moment in time how many smaller fry are still in hiding.

Still no note taking (um, I forget). Admittedly, as a lifelong sufferer of ADHD--yeah, um, note taking, who am I kidding. Not happening! 🙂  So how old are these fry? Yeah, I also forgot to write the date on the front of the tank!

Tank params -- Ph wavers in the mid 6's. GH about 8. Temp 76-77F.

Hopefully i'll have a nice large school of these blue beauties in the next month or so.

Wish me luck!

 

Edited November 17, 2021 by tolstoy21